Jeff Bezos‘ new mega yacht is up and running, giving us a first glimpse of what half a billion bucks will get you in a sea vessel … and it’s quite a sight to behold in open waters.
The ship — a 417-foot sailing yacht dubbed the Koru — was seen leaving a port near Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and heading out to the North Sea. Jeff’s new toy’s starting its trials before it’s officially handed off to the Amazon founder.
At first glance, seems like Koru’s running smoothly so far … it has 3 mast sails which evoke more of a nautical aesthetic than your typical, run-of-the-mill billionaire mega yacht.
It’s also cool just seeing it at full speed. Remember, the last time we got a glimpse of this thing … it was being towed in the wee hours of the morning, and looked like a shell of itself.
The reason it was being hauled away from a shipbuilding yard at the time was that locals were outraged a historic bridge in the area might have to be partially dismantled to let Bezos’ beast cruise through the channel.
The backlash was so strong, in fact, the manufacturers — and, presumably, Bezos too — decided it’d be best to get it out of there and finish construction at a different location.
Unclear if the fact that Koru is done now means it’s going to sail anywhere near that bridge … but it sounds like it might be puttering around elsewhere. If so — it’ll hopefully avoid the ire of angry Dutch people. BTW, no word on whether Bezos himself has come aboard yet.
In any case, the yacht is for sure ready for its new owner … according to reports, Koru comes with an entirely separate companion boat (smaller at 250 feet) that has a helipad. As impressive as that is, it’s nothing compared to the main attraction itself.
Take a gander!
