It's larger than a Royal Navy destroyer and costs more than £120 million - this is the world's grandest yacht
By David Harrison
The Platinum, currently being built in the Middle East, is the size of a small cruise ship, is longer than a Royal Navy destroyer and drips with luxury beyond most people's wildest fantasies.
The yacht's details are swathed in secrecy, but The Telegraph has discovered that the sleek 525ft vessel, also known as Golden Star, will boast the latest must-have accessory for owners of "super-yachts" - its own submarine.
The Platinum's owners will also be able to use a helipad a hangar for small aircraft, and garages for jet-skis and four-wheel-drive vehicles, which can be taken ashore on special landing craft.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum
Inside, they and up to 24 guests will enjoy a stylish interior design, believed to the work of Philippe Starck, and gaze at original works of art.
They will also be able to watch television on giant plasma screens, films in the cinema and shows in the yacht's theatre.
A fully equipped gym, squash court and swimming pool will help guests to stay healthy and work off the calories that they might otherwise pile on from the haute cuisine meals that will be prepared by world-class chefs.
A health spa offering every conceivable health and beauty treatment will complete the pampering. Doctors and nurses will be on duty, and electronic security and sophisticated weapons will be installed to deter any unwanted guests.
The cost of this sumptuous secret project is being kept secret but is estimated at more than £120 million. The man paying for it is Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai. The super-yacht - or megayacht, as such giant vessels are called - is under construction in the United Arab Emirates and is expected to be completed next year.
At 525ft - 40ft longer than a Royal Navy destroyer - it will be comfortably bigger than the current giant of the yachting world, the lavishly appointed 452ft Rising Sun, owned by Larry Ellison, the chief executive of Oracle, the software company. The ultra-competitive Mr Ellison may not be amused since Rising Sun, which was completed in the autumn, has been the world's biggest yacht for only a few months.
Mr Ellison increased the yacht's size from 387ft during construction to outdo Octopus, a 414ft vessel being built at the same time by Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, who had wanted his yacht, which cost an estimated £113 million, to be the world's biggest.
Both men declined to comment on the new megayacht, but they can console themselves on their own magnificent pleasure boats.
Mr Allen might, for example, choose to unwind on the basketball court, in the music studio, on the speedboat or even on board the personal submarine - he has one too - that are part of his impressive Octopus.
If that pair feel disappointed, then spare a thought for the poor British-based owners whose super-yachts are dwarfed by their Middle Eastern rival. Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club, is reported to have bought a new yacht, Ecstasea, just 282ft long and valued at little more than £72 million.
Mr Abramovich has two other yachts, Le Grand Bleu and Pelorus, worth a reported total of £122 million, while Philip Green, the Arcadia entrepreneur who revitalised BHS, has a yacht worth a mere £20 million moored in Monaco harbour.
Size definitely matters when it comes to super-yachts. The average length has increased by 3ft each year for the past 10 years. As the number of billionaires grows, megayachts have become the new way for the seriously wealthy to set themselves apart from the merely rich.
"It's all about boys' toys," said Andrew Bray, the editor of the magazine Yachting World. "The super-rich are fuelling the boom and the richer they are the bigger they want their toys to be, to reflect their wealth and status. Super-yachts are getting larger and more luxurious every year."
Today's super-yachts are packed with toys and technology. Computer-controlled stabilisers keep the vessel perfectly steady, even at anchor: one wouldn't want champagne spilling out of guests' glasses. On The Platinum, the electronics, which cover everything from satellite television to computer games and security, will not be installed until the yacht is almost finished, to take advantage of the very latest technology.
The Platinum was originally commissioned in 1996 by Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the younger brother of the Sultan of Brunei, the world's richest man. It was being built by two German companies, Lurssen and Blohm and Voss, but Prince Jefri ran into financial difficulties and the project was suspended in 1998. The unfinished yacht remained at the shipyard until 2001 when Sheikh Mohammed arranged for it to be moved to the United Arab Emirates, where construction resumed.
The market for super-yachts is booming, fuelled by a surge in the Middle East and especially Russia. Charles Dence, of Nigel Burgess yacht brokers in London, which has offices in New York, Monaco and Florida and is planning to open one in Moscow, said: "The traditional markets in America, Europe and her Middle East are strong but the Russians are definitely coming.
"The new Russian billionaires see yachts as the ideal way to flaunt their wealth. Megayachts are a serious business now. More and more people are buying them and each one tries to introduce new refinements."
The world has 800 motorised and sail super-yachts - generally defined as those more than 100ft long - but more than 200 others are due to be finished in the next three years.
Super-yachts have grown from an average 100ft to more than 150ft in the past decade and the market has tripled since 1997. As ownership increases, builders say, a yacht has to be getting on for 200ft to make the owner feel special. According to Yachts International, at least 35 yachts are being built on that scale, including five of 290ft or more.
A yacht is the ultimate indulgence for the wealthy. Few owners use their boats for more than two months a year, the value drops after three or four years, and running costs can run into millions - a fresh coat of paint alone can cost more than £60,000.
For the super-rich, however, it is money well spent. Owning a megayacht and using it to entertain family, friends and business contacts for two months brings incalculable social cachet - and possibly lucrative deals.
Norberto Ferretti, the chairman of the Ferretti Group, one of the world's biggest yacht builders, said that super-yachts brought exclusivity, privacy and freedom. "Entertaining guests on a yacht is much more special than just bringing them to your villa," he said.
"Rich people can go to a beautiful hotel and pay $3,000 a night for a suite. The trouble is that when you go down the lift you're in the lobby with people who paid 20 times less. My clients don't like that."
Nice boat...
