Skat (yacht)
The Skat is a luxury yacht built by Lürssen of Bremen, Germany as project 9906, a number prominently displayed on the hull in a font matching that of military vessels. The project started in November 1999 and the yacht launched in 2001. The owner is Charles Simonyi, a former Software Engineer from Microsoft and the fifth space tourist. The yacht is the 64th-largest in the world with a length of 71 meters (233 feet).[1]
Simonyi once had a Danish girlfriend who called him "skat", literally "treasure" (or "tax"), but a common term of endearment similar to "honey" in English.
Contents
General specifications
- Construction: Lürssen Werft, Bremen, Germany, 2002
- Home Port: Georgetown, Cayman Islands
- Length: 70.70m / 233′
- Width: 13.5m / 44.3′
- Draft: 3.7m / 12.1′
- Displacement: 1636 metric tonne
- Hull: Steel hull, aluminum superstructure
- Engines: 2 × 2000 kW / 2682 hp MTU gas turbine
- Cruising Speed: 15 knots
- Max speed: 17 knots
- One engine operation: 13 knots
- Fuel: 210.000 liter (55,000 gallons)
- Water: 56.000 liter (14,793 gallons)
- Guests: 10
- Crew: 16
- Designer: Espen Oeino
- Interior designer: Marco Zanini
- Stylist: Espen Oeino
Features
- Elevator serving all four decks
- Leisure platform with Jacuzzi
- A gymnasium located centrally under the mast
- Helipad on the upper aft deck servicing a helicopter painted in colors matching the yacht.
- Observation platform with helm control halfway up the central mast.
- Two tenders
- Two Jet Skis
- Motorcycles and accompanying lift
The yacht can achieve a speed of 13 knots on just one engine. A cooling pump integrated into the gearboxes assures safe operation on one engine by pumping oil through the idle gearbox. The shaft of the idle engine can be disengaged, leaving the idle propeller and shaft to freewheel.
See also
Videos
Sightings
18 July 2010, Skat was moored in Dartmouth, in Devon
<googlemap version="0.9" lat="50.351868" lon="-3.574988" zoom="17" width="500" controls="large"> 50.350985, -3.574988 Skat in Dartmouth </googlemap>
Gallery
Starboard side boat dock, Dartmouth, 18 July 2010
Stern view, Dartmouth, 18 July 2010
On board personal helicopter, Dartmouth, 18 July 2010
On Flickr
<flickr limit=6>MY Skat</flickr>
