They’re dominating the seascapes of harbour cities everywhere. From the French Riviera, to the blue Cote D’Azur, the Caribbean Islands and now our very own city, Mumbai.
Yet another super luxury yacht enters Mumbai as the city’s jetset get sea-friendly
MUMBAI: They’re dominating the seascapes of harbour cities everywhere. From the French Riviera, to the blue Cote D’Azur, the Caribbean Islands and now our very own city, Mumbai. Resort-like floating liners with the most impressive built, lavishly appointed rooms and fittings and the best of services. Fit to live life king size.
Welcome to the age of the luxury yacht a vessel that is several notches above other modes of transport. For one, you can chart its course to take you to your destination depending on preferable weather and events that interest you. If you want to enjoy the opera in Buenos Aires, just sail into the River Plate and spend the opera season there. Or get a feel of the surfing action in Hawaii and then a taste of the nightlife in Europe too perhaps, depending on the range of the yacht. An inimitable way to travel, for sure.
Perhaps that’s why Paris Hilton has one, so does the Prince of Monaco and very soon it may just be the one fixture that defines the rich and famous in Mumbai too. With the pace of life getting faster each day the privileged may well be wont to splurge on this new genre of leisure and escapism, to add their snazzy Porsches, Lear jets and multi-crore homes.
The last few years have seen a few high-end yachts in Mumbai’s waters such as Pershing, Azimut, Sunseeker and even luxury powerboats like Searay, albeit in boats shows and displays.
And very recently two of Mumbai’s biggest corporate families have just bought the most well-known of these crafts - the Feretti, regarded by experts to be the Rolls-Royce of yachting.
”The comparison is quite true,” laugh Gautama and Anju Dutta, whose company Marine Solutions have brought the Ferretti into Mumbai.
On a clear day you can see the two models being launched– Ferretti 460 and Ferretti 550 dotting the sea off the Gateway of India. The yachts themselves are quite large. A saloon replete with a cosy sofa, plasma TV and other fittings is accompanied by a dining area that further leads in to the galley. Here you will find master cabins and guest rooms with spacious washrooms in marble. Opaque oak wenge furniture and carpeted floors add to the pristine ambience on board. The wheel house has a new design which allows all the instruments to be located in a single panel to ensure better control while piloting the craft.
What is special is that the Ferretti has a patented Anti-Rolling Gyro (ARG) which helps to keep the yacht stable in rough seas and of course, sea-sickness away. “Other than Mumbai you can sail in monsoons aboard the yacht, but the waters tend to get quite choppy here. Once we have a marina in Mumbai that situation will be solved,” she says.
The Ferrettis are ocean-going vessels and allow up to 11 hours autonomy at a cruising speed of 30 knots. So, you might make a trip as far as Sri Lanka, Maldives and Malaysia even. Other high-end models could well be on their way soon. “Today, India is one of the largest leisure boating markets in the world, second only to Dubai,” says Gautama.
t_ismat@dnaindia.net
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