TOM HUNT/Fairfax NZ The 134-metre super-yacht Serene, docked at Queen's Wharf in Wellington. Conference and incentivesgoisrael-conference-and-incentive.com/Plan your next conference in Israel One place endless possibilities! A $431-million super-yacht owned by an exiled Russian vodka magnate has docked in Wellington. Parked up at Queens Wharf in Wellington, the yacht is drawing hoards of onlookers today. CentrePort marine services manager Charles Smith said non-disclosure documents meant he could not reveal how long the ship would remain in the capital. At 134 metres long - longer than New Zealand's two navy frigates and multi-role ship Canterbury - Serene is said to feature an internal seawater pool, two helicopter platforms and a helicopter h...

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - Yachts are supposed to be white, so when a dark, angular, $33 million stealth ship pulls up at a local marina next to a bunch of fiberglass pleasure boats that haven't changed basic designs in 50 years, heads turn, cameraphones are raised, and questions are asked.  Answers, however, are not given. This week, what is believed to be the "Galeocerdo" was anchored off Sausalito.  The Cayman Islands flagged super yacht is described by Super Yacht Times  as a 118-foot, 17,000+ horsepower, 70 mile per hour jetboat tested in the Ferrari wind tunnel and built to do unbelievable things on the water by boat builder WallyPower for the Kondakji family, according to several blogs. It's the only one built yet in a class called the Wally...

If you want to know which are the best new production yachts out on the market at the moment, the best indicator is to look at the winners of the European Yacht of the Year (shown below). image: http://inspire-ipcmedia-com.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2015/01/Advanced-44-032.jpg Advanced Yachts 44 during European Yacht of the Year trials The European Yacht of the Year is the most thorough competition there is for production boats, the only one that comprises 11 different magazines, from 11 different European nations, testing 25 yachts in five different categories, over two weeks in two different seas. Following the running of the seatrials in the autumn of 2014, and the long jury discussions, the awards for the winners of ...

07:00 17 January 2015 Sophie Morton Nicole Scherzinger at the lauch of Sunseekers stand at the London Boat Show at Excel in Newham Picture by Ellie Hoskins What do Princess Anne and Nicole Scherzinger have in common? Comment Princess Anne meets representatives at the London Boat Show (picture: onEdition)The answer is a bit closer to home than you might think. HRH The Princess Royal and the former X Factor judge were among those attending the London Boat Show, which runs at the ExCel until tomorrow.The singer, who rose to fame with the Pussycat Dolls, cut the ribbon on board a Sunseeker yacht to launch the 10 day event.Princess Anne paid a visit on Wednesday to tour around the exhibition, meeting companies showcasing cutting-edge products and boats.Visitors at the London Boat Show ...

Practical advice for all sailors. Tom Cunliffe has sailed tens of thousands of miles all over the world and has been a Yachtmaster Examiner since 1978Earlier this summer I was obliged to leave my boat in a Plymouth marina for a week. Hurricane Bertha was powering along and locked-in Sutton Harbour was full.Despite paying top dollar, the berth that fell to my lot was clearly subject to surge, so the yacht was going to grind away at her fenders day after day. Bad news. The opposite berth was free so I was given dispensation to heave her clear of the pontoon with a couple of haul-off lines. Success.A week later, the fenders still hadn't touched the woodwork. If you find yourself making similar arrangements, be sure to dangle a rag off the outer line. An unwary nocturnal arrival might not s...

Early one Sunday on passage from Dominica to Antigua the crew of Nefertiti heard voices coming from the water. Daniel Calascione describes a troubling rescue of four Haitian refugees Onboard 90ft Swan "Nefertiti" Atlantic crossing from Las Palmas to Antigua This Sunday was like no other for the Nefertiti crew. The four of us were unexpectedly and fundamentally affected by an experience that allowed a glimpse into the lives of the less fortunate and four other people had their destinies rewritten. There is something special about waking up before the rest of the world to enjoy a few hours of extra time. In this case the feeling was amplified by the location: Dominica, a modern-day Garden of Eden. With overgrown rainforests, rivers, waterfalls and bubbling volcanic mu...

The Americas Cup 2017 will be held in Bermuda. Why and what does it mean for the Cup?The Americas Cup 2017 will take place in Bermuda.The confirmation of the venue for the 35th Americas Cup in June 2017 was announced by the America's Cup commercial commissioner, Dr Harvey Schiller, at a press conference in New York.During the announcement Dr Schiller said that there would be five challenging teams; (Emirates Team New Zealand (NZ), Luna Rossa (ITA), Artemis Racing (SWE), Ben Ainslie racing (GBR) and Team France (FR)) along with the possibility of two further teams for which the Cup organisation had received 'serious proposals'.There was also confirmation that the World Series in 2015 would visit Portsmouth, Gothenburg, Bermuda and one more location that is yet to be announced. In 2...

Satellite communications will be offered through shipyards as a standard package of options within ten years, predicts Tony Holland of superyacht communications integrators e3 Systems. That observation was one of many offered during e3's deep exploration of the issues within superyacht satellite communications, which forms the core of the company's expertise. The event, held during the morning of the last day of the METS trade show in Amsterdam, was entitled "Connecting You to Your Future," and featured in-depth technology and market analyses from leading minds at Airbus Defense and Space and Cobham. Noémie de Rozieres, head of satellite communication sales for key channel partners at Airbus Defense and Space provided an overview of the company's platform-agnostic approach to pro...

ARC gets ready More than 240 boats and 1,200 people, including 34 children aged under 16, will take part in the 29th Atlantic Rally for cruisers, which sets sail from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, heading 2700 miles across the Atlantic to Saint Lucia in the Caribbean.The first ARC race left Las Palmas in 1986 and has run ever since. However,a high demand from crews wishing to take part in the rally means that the ARC sailors will have a choice of two routes this year,with the introduction of ARC+ Cape Verde. Two starts are planned, and a fleet of 52 boats will depart Las Palmas marina two weeks ahead of the larger ARC fleet  which is 190 boats.The ARC fleet represents almost every principle sailing nation. This year boats are registered across the globe from Aust...

The 74-year-old went missing earlier this month after his yacht was found drifting off Brighton Dive teams have begun carrying out underwater searches in Brighton Marina in a bid to find missing yachtsman Len King. Sussex Police began their operations on Monday and are expected to finish on Wednesday. The 74-year-old from East Sussex went missing on 9 November after his 70ft Sunseeker Stefefree was found unmanned, banging into the marina wall.Sussex Police said in a statement: "Divers from Sussex Police's Specialist Search Unit have been undertaking a search at Brighton Marina in connection with the disappearance of yachtsman Len King on November 9. "The search is a part of enquiries ongoing into his disappearance. The search on Wednesday started again at 10am inside ...