There is no getting around Jeff Bezos' new fleet of 125-metre "Koru" and 76-metre "Abeona". YACHT's sister magazine BOOTE EXCLUSIV first spotted the fleet on the pier of the Club de Mar off Palma de Mallorca and then at anchor at the Cannes Film Festival. During the passage, the sails were probably also in the wind. After the Dutch shipyard Oceanco invited project representatives on board for test runs on the North Sea, spotters always kept "Koru" under engine power. Even off Mallorca, the longest yacht ever built in the Netherlands was initially only documented on trips without sails. But then the white sheet was hoisted and the 17 metre wide steel hull finally took to the water.
From the three booms, the crew actually unfurled mainsails on gaff booms and three headsails. The furlers were supplied by Reckmann Yacht Equipment from Rellingen in Schleswig-Holstein. Two furling systems, each over two metres long and weighing 900 kilograms, sit on the jib boom, another on the foredeck. Three Reckmann engineers spent a year planning and calculating the system before it was manufactured entirely from stainless steel. With four-digit sail areas, it can be assumed that the foresails will be hauled in hydraulically and that a corresponding unit will operate below deck.
More about the Jeff Bezos yacht:
With figurehead and water cannons
Visually, there are certain parallels to the "Eos", which is managed by Barry Diller. The US media entrepreneur is a friend of Bezos, who in turn has been spotted on board the 93 metre long Lürssen sailing ship and is also said to have modelled the interior on "Eos".
In Maori, the language of New Zealand's indigenous people, "Koru" means "new beginning". This is fitting as the 59-year-old is said to have proposed to his 53-year-old partner Lauren Sánchez on board. Both are divorced and come from Albuquerque in the state of New Mexico. CNN reported that "Koru" was already cruising off the south of France at the time; paparazzi shots showed Sánchez leaning against the teak railing and in the tender of "Abeona" with an engagement ring on her hand. The figurehead of the three-masted gaff schooner also resembles the former journalist and pilot, who has her own company providing film productions with aerial shots. But final doubts remain as to whether the US billionaire has allowed himself to be carried away by such a clumsy gesture.
Apparently, the Amazon founder does not want to sail exclusively in the northern Mediterranean or the Caribbean, otherwise he would not have insisted on the installation of water cannons to ward off pirate attacks. The polished stainless steel nozzles are displayed openly, from "Koru" amidships on the main deck, on "Abeona" they are at the stern. They look like models from the Swedish engineering company Unifire, which are also used to autonomously fight fires on land and at sea - think of e-car cargo that has caught fire. The large model moves a maximum of 5,500 litres of water per minute up to 85 metres, can also be controlled by app via smartphone and can also produce festive fountains.
