Steve Jobs' Yacht Impounded In Amsterdam 221
SchrodingerZ writes "The Venus, Steve Jobs' custom-made mega yacht, (valued at 137.5 million dollars), has been impounded in Amsterdam. Philippe Starck, the boat's main designer, had The Venus impounded by debt collectors, after supposedly Starck and his company, Ubik, were paid only 6 million of the 9-million-euro commission. Roelant Klaassen, a lawyer for Ubik, released in a statement that 'These guys [Jobs and Starck] trusted each other, so there wasn't a very detailed contract.' 'The Venus is a floating ode to both Jobs and Starck's minimalist aesthetic. Made entirely out of aluminum, with 40-foot-long floor-to-ceiling windows lining the passenger compartment and seven 27-inch iMacs making up the command center.' The ship was unofficially unveiled in late October, a year after Jobs' death. It now sits dormant in the Port of Amsterdam, until the payment dispute is resolved."
Re:"Valued"? (Score:5, Informative)
You ASSume that because you've read the same or similar objections elsewhere, that I copy pasted my post? First, re-read my post, and point out where I mentioned wind, at all, please.
Maybe you would care to take a closer look at the Adams class destroyers I served aboard. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_F._Adams_class_destroyer [wikipedia.org] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Charles_F_Adams_(DDG-2)_underway_c1973.jpg [wikipedia.org]
Look at the photo, top right side of the page. Just aft of mount 51 (the big gun) and below the flying bridge. solidly welded to the main weather deck, you can see what we call a "break". It's purpose is to break the waves coming over the bow, so that they don't sweep men off the weather decks further aft. That structure is a solid piece of aluminum. Quite solidly welded at the bottom, and all the way up the side. As I recall, that structure was 3/4 inch thick.
You mention windows withstanding wind stronger than a ship has to withstand at sea. Your ignorance is two fold. Winds at sea are every bit as strong as they are anywhere above land. But - the wind is not the big deal. IT'S THE WATER!!!
When tens of thousands of tons of water tower over top of you, then come slamming down on your ship, then you begin to understand the power of the sea.
Look at that break again. We had ours, on the port side, ripped off one night in the North Atlantic. It was late at night, we heard one tremendous "BOOM" when we were hit by an especially large wave, then a hellacious "SCREEEECH" as the metal tore away. Luckily, the superstructure was not breached, or we would have had flooded spaces to deal with quickly, or we would have died.
Now, go look at your skyscrapers again. Tell me how often the Empire State building has crashed into more tons of water than you can possibly measure.
Maybe you'd like to revisit some of the tsunami damage done in the Pacific ocean a couple of years ago. How many skyscrapers withstood a 40 foot wall of water crashing into it at 30 knots or more?
Minor forces, you say? You are a complete and utter fool, who had better never go to sea. A minor force is what you are working with, mentally.
Re:"Valued"? (Score:4, Informative)
You speak of storms, sir, yet you also speak of destroyers.. note that the military ships you speak of will be standing on station, or going places that are a bit out of the way for various reasons (training perhaps, to ensure that the crew can take the worst of the weather when they need to)
But perhaps you don't have a grasp of the leisure aspect especially of the superyacht set? Those boats, like warships, can also travel at 40kts and have access to satellite images, wave height data and very good weather forecasting. They don't need to be anywhere near bad weather and indeed they usually run away when a violent storm approaches. They don't need to demonstrate how tough they are, and the people who own them really just like to lounge around in calm conditions in the sun. They can cross oceans in the calmest conditions, dodging around the worst weather and they usually do. The focus of design of such a yacht is not to endure terrible weather while carrying goods halfway around the world, nor to blockade a port in all weathers. The focus is that the owner is noticed, and envied for their wealth. That this boat is ugly is neither here nor there, it was custom built for 137 MILLION dollars and everybody knows it. The point was that people would look and say Oooh, that belongs to Steve Jobs, I can only dream I could be rich like him.
Ships go to sea.
They will get hit by waves. Big ones.
Shit happens out at see, and out there you're literally hundreds if not thousands of miles away from help.
Think about this, bright boy: you're two days out (i.e., it's gonna take you to days to make ANY port) and a squall blows up that drops a waterspout over your toy and wipes out all your antennae.
OOoops.
What you going to do now, Einstein? Have spare antennae helicoptered out to you? Your too damn far out.
Oh, you'll just go 40 knots? First, that little pissant toy doesn't carry enough fuel to go 40 knots for any length of time. Two, with those ridiculous windows going 40 knots is downright dangerous - catch a 10 foot swell wrong and buh-bye windows and half your hull is now open to the sea. Three, that toy can't do 40 knots anyway:
Those boats, like warships, can also travel at 40kts
BWWWAAA HAAA HAAA
I was a Surface Warfare Officer (Nuclear) in the US Navy. You're FULL OF SHIT.
Cruise ships and container vessels are usually about the fastest things crossing the seas at 25 knots or a bit faster. Warships can go balls-to-the-wall and get up over 30, but that burns a LOT of fuel, and they usually just poke about at 15 knots or so. Aircraft carriers because of their length can get up over 35 knots, but they'd just outrun their escorts.
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Steve doesn't miss it at all... (Score:5, Informative)
Expect this dispute to drag out for a while. Steve is dead, and the market for mega-yachts is never brisk. If the contract had a high content of handshakes and winks instead of numbers with signatures, the dispute could get uglier than the yacht, and that's saying something.
Nope. It's already been resolved with the family promising to pay the extra 3 million.
Source (Dutch; google translate doesn't handle it well): http://www.nu.nl/internet/2990610/familie-steve-jobs-lost-geschil-rond-boot.html [www.nu.nl]