Update: If you missed Luna yesterday, this morning (August 31, 2013) it skirted Alcatraz and Angel Island, then sailed up under the Carquinez and Martinez bridges into the delta and then turned back along the same course. As of 4:30 PM they arrived back off Sausalito, but then sailed out the Golden Gate and south to anchor off Santa Barbara and then off Marina Del Rey in Los Angeles County, just south of Santa Monica and Venice Beach.
Every summer we seem to get one or two mega-yachts off our shore (though we prefer the Sausalito Educational Tall Ship ourselves). The last one was owned by American billionaire Larry Ellison, and now we have a Russian super-yacht anchored out in the Bay off Sausalito.
Before we recite the big numbers and share a video for Luna, however, we have to take a deep breath in appreciation of Sausalito artist Sabine Stetson's photo above, which places the mega-yacht in a different context as the backdrop for a twilight fisherman.
Now, here come the statistics.
This latest visitor is named Luna and is owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. At 377 feet long (that's one and a quarter football fields) it's the 23rd largest private yacht in the world.
It's also called the largest "expedition yacht" in the world. I'm not sure why you couldn't take a larger yacht on an expedition, but I'm positive that the billionaires have very carefully thought out this delineation.
In order to upscale prior visitors the Luna has two helicopter pads, a pool, a mini-hospital and a crew of as many as 47. Abramovich owns investment company Millhouse, LLC and the Chelsea Football (Soccer} Club, one of the big names in England's Barclay's Premier League.
Here's a video of the ship as it entered the lagoon in Venice, Italy in 2011:
