If you happen to have a yacht yearning and you can make a deal in 30 days or less, you could take home the 164ft Alibella at a discount. As the Telegraph reports Edmiston & Company is offering a €9.5 million euro (nearly $12 million) discount to a buyer prepared to complete a deal within the next 30 days. The luxurious Alibella can accommodate 14 guests in six cabins and has a helicopter landing pad. It is also practically brand new winding up on the market just six months after delivery to the customer. You can pick up the yacht for €24.5 million. It's just one of the deals at Edmiston, three more of which are in the gallery below. If you've got the cash, you can pick up a megayacht for millions less in what is fast becoming a buyer's market.

One enterprising Australia-based yacht seller has found a new way connect their customers with boats in the U.S. Boats are cheaper here in the States so Yarra's Edge Yachts has created the Trans Pacific Yacht Rally. Yacht buyers will purchase a yacht from their brokerage of second-hand yachts, fly to La Paz, Mexico for the "Scrutinizing weekend" and then prepare and provision their new yacht for a Valentine's Day departure across the Pacific. The route will use the trade winds and make many scenic stops which will also allow for flying home or for crew changes. The rally will end in Queensland, Australia on October 11, 2009. Vessels range from 36' to 60' and $47,500 to US $350,000. The 40' Passport Sloop shown here is listed at $152,250.

[via Sail World]

Hybrid powered boats like the Chris-Craft Frauscher one shown above are just starting to enter the market but Travelers insurance is ready for them. They have announced an industry-first discount of up to 10 percent on hybrid boat and yacht insurance. Many of the hybrid boats are making their debut at upcoming boat shows or recently came out this year so Travelers may be jumping the gun just a little.

Travelers defines a hybrid boat as one that is specifically designed to reduce green house gas emissions and conserve fossil fuels, as compared to an internal combustion engine boat. A hybrid also uses an integrated propulsion system that incorporates in its original design, both an internal combustion engine (ICE) and an electric motor. They also offer the same 10 percent discount on electric boats.

Carbon offsets for private jet travel have become a fairly common occurrence but there is also a carbon offset program for another energy-intensive luxury, yachting. Yacht Carbon Offset specializes in balancing greenhouse gas emissions from yacht charters and private yachts. Projects include renewable energy in Brazil, wind power in China's Shanghai Province and a wind farm in Maharastra, India. They stress that their carbon offset projects offer traceability of individual project actions and for the independent verification and certification of the carbon credits generated. They have an interesting stance on forestry projects. Their website says they do not purchase credits from forestry projects because pure tree-planting schemes seek to create an offset by increasing the amount of stored carbon dioxide. This only matters if the trees will never be cut down, otherwise the CO2 will be released again. They instead focus on alternative energy projects.

Their program calculates carbon offsets based on the types of marine fuel types used for the main engines, gensets, tenders and watertoys and even helicopter fuel if required. The motor yacht Lionheart was recently signed up for carbon offsetting through this program. Certainly the easy answer is to say that people shouldn't be cruising these huge yachts in the first place but I think any reasoned effort to be green has merit.

[via Superyacht Times]

English yacht company, Sealine, is the latest to be hit by hard times. It is closing down two of its three sites and is set to lose 297 jobs (it employs around 630 people). The firm, which is based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, is entering into a 90-day consultation process with its staff to reduce redundancies among its office and production workers. Sealine has been in business since 1972 and manufactures around 300 boats a year ranging from 25 to 60 feet. All their boats are constructed entirely in house. A spokesperson for the company has said that the current economic conditions are the reason for the downsizing.

It looks like New Zealand yacht company Sensation Yachts is in some serious financial trouble. TVNZ reports that the Auckland-based company has to pay Russian investors more than $32 million over a deal gone bad. A $90 million contract was signed three years ago with the promise of five boats. The Russian investors paid $25 million in deposits but no boats were completed.

TVNZ goes on to reveal that Sensation's Australian boatyard in Newcastle is also floundering because they cannot afford to pay rent and keep workers. Both the Australian and New Zealand boatyards are facing increased pressure from creditors. Owner Ivan Erceg has been able to stave off creditors thus far paying just enough to keep the business afloat. Having to pay off the Russian contract could spell doom for this company which has produced some beautiful yachts including the 148-foot Maria Cha III shown above.

Luxury yacht brokerage Edmiston has commissioned seven avant-garde marine designers to come up with a nautical-themed take on Land Rover's classic Range Rover. The entry shown here, by self-described "yacht design pioneer" Dickie Bannenberg, features wooden side panels and a tailgate that folds into a nautical-style wooden bench, complete with champagne holders, while the rear windshield converts into a sun visor to shade it. The winner of the design competition will be announced on Sept. 25th during the Monaco Yacht Show, one of the megayacht community's biggest annual events. Visitors to the show will be able to custom order a Range Rover in any of the seven designs, with a delivery time of three to six months and a price range of about $300,000 - $1.2 million.

[via Megayacht News]

Renowned French champagne house Veuve Clicquot has teamed up with luxury Italian motoryacht maker Riva to produce an amazing new Grande Dame Cruise Collection of coolers and accessories for discerning yachtsmen. It's nothing short of a match made in style heaven of two very chic European marques. The top offering from the collaboration is an $80,000 made-to-order cruising trunk that resembles a small boat in itself and harks back to the golden age of traveling in style which we reminisced about recently. For something done on such a grand scale it's rather refined, a luxurious design without resorting to odious "bling" to attract those with more money than sense.

The trunk comes packed with four bottles (1988) and two magnums (1998) of Clicquot's coveted La Grande Dame champagne, six Riedel crystal champagne flutes and elegant table settings for six people. A smaller limited edition Cruiser Bag comes with a single bottle of Grande Dame and two flutes for more intimate occasions, and a matching ice bucket is crafted with marine flair to spare. All pieces feature the same lacquer work, mahogany inlay, chrome detailing and leather trim found on Riva's beautiful boats.

Riva, which dates from the 1800s, is an icon of the Italian Riviera's Dolce Vita style. The company first captured the attention of movie stars and the international jet set in the '50s. Its classic wooden craft, which inspired the Cruise Collection, have been owned by the likes of Brigitte Bardot, Richard Burton, Sophia Loren, Aristotle Onassis and Prince Ranier of Monaco. Their yachts, including more modern designs, can be seen at the chic European seaside resorts where the bon ton gather, and they have their own line of elegant nautical-inspired clothing as well.

There are many several sites online that help yachts find crewpeople but the latest Hands Om Crew, fills a very specific niche, they find seaworthy yoga teachers and massage therapists. The new company was founded by Denise Dobbs who served for ten years as a stewardess/massage therapist on yachts. The yoga crew agency is building a database of qualified massage therapists and yoga instructors from around the world who are available to serve on charters or private yacht vacations. Each candidate undergoes a three-step interviewing process including giving a massage or yoga class to asses their talents. The company also offers advice on organic/ayurvedic food provisioning for health-minded cruisers.

Yacht owners often are too busy to use their boats for more than a few weeks each year. Another thing to consider, certainly, is the cost of ownership. Yikes. That's the theory behind Luxury Yacht Partners of N.Y. Purchase fractional ownership, rent a yacht for a day or sell part or all of your yacht.

Fractional ownership yachts are a Sunseeker 61' Predator 2003, 25% share, $335,000; or a Burger 81' 1972, 25% share, $195,000, with an optional Robinson R-44 helicopter, 25% share, $45,000. Depending on whether your yacht will stay in the Northeast or be relocated to Florida during the winter, you get 30 - 70 cruising days each year.

All the operational expenses are shared by the up to 4 shareholders, and of course you pay for your own consumables. Operational expenses include docking fees, maintenance, crew payroll, insurance, repairs and a management fee.

Sounds good, and economical, but hold on -- not thrilled about others using "your" yacht? That's why you pay a management fee: A concierge service will ready the yacht for your time at sea, such as stocking your preferred beverage or having available your special sheets. Summer's coming, so buy that share, and get out the sunblock!

Whenever a celebrity tries to sell something expensive on eBay there's always speculation as to motives, but here's a case where it's pretty obvious what the deal is: music producer Scott Storch is short on cash. He's selling his yacht, called "Tiffany," on eBay for well under its $20 million value (per Rolling Stone magazine) because apparently he can't afford to keep it anymore. As of right now it's going for just under $1,000,000. What a deal.

I'm no eBaying expert but I'm not sure it's such a great sales technique to display in big bold letters "THE BOAT IS BEING SOLD UNDER DISTRESS ,OWNER BOUGHT HER AND NOW GOT SHORT ON MONEY." Seems more than a little on the tacky side, and hardly inspires the celebrity "cool" factor that might help it sell for more.

UPDATE: Bidding has ended at $1,000,101, that's a fair amount of cash but not enough to meet the reserve, looks like Storch is going to have to try again.

In the world of megayachts the race to be the biggest is generally defined by one thing, length. While the length of yachts is often disputed (especially right around the time Power Boat & Motor Yacht launches their list of the biggest yachts each year), it is not generally argued that length might be an inaccurate measure of which yachts are biggest. The writers and editors of The Yacht Report have decided that length is a one-dimensional measure of yacht size and that two yachts of equal length might seem quite different in size from the inside. Their measure of size, and the way they have ordered the 2008 Yacht Report, is to list the yachts by gross tonnage. I haven't seen the list yet so I don't know how much this system changes the list of the world's biggest yachts but it certainly is an interesting new twist on the age-old size debate.

Now here's a yacht that will catch an eye or two, plus blow your hair back and give you a thrill. Not to oversimplify things, but it's basically a yacht with a kite instead of a sail. The kite principle takes advantage of the greater and more consistent wind speeds found at higher altitudes, raising the boat to planing speeds and making sailing in the shallows and littorals a realistic option.

And on top of everything else the Kitano Kite Sailing Yacht is environmentally-friendly, so us "greenies" can indulge our love of the water guilt free.


Via Gizmodo

The mysterious Russian businessman who ordered matching yachts is about to get his complete set. A Wisconsin newspaper, The Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, says that Burger Boats launched the Areti II, the companion to the Areti I, on Saturday. Areti II is a 127-foot, tri-deck yacht and it will join its bookend, Areti I in St. Augustine, Florida after sea trials on Lake Michigan. Areti II will eventually be shipped off to Europe so that the Russian industrialist will have access to a yacht wherever he travels. The pair of yachts are identical except for different artwork in each and each has a cruising range of around 4,000 miles. The article also gives a clue to the reason behind the names. The owner is associated with Itera USA (Ateri is Itera backwards), a company that has interests in energy, timber and real estate. Likely candidates for the mystery owner therefore seem to be the Chairman of the Board, Igor V. Makarov or the President and CEO Raissa M. Frenkel, PhD.

If having a yacht of your own doesn't work for you then chartering one is the next best thing (or maybe it's better? None of the hassles of ownership!) there are lots of choices out there. What amenities are important to you? Where do you want to go? The options are endless, and if money is no object then the luxuries can be too. Ever had the chance to experience any of these megayachts? They're some of the most expensive out there available for charter, and I think they all sound awesome:

• The Christina O $422,000/wk
• The O'Mega $446,080/wk
• The Alysia $912,079/wk
• The Turama $868,644/wk
• The Leander $571,200/wk
• The Lubecker Flender 40 $868,644/wk
• The Princess Mariana $824,840/wk
• The Rm Elegant $618,800/wk
• The Indian Empress $700,000/wk