Joe Vittoria, the former CEO of car-rental giant - "We try harder" - AVIS has, with the building of Mirabella V - made his dream come true. But Mirabella V which sleeps 12 along with a crew of 12, can also make your dreams come true - for USD 250,000 a week....
Mirabella V is 75.2 metres long, 14.8 metres wide and has a draft of 10 metres with the keel down. The sails cover an area of almost 3,000 square metres - 2,791 to be precise.
Mast reaching 90 metres
The vessel dwarfs most other sail yachts with its length, a displacement close to 800 tons and a mast reaching some 90 m into the air. The dimensions can be illustrated by the fact that the helmsman stands some 6 m above the water. On one of the sea trials, when the yacht came into a fog bank, a rigger working on top of the mast reported that he was not even able to see the yacht below and yet was in the sunshine above the cloud. The vessel has been designed by the well-known yacht designer Ron Holland.
Speeds up to 20 knots
The sail plan is, of course, massive, capable of propelling the vessel to speeds up to 20 knots. The shrouds are made from extruded Nitronic 50 stainless steel, each with a breaking strength exceeding 5,000 kN, while the mast itself is fabricated from carbon-fibre reinforced epoxy. The fully dressed mast with stays, shrouds, cabling, equipment, etc, weighed in at almost 40 tons.
The hull and superstructure are sandwich constructions fabricated from glass fibre reinforced vinylester with carbon-fibre reinforcements in heavily loaded areas and where greater stiffness is required. The hull was laminated in a purpose-built female mould.
Keel weighing in at 150 tons
The vessel features a hydraulically operated lifting keel weighing in at some 150 tons. With the keel fully down, the draft is 10 m, while it can be lifted to give a draft of 4m to give the vessel flexibility in its choice of harbours and anchoring.