Yacht shopping

Heymatt:

Where can I get a huge yacht like the one the Russian billionaire has parked in the harbor? I doubt you can just go down to the yacht store and pick one up. Is there even a Yacht-Mart? What kind of channels does a person even have to go through to get something like that?

— Ben, South Park

He has a name, you know, it’s Roman Abramovich. The Reader actually published a little news brief about the insanely luxurious amenities aboard Luna. That’s the 377-foot yacht docked at the Broadway Pier, making the Hornblower fleet green with bluewater-cruising envy. The kicker is that Luna isn’t even Abramovich’s big boat. His real trophy is the Eclipse, which was the biggest yacht in the world for a while until an Arab king decided he absolutely had to have an even bigger yacht. Still, Eclipse is 536 feet long, which makes it roughly the same size as a U.S. naval destroyer...although without the missiles, torpedoes, cannons, and other heavy firepower.

There are a handful of builders out there who can construct a yacht of such proportions, and just getting them to talk to you would be a handful. You’re more than welcome to give it a try, of course. Call Lurssen Yachts in Germany at +49 421-660-4166. They built the Eclipse, so I would imagine they can handle just about any fanciful design you or I could dream up.