Jeff Bezos’ $500 Million Yacht and 246-Foot Support Vessel Named after Lauren Sanchez

lifestyle

by Joshua Rhett Miller

May 20, 2023 | 8:02 a.m

Like Amazon, Jeff Bezos’ $500 million luxury yacht offers every bell and whistle imaginable, from A to Z.

The massive, three-masted kuru began his career serving the third richest man in the world this week, cruising the Mediterranean around Mallorca.

The 417-foot schooner left Rotterdam in the Netherlands for the first time for sea trials in February. Dropping anchor in Mallorca puts its impressive size on full display.

It also showed the size of Bezos’ fleet: Not only did the Kuro sail into port, but so did its support ship, Apona, which is a huge skiff in its own right, and the luxury fast launches used to shuttle between the two — and the airship. Support in the form of a personal helicopter for his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez.

Sanchez also appears to serve as the mascot of the fleet, with the coro head, part of the traditional large sailing ships, modeled after her.

Koru is the longest sailing yacht in the world. Her three massive 229-foot masts reach a power of 20 knots. It is also the billionaire’s largest yacht that can move by the power of sail alone.

The masts are so tall that Dutch officials considered dismantling Koningshafen’s 95-year-old bridge to allow the ship to exceed 131 feet on its journey from Oceanco’s shipyard in Alplacerdam via Rotterdam to the North Sea.

That controversial plan was scrapped after a local backlash, including urging residents to throw eggs at Bezos’ “latest game,” The New York Times reported. The superyacht, formerly known as Y721, was towed to the Rotterdam shipyard, under the bridge, without masts.

Bezos, 59, and Sanchez, 53, in a bikini, looked ready for summer as the couple soaked up the sun aboard a kuru, a Maori word for ring or coil symbolizing new beginnings — perhaps a coy nod to their relationship.

Sanchez began secretly dating the founder of Blue Origin in the summer of 2018. Bezos then announced in January 2019 that he and wife MacKenzie were divorcing after 25 years, while Sanchez finalized her separation from husband Patrick Whitesell later that year.

Sanchez plays an important role in Bezos’ fleet: as a helicopter pilot, she is seen landing on the Abuna. She was also at Bezos’ side when he took the wheel of the Coro.

Kuro is first seen under construction in 2021 at Oshino Square. The company is owned by fellow Omani billionaire Mohammed Al Barwani.

Up to 18 guests can enjoy the yacht’s three exterior decks, including one with two pools. Luxo stated that the ship, which has a crew of up to 36, also includes a cinema, meeting spaces and lounges.

Every detail is designed for luxury, even down to the masts technology.

Bezos opted for high-tech “fur-in-the-boom machines,” which store huge canvases at the bottom of the mast, above deck. Each weighs nearly 2,000 pounds, but allows the deck to be kept rope-free.

Clearing the ropes out of the way increases entertaining space, and allows for a hot tub forward of the main mast.

The yacht is also built for speed. Her three masts provide “one of the largest yachting areas ever built,” according to the SuperYacht Times.

Kuro’s original designer, and the identity of its captain, are kept secret. Boat International noted: “With its elegant bow and curved wing, the lines are certainly classic, but we still have no idea what designer drew them.”

The Cayman Islands flagged vessel also has the same engine power as most sailing yachts.

While other billionaires measure yachts by size, Bezos ranks only 24th.

However, since kuru masts precluded the presence of a helicopter deck, the billionaire commissioned a support ship, the Abeona, named after the Roman goddess of overseas voyages.

In addition to the helipad, the 246-foot Abeona features two additional staterooms for four guests and up to 45 crew and support staff.

It is the largest custom support vessel ever built by Damen Yachting. On board the Mallorca were at least four skis, two speedboats, and an extra dinghy. Its heavy winch is capable of lifting a small submarine, although Bezos is not believed to own one yet.

Koro’s “classic outlines” are reminiscent of another billionaire’s boat: the Eos, a 305-foot sailing yacht owned by Barry Diller, 81, who may have inspired Bezos after hosting him on the ship.

Favored by big stars like Katy Perry and Bradley Cooper — who were Diller’s guests during Google’s 2019 Camp in Sicily — the German-made Eos can accommodate up to 16 guests and 21 crew.

It was the world’s largest private sailing yacht when it was completed in 2006. Worth $3.9 billion, Diller, chairman of IAC and Expedia, bought it three years later. Interestingly, her cape is modeled after Diller’s wife Diane von Furstenberg, a fashion designer.

But the $200 million, 305-foot-long sailboat is now dwarfed by Bezos’ boat.

As Kuru sailed the Balearic Sea this week off the coast of Spain, Bezos’ boat symbolically overtook several other tech billionaires’ ships — including Google co-founder Sergey Brin, $80 million, 240-foot Dragonfly, and co-founder of Oracle. Larry Ellison’s, $160 million, 288 ft. Musashi.

It would cost Bezos, 59, an estimated $25 million a year to run Kuro, but the world’s third-richest man is unlikely to need a loan with his $140.6 billion fortune, according to Forbes.

Bezos’ use of sail power sets him apart from most billionaires, but others are looking for a high-tech, carbon-neutral energy source: A Japanese billionaire reportedly commissioned the world’s first hydrogen-powered superyacht.

German yacht company Lürssen announced in March that it had a hydrogen-powered superyacht under advanced construction.

It declined to identify the future owner of the unnamed superyacht, but specialist publication Fuel Salesworks reports that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, worth an estimated $1.7 billion, has commissioned the innovative effort.

Dubbed Project Cosmos, the 374-foot superyacht was designed by Apple legend Marc Newson and first unveiled in early March at Lürssen’s facility in Rendsburg, Germany.

Once completed as soon as next year, the ship is expected to use zero-emission fuel cell technology to generate power for up to 15 days while anchored or traveling up to 1,000 miles at slow speeds.

Three other major shipyards, including those in Italy and the Netherlands, are likely to launch their own hydrogen starting to outfit newly constructed ships with hydrogen fuel cells from March 2022, with the first prototypes expected in 2024.

Other megayachts expected soon to join Kourou Bezos are also expected in the waters, including two Lürssen models, the 475-foot Luminance and 400-foot Jag, and the Feadship 821, a 389-foot wide from the Dutch manufacturer. .

But even those wouldn’t be the best on the world’s largest megayacht, the 593-foot Azzam, which was launched in 2013 after being commissioned by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi and president of the United Arab Emirates who last died. year.

Azzam, which means design in Arabic, is said to have cost more than $600 million and is about 60 feet longer than the world’s second largest yacht, the 533-foot Eclipse, owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

These mega-ships are expected to be overtaken next year by REV Yacht, a 600-foot yacht under construction in Norway that will seat 36 guests and 54 crew, according to Boat International.