It is the end of a long story and the beginning of a new one: the Dutch trade magazine “Superyacht Times” reports that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ mega yacht was delivered shortly before Easter – and can now travel the world’s oceans to his heart’s content. This is also supported by the navigation data of the world’s largest sailing yacht and its “shadow ship”, the “Ableona”. While the “Koru” (IMO 9857298) is already in the Alborán Sea near Almeria, the “Ableona” (IMO 9899349) reported on April 5 that she will also arrive in the Mediterranean about two weeks later and has left the seaport of Port Everglades, Florida.
Rotterdam is finally history for Jeff Bezos
So far it has been a memorable journey. While relatively little was known about the order for the yacht in 2018, the ship gained worldwide attention by February 2022 at the latest. However, this was not due to record-breaking dimensions or unique equipment, but to a logistical problem: shipbuilder Oceanco wanted to complete the “Koru” in Alblasserdam, where the sister ship “Black Pearl” and its masts were also launched.
The problem: In the meantime, the city had finished repairs on a historic lifting bridge called “De Hef” – and reassembled it at a point between the shipyard and the North Sea. After that happened, the townspeople were promised that the bridge would stay like this – and that no one would touch the middle section again.
For a schooner like the “Koru” – or any other very tall ship – this is a problem. Because the bridge is an insurmountable obstacle in the way of the open sea. So Oceanco had the plan to dismantle “De Hef” again for a few days at their own expense so that Bezos’s ship could sail with sails (The mast that doesn’t fit). However, the people of Rotterdam found this so outrageous that protests were threatened and a group with thousands of members formed on Facebook who planned to throw eggs at the ship if it passed the bridge. A certain displeasure towards the owner of the “Koru” certainly also played a role.
After much excitement about the plans, Oceanco looked for another solution. In August 2022, the ship was towed unsailed via a detour via the southwest through the “Oude Maas” and finally moored in the Eeemhaven near Pernis (Jeff Bezos’ mega-yacht secretly changed shipyards). There the “Koru” got her sails and left her location last February for the first time for shipyard test drives.
“Koru” underway near Gibraltar
After another two months, the time had finally come and the “Koru” was able to leave the waters of the shipyard behind. It is unclear if owner Jeff Bezos is already on board the ship or if he will come when the dinghy “Ableona” is also there. So far, the multi-billionaire has left no indication on Instagram that he is currently in the Mediterranean.
The “Koru” ranks among the world’s largest (or longest) sailing yachts Wikipedia now in 2nd place. If you take it exactly, that’s not true. Because the number one there, the “SY A” of the Russian oligarch Andrei Melnitschenko, who supposedly no longer owns his ship, is a sail-assisted motor yacht or motor yacht with sail assistance. Unlike the “Koru”, it cannot (or hardly) drive without a diesel engine.
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