I've been sailing pretty much my entire life (started age 10) and so I've seen a lot of impressive craft, but M5 is on a scale I cannot even begin to comprehend.

The wordage in this article is so full of class markers it's a bit mind blowing. Look at this beaut: """The interior has an on-trend high-contrast scheme forged of old and new pieces, new stone and a nod to art deco in the hardware"""

I'd be willing to get behind a wealth tax specifically for people profiled on boatinternational.com

What are the class markers in that sentence?

1) person says they want a fast boat.

2) person puts stones as flooring on said boat.

3) that proves wealth does not scale with intelligence?

also I gotta wonder about all those interior pieces flying off when it's tilted in the wind. are these really free standing vases? ...

The crew probably stow most of what you see during transits.

It's called Krazy Glue for a reason.

The vase must be attached or stowed; but I doubt this heels nearly as much as most yachts. However much money this is still full of engineering tradeoffs. If you loved sailing fast you would buy an AC75 that sails twice as fast and a comftable motor boat to sleep on.

And if you love "flying on water" that looks much more like it too

https://www.sail-world.com/photos/americascup/yysw240218.jpg

Hella cool.

TBF, the keel of the boat is itself so heavy that the weight of the floor is insignificant. "Fast" can have different meaning. Top speed is mostly a result of hull and sail profile. Overall mass will affect the acceleration but on long open ocean stretches with constant wind, you'll have plenty of space to reach the designed speed limit.

Hmm, this isn't really so accurate, there's a reason racing yachts try to reduce weight in every possible way they can, it does make a difference. You could say that adding a carbon fibre sail also makes no difference to weight versus the keel of a boat like Sayonara or Brindabella etc, but it's still worth saving the weight for the best performance.

And also, your point about top speed isn't wholly accurate either, you can get 36 foot boats now which can make 15-20 knots, which used to be thought to be almost impossible. But this is possible now with the advances in boat building techniques and materials.

Waterline length obviously makes a difference but if your boat is heavier, the wetted length and drag are going to be much greater. Also, lighter boats can crest over heavy seas in a way heavier boats can't reducing the slowing effect of a heavy sea, so even out at sea without making any maneuvers, you gain performance. Also, if you are tacking then acceleration is kind of a big deal, since you lose speed with every tack and have to regain it.

You should look at some of the maxi yachts and see the speed and acceleration they are capable of and understand that weight really does make a difference.

I presume they aren't trying to get this 1,000 tonne vessel up on plane.

You are right, there is much more to it than what I proposed.

We can all agree that if speed was truly of the essence, a luxury yacht wouldn't be the first choice. Speed requires sacrificing some comfort. Which, looking at interior pics, is definitely out of the question here.

True... you're definitely right. I don't think many of the billionaires would be comfortable cresting down waves at 35 knots, they would probably be either throwing up or praying. :)

> He flies everything from helicopters to float planes to multi-engine jets to get from his home base in San Antonio to his work in south Texas. “I’m probably flying a helicopter three days a week and a plane five.”

Combating "climate change" by taxing the common people to the Moon and back (especially here in Europe) is a joke, has always been a joke. At least this yacht of this guy from the article is using "green" energy for transportation.

You could tax this guy and redistribute that money to the common people.

Like this?

https://www.bbc.com/news/63544995

The hypocrisy is stunning

From the specs at the bottom.

> Fuel capacity: 54,000 litres

That's a lot of fuel to be calling it "green"

Not for a Texan!

54,000 liters of wind?

That's what it can carry, not what it necessarily uses in a ridiculously short period of time though right?

It doesn't have a wind turbine for electricity. Article mentions a 45 days at sea trip, for which they presumably want lights & cooking & entertainment for several people including crew.

Less efficiently generated, sure, but it's electricity they'd otherwise be using somewhere else.

In 21st century private supersonic jets will be cheered. While 3td class travel in sardine can will be banned as too wasteful!

We're not going to fix wealth inequality and climate change at the same time. Meanwhile, we're not going to fix climate change or wealth inequality by only taxing the emissions of the 1%.

Although having a carbon tax that's redistributed equally per capita (so you get a monthly check) is an interesting idea that ends up reducing emissions (because it disincentivises them) and is mostly progressive (because rich people consume and emit more).

Wouldn't a carbon tax that is noticeable to these guys be crippling for pretty much everyone else?

Yes, you get the money back eventually, but there's a time lag and no amortisation. Big purchases might become impractical.

Oh, I doubt rich people will care. They're rich, they don't have to care about any monetary incentives for their personal behaviour, if they don't want to. But the tax will still have the effect of moving money from them to people who are less well off. At least for the forseeable future.

Like I said, it's a fool's errand to try and fix climate change and wealth inequality in one fell swoop. Sadly, trying that will just end up solving neither.

Rich people are rich, they can do more than poor people, now that means they can buy a fancy car and good healthcare while poor people can't, soon it might mean they can fly across the globe four times a year while poor people can't. We should fix wealth inequality, too.

Sure, but as you said in the end a carbon tax sounds more like a wealth redistribution scheme than something that helps with climate change.

If you give more money to the less well off, they'll just polute/consume more. Meanwhile the well offs will still consume as much and just pay a bit more for it.

Or you make it potent enough, but then it will only effectively affect the less well off. Unlikely to be popular.

Ultimately, it feels like you need a non-linear carbon tax, but it sounds unfeasible to implement.

The idea is to make it potent enough to affect the behaviour of those 95% of the population that's responsible for 75% of the emissions (I made up that number, happy to be corrected) and whose behavior you can affect with economical nudging. No, they won't like that part.

But hopefully the extra income will soften the blow. The idea being that with it, you can either afford some of the high-emission-behavior you were used to. Or you can afford more of the low-emission-behavior than you were used to. Comparatively a lot more, because it's both taxed lower and you have extra income.

You can always give the money back beforehand if necessary.

Her generators alone release more carbon than any normal person.

I saw her on anchor Pender Harbour last year. I motored a couple around her which took what felt like an eternity. Mind bogglingly large

Sailing Yacht A

M5 is impressive for single-masted sailboats.

But the true marvel is Sailing Yacht A

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(sailing_yacht)

Quite possibly one of the ugliest yachts ever made.

I first thought that the title "ugliest yacht in the world" is not so easy to give. Then I looked at the photos. Ugh. The boat looks like a floating tank, like a warship with sails on it. Even the manufacturer Nobiskrug does not manage to shoot appealing photos of this monstrosity. https://www.nobiskrug.com/de/flotte/sailing-yacht-a/

> The boat looks like a floating tank, like a warship with sails on it

Well it's German made and owned by (Belo)Russian oligarch. It probably has concealed missile launcher.

Wow you weren't exaggerating. I wonder if getting a big name designer to design your product increases the chance of it being hella ugly, because when anyone tries to say "that's hella ugly" people just say "but Big Name designed it; it must be good!".

Kind of like George Lucas and the Star Wars prequels.

Apparently the style is polarizing. I think it looks really cool and unique.

Edit: Except when looking straight on at the front. It’s definitely ugly from that perspective.

This is everything sailing isn’t. If that makes any sense.

Agreed. Reminds me of the rich people's catered Burning Man experience, everything done by the help.

Bought as opposed to made, done or planned yourself. The latter is fine, at a certain point sonit becomes somewhat pathetic.

Edit: The M5 owner doesn't fall into the bought category so, he was very involved in the refurbishment process and knows his way around his boat. Which does look rather gorgeous.

it's luxury, not sailing

Owner in this case does seem very into the technical detail of the boat and enjoying sailing, not just partying on water and paying someone to move it about occasionally.

sure but the environmental footprint is still huge

Sure, but.. wrong thread? I thought you and the parent were saying this isn't proper sailing, how dare he use the same name for it as my hobby sort of thing?

What's the point of it? Does one mast make it faster/better/safer? Why the attention on this point over, say, some 21-masted ship instead?

The beauty and the engineering challenge, I believe. It's similar of what happens when building the tallest skyscraper, for instance.

There isn't a lot of detail in the article regarding the rigging / sailing setup but technically it should be possible to sail this single handed unlike a multi mast / ketch vessel. There should be little difference in term of sailing handling compared to a 40 foot sloop.

Is there a measurement scale for obsequiousness?

The very well-known Lickspittle scale, which is a base-10 logarithmic scale widely used around the world. This article by Boat International is 5.4 Lickspittles.

Gross.