| Nobiskrug | 142.1M | S/Y "A" | 2015/17 |

S/Y "A" in Gibraltar before departing...

WOW!! Nice find on the video. Quite impressive to see all that work going into the sails of this sail ship!

Guys question are there no railings at all or is there a system where they appear when you want them and raise from the deck on the very front of the boat?

Has anyone actually seen this thing sail? I've only seen couple of pics with one sail up (the middle one) and certainly not under sail.

Double A in Monaco now...

2 more yachts and he has a four of a kind Aces

Rumors has got it that today is her official handover. I hope we will see her then under full sail.

I really hope that we get to see this thing under full sail. I unlike many people actually like her design. It's different from the typical yachts that we see.

Remember M/Y "A" started out that way... everyone hated her at first... now she is one of the most welcomed yachts.

Pictures out of her in Monaco, I note the fold-down balconies either side of the pool are deployed.

She looks much better with them down!

Ah found it! I like the middle sail the most with the "A". Finally nice to see her with the sails up.

Great to see her with the sails up but I am afraid to say that for me they are too small.

There is a long article in the current issue of a famous megayacht magazine obout sail technology for megayacht. Doyle Sailmakers (producer of the sails of SY A) shows on this article the history of this contract and the problems due the sheer size of those sails.

Bottom line from Doyle Sailmakers: The sails of A are the biggest upwind sails possible at the moment both from the handling point of view and from the sail cloth and laminate technology point of view. Bigger ones would have to be devided (like on M 5) and far to heavy, if made strong enough. The pressure on the clew at optimum angle and windforce was calculated at 90 metric tons. 40 kts of wind would have doubled that amount.

IMHO and my conclusion of the info available to me and the pretty scientific article in that magazine, at the optimum load and wind conditions for those sails and its rig, they are to small to to propel that boat properly on sails alone. With the propper wind conditions for propelling this giant hull, the masts or/sail could not stand the loads. Either or both would break. That is the reason, masts and sails were owner supplied items and not part of the building contract, period.

And just to make it clear. Sailing yacht a has had no real sailing seatrails jet. Up to now, only sail hoisting and rig functional test by the rig builder and Doyle sailmakers. What we have seen in the Kiel bay was SY A on the hook for the first hoisting test on the main sail (the only one ready at that time). On the hook, because they wanted the wind directly on the bow during these test, which could not be guaranteed, while being moored to the pier. The same off the shore at Cartagena. Hoisting tests on the hook for favorite wind angle.

SY A has not really sailed under any conditions jet. May be driven under engine power with the sails up but not really sailed with the engines off. SY A is not a sailboat, it is a sail assisted motor yacht, which may bring her sails up ones in a while, to make her look great and green but thats it. The risk of damaging her rig and her sails are far to high to use her above deck structure extensively. And maneuvering her under sail or tacking up wind is even farther away.

But her owner can use the boat for his (not its ) intended purpose.

Just my (two) Euro Cents

Some numbers that I thought were interesting.

Maltese Falcon is a 1157 (GT) yacht with 2,396 m2 of sail. SY-A is a 12,558 (GT) yacht with 3,747 m2 of sail. Actually if you look at a list of the top 10 biggest sailing yachts in the world their sail area is between 2k and 4k (in m2), SY-A isn't even on top that list all though her gross tonnage is about 6 to 12 times more than any other yacht on that list.

As someone who doesn't know **** about sailing yachts I can't see how that would work without being assisted by a few large engines...

I saw a quote (honestly cannot remember where) that designated S/Y A as a "sail assisted motor yacht".

I would love if someone could shine some light on how much those sails would 'help' on a normal cruising speed.

Add drag?
Oh, I got it; steadying sails...

I have never seen anything so ugly on the water representing itself as a sailing yacht, I suppose today one can call call a pigs ear a silk purse and of course it's totally acceptable and indeed it will become a silk purse to suit the standards of what the masses may call "class" and exceptional.