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The captain nemo float out / captain nemo yacht, liveaboard / captain nemo submarine yacht / captain nemo yacht / Captain nemo nautilus, submarine / The captain nemo float out - seasteading / captain nemo lifestyle mobilis in mobile / virgin oceanic, captain nemo, business /

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Why scouring sea for sunken treasures is big business


By Eoghan Macguire, for CNN
March 14, 2012 -- Updated 1147 GMT (1947 HKT)

(CNN) -- Deep sea treasure hunters may evoke storybook images of swashbuckling buccaneers on daring ocean adventures.

For those in the rapidly expanding sector of marine archeology however, scouring the depths of the sea for sunken riches is business -- big business.

"There are multi-hundreds of billions of dollars of potential in this industry," says Sean Tucker, founder and managing member of Galleon Ventures, a U.S. based historical shipwreck and salvage exploration company.

"Treasure bearing ships that have historical artifacts, coins, emeralds" dating back hundreds of years are lying at the bottom of the sea just waiting to be brought to the surface, he adds.

See also: Swedish treasure hunters mysterious find

UNESCO estimates there to be as many as three million shipwrecks scattered across the bottom of the world's oceans.

Although Tucker points out that only 3,000 of these are likely to bear treasure of any value, discoveries such as the $3 billion of platinum located on a World War II merchant vessel by American salvage company, Sub Sea Research, last month confirm the industry's potential.

The possibility to reap such bountiful rewards has inevitably led to increased industry investment in recent years, says Tucker.

Hedge funds, private equity firms as well as cash rich individual investors have all been eager to provide the capital to back increasingly specialized treasure ventures.

As a result, the biggest salvage companies are now able to utilize the same advanced tools used by big oil firms to locate deep sea drilling opportunities, explains Tucker.

The most expensive exploration projects, which are almost always in a deep sea environment, can cost in the region of $30 million dollars to undertake, he adds.

High tech developments are a logical progression for a sector where the rewards for success are so high. But Tucker also points out that the potential to make vast profits has led some companies to explore wrecks that modern day governments still claim ownership over without permission.

While most salvage companies seek the cooperation of the relevant authorities before commencing their operations, Tucker says there are a significant number of "amateurs doing it under the radar getting what they can get."

See also: Voyage to the bottom of the sea

Concerns about the methods of some of those operating in the marine archeology industry are also noted by Lucy Blue from the Centre of Maritime Archaeology at the UK's University of Southampton.

She says that some projects plunder sunken wrecks with little concern for their archaeological composition and academic value, leading to the desecration of important underwater sites.

"When you dig a hole in the ocean you are effectively destroying the archaeological evidence. If you don't do that in a systematic way you are destroying important knowledge of past maritime activities," says Blue.

Not only is this frustrating from an academic perspective, she adds, but it also ensures that important monuments to maritime history are kept locked away in the hands of private collectors.

"You have to question ultimately what is happening with what is found. Are the artifacts held in a collection that people can benefit and learn from or are they being distributed and sold for the profit of a few," says Blue.

But while she is quick to acknowledge that not all salvage operations are inconsiderate to archaeological posterity, Blue also states that it is important for governments to sign up to the UNESCO Underwater Cultural Heritage Convention to guarantee high standards for all underwater treasure operations.

See also: The unsolved mystery of nineteenth century ghost ships

Tucker also agrees and believes it will be of more value to salvage companies in the long term to cooperate with international bodies and to work to the highest ethical and archaeological standards.

Given the considerations of shareholders and private investors, he says, "there's nothing worse than taking your investors money and then having a government tell you can't keep the treasure you've found," he says.

Tucker highlights an agreement between Florida based shipwreck exploration company, Odyssey Marine, and the British government to locate the wreck of 17th century ship the HMS Sussex as an example of how private businesses and sovereign countries can cooperate to their own mutual benefit.

He also cites his own company's work with the government of Colombia -- where along with partner company Seaquest International,Galleon are negotiating a "host country contract" to explore various underwater wrecks, divide the profits of any treasure recovered as well as providing items of significant historical importance to national museums and galleries -- as a responsible and productive way to conduct the business of marine archeology.

If governments, academics and private businesses can work together in a similar way, he adds, then the potential of this billion dollar industry can be shared by all.



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The Submarine Technology of Jules Verne

 

http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_21/verne.htm

 by Edward C. Whitman

As an inspiration to the submarine pioneers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, no other literary figure loomed as large as Jules Verne, the “father of science-fiction” and the author in 1870 of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. American submarine inventor Simon Lake, for example, credited his life-long interest in undersea exploration to having read Verne’s novel as a boy – and in 1898, he was thrilled to receive a telegram of congratulations from the author himself when his own Argonaut completed its first substantial ocean-going voyage. Educated as a lawyer, Verne lacked formal training in science and engineering, but nonetheless chose so shrewdly from the speculative technologies of his day in creating a futuristic submarine for his protagonist, Captain Nemo, that the essentials of his undersea vision – examined here – have nearly all been realized.

 

 

Nemo’s Submarine Precursors

Although very early submarine experimenters such as Cornelius van Drebbel in early 17th-century London and David Bushnell in the American Revolution had demonstrated occasional successes, it was only in the early and mid-19th century that the problems of underwater navigation were attacked in earnest. In France, for instance, the American Robert Fulton – later renowned as the “inventor” of the steamboat – attempted to win the support of the government of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte for an undersea craft capable of breaking the British blockade. Awarded a contract for building a man-powered submersible of his own design, Fulton christened his boat Nautilus – the same name chosen by Jules Verne 70 years later – and successfully demonstrated it on the Seine in 1800 and later at Le Havre. Napoleon soon lost interest in Fulton’s initiative, but subsequently, he supported the evaluation of a less-expensive wooden submersible built at Le Havre by two brothers named Coessin. Their prototype achieved some limited success, but then nothing more was heard of it.

In the 1830s and 1840s, several other French inventors – DeMontgery, Petit, Villeroi, and Payerne – offered other submersible concepts, and some were actually built. But it was only when the French Navy became interested in a design by Captain Simon Bourgeois and naval constructor Charles Brun that significant progress was made. In 1863, Bourgeois and Brun launched Le Plongeur (“the Diver”) at Rochefort and experimented with the boat for three years. Powered by a reciprocating engine driven by stored compressed air, the 140-foot long Le Plongeur managed to average five knots submerged but suffered from inadequate longitudinal stability and was eventually abandoned. At the same time, other European countries were pursuing their own submarine programs, and on the far side of the Atlantic, the American Civil War had stimulated more immediate interest in submersible combatants, particularly in the Confederacy, where raising the Union economic blockade was a primary objective. There, the most spectacular success was achieved by the hand-cranked submersible CSS Hunley, which in February 1864 sank the USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbor – the first-ever sinking of a warship by a submarine. In light of his voracious reading and exhaustive reportage of the Civil War by the European press, Jules Verne would certainly have known of these events at the time he embarked on writing Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

For the submarine community, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea raises fascinating questions: Just how prophetic was Verne in exploiting technologies nascent in 1870 to create Captain Nemo’s Nautilus? How accurately did he predict the actual evolution of the modern submarine? And how many of the undersea innovations he envisioned 130 years ago have actually been realized?

 

Designing and Building Nautilus

According to Verne’s tale, Captain Nemo and his men built Nautilus on a desert island in total secrecy by ordering components and materials from disparate sources and arranging their delivery to a variety of covert addresses. The design was entirely Nemo’s, based on the engineering knowledge he had gained from extensive study in London, Paris, and New York during an earlier part of his life. The steel double hull is spindle-shaped and 70 meters (230 feet) long, with a maximum diameter of 8 meters (just over 26 feet). As Captain Nemo describes it,

…Nautilus has two hulls, one interior, one exterior, and they are joined by iron T-bars, which gives the boat a terrific rigidity. Because of this cellular arrangement, it has the resistance of a solid block. The plating can’t yield; it’s self-adhering and not dependent on rivets; and the homogeneity of its construction, due to the perfect union of the materials involved, permits it to defy the most violent of seas.4

Submerged, the submarine displaces 1,507 metric tons (roughly 1,670 short tons) and surfaced, with only one-tenth of the hull above the water, it displaces 1,356 metric tons (1,495 short tons) – Verne is quite precise about this.5

Nautilus is controlled from a small, retractable pilothouse set into the top of the hull about a quarter of the way back from the bow. Several large bi-convex glass windows – 21 centimeters thick at the center – provide an all-around view, augmented by illumination from a separate electric searchlight mounted in an external pod abaft the pilothouse. There is no periscope – these would not come into general use for more than three decades. For use while surfaced, a small, flat deck fitted with removable manropes is apparently installed just behind the pilothouse, and this can be accessed by a hatch from below. Nemo and his first mate frequently use this platform for celestial navigation in conjunction with a pit log read out by electrical telemetry. The only other protuberance topside is a low “dry-deck shelter” faired into the hull for housing a metal dinghy that can be entered and launched from within, even while underwater.

Electricity – A “Powerful Agent”

With its imaginative technology, Nemo’s engineering plant for Nautilus is certainly the most extraordinary aspect of his design. On behalf of his nautical protagonist, Verne conceived what was essentially an “all-electric” ship at a time when the first practical applications of electricity were only a few decades old and a century before building any such ships became feasible. In Captain Nemo’s oft-quoted words,

There is a powerful agent, obedient, rapid, facile, which can be put to any use and reigns supreme on board my ship. It does everything. It illuminates our ship, it warms us, it is the soul of our mechanical apparatus. This agent is – electricity.

 

And indeed, Nautilus uses electricity for cooking, lighting, distilling fresh water, running pumps and other auxiliaries, instrumentation, and, of course, main propulsion. The ship is fitted with a conventional four-bladed propeller at the stern, six meters (20 feet) in diameter and coaxial with the centerline of the hull. Consistent with the relative diameters of the hull and propeller and the freeboard prescribed by Captain Nemo, Aronnax observes that when surfaced, the propeller blades occasionally rise above the waves, “beating the water with mathematical precision.” Verne has Nemo claiming a speed of 50 knots at 120 revolutions per second – probably in error. 120 revolutions per minute makes much more engineering sense for a propeller that size, particularly in view of the type of engine that powers the submarine.

 

Curiously, the main propulsion engine on Nautilus is not a rotating electric motor. English scientist Michael Faraday (1791-1867) had established the principle of the rotating motor by 1825, and an American blacksmith, Thomas Davenport, had patented a direct-current (DC) motor with all its essentials – rotating coils, a commutator, and brushes – in 1837. Yet, despite the fact that several motor-driven electric vehicles had been demonstrated in both Europe and America by mid-century, Verne’s notional design for the prime mover on Nautilus emerges as the electrical analog of a reciprocating steam engine, “where large electromagnets actuate a system of levers and gears that transmit the power to the propeller shaft.” In other words, the main engine seems to be mechanically equivalent to a steam engine with “large electromagnets” replacing conventional pistons – a choice that seems strangely backward-looking in light of Verne’s technical sophistication.

 

In contrast, the “breakthrough” that enables Nemo to generate virtually unlimited electrical power extrapolates electrical science so far into the future that only “the willing suspension of disbelief” keeps technically-astute readers onboard. Although some hasty writers have wrongly portrayed Nautilus as “nuclear-powered,” the actual source for her vast reserves of electricity is described as a hugely scaled-up elaboration of a well-known 19th-century primary battery, the Bunsen cell. Invented in 1841 by German physicist Robert Bunsen (1811-1899) – better known for devising the “Bunsen burner” – the Bunsen cell uses a carbon cathode in nitric acid and a zinc anode in dilute sulfuric acid, with a porous separator between the liquids. The device generates a potential of 1.89 volts, and later versions added potassium dichromate as a depolarizer.6 Let Captain Nemo describe his fundamental modification:

 

Mixed with mercury, sodium forms an amalgam that takes the place of zinc in Bunsen batteries. The mercury is never consumed, only the sodium is used up, and the sea resupplies me with that. Moreover, I can tell you, sodium batteries are more powerful. Their electric motive [sic] force is twice that of zinc batteries.

 

Had this actually been tried, the reaction of metallic sodium with sulfuric acid would have been exciting to behold.

 

Despite some ambiguity in Verne’s description, it also appears that the relatively low voltage of the Bunsen cells is stepped up to a more useful level using a double-wound variant of the induction (i.e., “spark”) coil invented in Paris by another German, Heinrich Ruhmkorff (1803-1877), around 1850.7 This same combination of a sodium-based Bunsen cell, probably some kind of periodic interrupter, and a Ruhmkorff coil is described later in the novel as a high-voltage power source for portable undersea lights. Ultimately, Nemo replenishes his sodium supply by distilling seawater and separating out its mineral components at a secret operating base located inside the crater of a volcanic island near the Canary Islands. The energy for this process is derived by burning sea coal, which he and his men mine from the ocean bottom.

 

 

Submerging, Surfacing, and Life Onboard

Similar to the approach adopted by subsequent submarine pioneers Simon Lake and Thorsten Nordenfeldt, the basic technique described for submerging Nautilus and maintaining a desired operating depth is to flood ballast tanks to establish net neutral buoyancy at the corresponding water density. The main ballast tanks are sized to bring the boat just under the surface when completely filled. For deeper submergence, additional water is introduced into supplementary tanks, which can increase the weight of the submarine by as much as 100 metric tons to match the increasing weight of its displacement with depth. As John Holland later established in his first successful submarine designs, a much more efficient depth-control technique is to establish slightly positive buoyancy and maintain depth using the dynamic forces generated by the boat’s forward speed. In fact, “with a view to saving [his] engines,” Captain Nemo also exploits dynamic forces, but only when he wants to take Nautilus below 2,000 meters. Then, two horizontal hydroplanes mounted at the center of flotation (that is, amidships) are used to angle the boat downward in response to the thrust of the propeller. Within a few decades of the appearance of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, it had also been realized that stern planes are much more efficient for controlling depth dynamically, but Nautilus has no stern planes. In any event, Verne claims extreme depth capabilities for Nautilus – Aronnax reports reaching a depth of 16,000 meters (52,500 feet) in the South Atlantic – reflecting a time when it was not yet known that the world ocean reaches a maximum depth of nearly 36,000 feet in the Challenger Deep.

To regain the surface, the ballast tanks are emptied – not by compressed air, but rather by using powerful electric pumps, supposedly capable of working against even the highest back-pressure. Aronnax even describes what we would call today an “emergency surface blow”:

The Nautilus rose with terrific speed, like a balloon shooting into the sky. Vibrating sonorously, it knifed up through those waters. We could see nothing at all. In four minutes we traveled those four leagues between the bottom and the surface.8 After emerging into the air like a flying fish, the Nautilus fell back into the water, making it leap like a fountain to a prodigious height.

Although Nemo acknowledges that he has the scientific acumen to “manufacture” air for ventilating the submarine underwater, he opts instead to use electrically-driven compressors to store breathing air in special tanks, with periodic visits to the surface to replenish his supply. However, when Nautilus becomes wedged beneath an ice cap near the South Pole – another geographical misapprehension – this dependence on surface air puts the crew in extremis until they devise a clever way to free the boat by melting the surrounding ice – using electricity, of course.

Nemo’s crew are a strange, largely silent lot, and it’s never clear how many there are. The most Aronnax ever sees on deck at one time are about 20, but there are likely more below. However,
the crew’s berthing compartment on Nautilus is only 5 meters (16 feet) long, so unless the berths are stacked like cordwood – or there’s a lot of hot-bunking going on – it seems unlikely
that there could be more than 40. On the other hand, Captain Nemo’s quarters are quite lavish, consisting of a 5-meter bedroom, a 5-meter private dining room, a library of about the same size, and a 10-meter salon – 25 meters out of a total hull length of 70 meters. Moreover, the salon contains a priceless collection of European art, a small museum of unique biological specimens, and most famously, a pipe organ. Large observation windows, concealed by movable panels, are fitted into the outboard bulkheads, providing a close-up view of the passing underwater scene to both sides, illuminated as necessary by the external searchlight.

 

Captain Nemo as Scientist and Explorer

For underwater exploration, treasure-hunting, and gathering food from the ocean bottom, Captain Nemo has provided Nautilus with an integrated airlock and a suite of sophisticated diving equipment, which includes diving suits with a self-contained underwater breathing capability clearly recognizable in today’s SCUBA gear. Nemo credits the Rouquayrol-Denayrouze diving apparatus – a “demand-valve” system invented in France in 1864 – as the basis for his version, which uses back-packed tanks of highly-compressed air capable of sustaining underwater excursions ten hours long. For undersea illumination, spiral gas-discharge tubes – actually invented earlier in the century – are used as lanterns, with excitation by the high-voltage output of a portable version of the Bunsen-Ruhmkorff system described above.9 Outfitted in this way, Professor Aronnax, Conseil, and Ned Land join Nemo and his men for a series of vividly-depicted underwater expeditions, where they get to experience both the wonders and dangers of the deep.

Despite Nemo’s obsessive, vengeance-driven dark side, Verne credits him with unparalleled accomplishments as an underwater scientist and explorer. Among his many discoveries are the lost continent of Atlantis, a subterranean passage between the Red Sea and the Mediter-ranean (i.e., a subaqueous Suez Canal), countless new species of undersea life, and new findings in oceanography. He maps the ocean bottom, measures thermal profiles, and observes that in all the deeps of the world, the water temperature approaches the same limiting value of 4.5 degrees Centigrade. He skillfully conns Nautilus through the Strait of Gibraltar by taking advantage of the same deep-lying, outward-flowing current layer exploited by savvy submariners in two world wars decades later. In the wonderful world of Twenty Thousand Leagues, there is seemingly nothing that Captain Nemo cannot do.

 

The Undersea Legacy of Jules Verne

Accelerating progress in fielding undersea vehicles in the late 19th century – and rapid advances in both natural science and engineering technology – created the milieu within which Verne launched his “submarine novel.” For a non-specialist, Verne was unusually well-informed about recent progress in the science and technology of his times. Consequently, his reputation as a futurist rests not only on his imaginative predictions of things to come, but also on his uncanny skill in crafting convincing extrapolations of the technologies of his era to achieve those visions. Flying continental distances, journeying to the moon, penetrating to the center of the earth, exploring the depths of the ocean at will – all these had been thought of by other men. But it was Jules Verne who first popularized notional solutions to these challenges and created a sense of possibility that had been absent before.

So alive does Nemo become for us in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea that generations of readers have been tempted to credit him with creating Nautilus and stimulating our subsequent fascination with the undersea world. But it is really the broad erudition – and extraordinary imagination – of Jules Verne that illuminate these pages, much as Nemo’s Ruhmkorff lights illuminated the treasures of the deep. Verne died in 1905, just as the first generation of modern submarines reached fruition and less than a decade before they achieved their first lethal successes in undersea warfare. In foreseeing the possibilities inherent in the submarine 35 years before, he had been right about some things and wrong about others, but the likelihood of fulfilling all the essentials of his vision is now little doubted.



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-- Edited by admin on Friday 20th of April 2018 07:21:29 PM

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Deep pockets, deeper ambitions

Date April 27, 2012


Sylvia Pennington


While jet skies and motorbikes satisfy the average bloke's need for petrol-powered thrills, the uber-rich are sinking to greater depths to get theirs.

The recreational submarine has become the boy-toy of choice for a swag of adventure-seeking Forbes rich list fellas including Sir Richard Branson, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and the Silicon Valley mogul Tom Perkins.

Branson has turned his attention away from racing into space to exploring the mystery of what lies beneath. The Virgin founder plans to take his self-piloted mini-sub 20,000 leagues down, to the deepest part of each of the world's five oceans, beginning with the Puerto Rico Trench in the Atlantic, later this year.

Hollywood royalty is in on the act as well. The Titanic director, James Cameron, first went below the waterline in 1997 in a former Russian military submersible to film his blockbuster. He returned to the watery depths in March this year to complete the first solo voyage to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, a 10-kilometre deep ditch off Guam in the western Pacific.
Advertisement

For some others, the sub is an add-on purchase; something to throw on the back of the super-yacht before setting sail on the high seas. On Abramovich's $1 billion super-yacht Eclipse, the world's largest at nearly 170 metres, the submarine jostles for room with two helicopter pads, two swimming pools and bunks for 20 guests.

Submersible prices start at about $US750,000 ($724,900) for entry-level craft and soon rise into seven figures for customised models; a snip compared with the nine- and ten-figure price tags of the big boats.

The editor-in-chief at Britain's online charter service SuperYachts.com, Ben Roberts, said the inclusion of a private submersible could give luxury voyages a fillip.

"Vessels with submarines on board often receive a lot of attention on the charter market and it's understandable as to why.

"Super yachts offer an untold amount of luxurious freedom to their owners ... but imagine having the ability to travel both across the sea and under it; exploring the abyss of an unknown world, like Jacques Cousteau with friends or guests, on the perfect personal cruise."

For the octogenarian venture capitalist Perkins, a former Hewlett-Packard board member and one-time husband of the romantic novelist Danielle Steel, it's this sense of liberty that keeps sending him down for more.

Perkins's latest yacht, Dr No, has been retrofitted as a carrier for his DeepFlight Super Falcon submersible, which he has already tested off Mexico, the Virgin Islands and in the South Pacific. "I love scuba diving, however scuba does not allow you to cover the depth and range of the DeepFlight Super Falcon submersible," he says."The fact that [it] is flown like a plane gives you a marvellous freedom of accessing three-dimensional space that you cannot get otherwise."

Designed to dive to between 100 metres and 300 metres, recreational submersibles offer a relaxed view of the depths.

Perkins says his sub has research as well as recreational functions - he plans to use it to study the behaviour of whales and other large ocean animals.

For those whose budget does not stretch to a personal submarine, a super yacht to store it on, or the four-person crew needed for launch and recovery, a San Francisco submersible designer provides the chance to get in the pilot's seat for a fraction of the price.

Hawkes Ocean Technologies offers one, two and three-day underwater "flight schools" in locations including the Bahamas, Mexico, Jordan and Lake Tahoe on the California/Nevada border. The three-day course costs $US15,000.

"The owners we have sold submersibles to have been interested in piloting the sub themselves but they also train their boat crew or resort crew to pilot the sub so there are multiple pilots," the Hawkes marketing chief, Karen Hawkes, says.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/motors/deep-pockets-deeper-ambitions-20120424-1xirz.html#ixzz2C7Yg406E



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Submarine LNG Tankers

Russia's Kara Sea may very well replace both the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea as the world's primary source of gas reserves for the first half of the 21st century. Its giant gasfield Rusanovskaya is believed to hold gas reserves of 282 tcf and up to 4 billion bbl oil, and the Leningradskaya and Zapadno-Sharapovskaya Fields, just 30 and 80 miles south of Rusanovskaya, respectively, could both prove to be supergiants near or greater than Rusanovskaya, if current studies prove correct - certainly enough to supply Japan and China for the next 250 years.

Rusanovskaya, with a water depth of only 50 meters, and the related structures of the Kara Sea shelf are, however, icebound approximately ten months of the year and are only accessible with icebreakers. Several proposals have been made for exploiting these enormous reserves, but the usual configuration of arctic rigs and concrete platforms put forth by the Russians and occasional Western oil companies simply can't handle the Kara Sea ice. Furthermore, although Europe may be a market for the huge gas reserves of the Barents Sea to the west, Asia is a more likely market for those of the Kara Sea.

Faced with these daunting conditions, few operators have made overtures to the Russians for tapping the Kara Sea's resources until now. Recently, the American company Werner Offshore proposed a unique solution to the quandary - submarine production and a fleet of submarine LNG tankers.

 

Submarine Solution

Jules Verne foresaw the conduct of commerce beneath arctic ice back in 1870, with the publication of his remarkable adventure tale, Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. In that classic science fiction novel, he told how the mighty Nautilus submarine commanded by the indomitable Captain Nemo, mined the ocean floor and plied the frigid polar waters at a depth of 3,000 ft beneath more than 4,000 ft of ice.

Only the US nuclear submarines Nautilus and Skate have since traversed the polar ice cap, in 1958, via the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. During World War II, however, in the Battle of the Atlantic, German U-boats constantly patrolled the Atlantic to sink Allied ships, and to keep them constantly on duty, a fleet of submarine tankers carrying diesel fuel hid beneath the polar ice until needed, then sailed out to refuel the U-boats.

Dubbed "Milch Kuhs", or "Milk Cows", the U-boat tenders were actually modified U-boats themselves. They were built at the Deutsche Werke and Germaniawerft in Kiel, Germany, with a length of 67 meters and width of 9.35 meters. They each carried just over 200 tons of diesel fuel and a crew of about 60 men.

Herbert Werner, head of Werner Offshore, was a U-boat commander during World War II. To approach the problem of tapping the Kara Sea's gas resources and transporting them to market, he remembered the near-forgotten Milk Cows of the German Navy and adapted the idea of submarine tankers to meet the difficult conditions to be encountered. Once conceived, Werner took his ideas to the Russians and consequently signed a joint venture agreement to exploit the Rusanovskaya and Leningradskaya Fields.

Werner plans to build a fleet of 22 submarine tankers by the year 2013 at a new shipyard set to begin construction in Vladivostok in 1997, which will be jointly operated by Werner Offshore and its Russian partners. The tankers will be 1,300 ft long with a capacity of 170,000 cubic meters of LNG. They will be manned by a crew of 14 and powered with an air-independent, closed-cycle diesel system from CDSS of the UK.

Werner's production scheme consists of a fully automated, subsea production system - designed by Werner Offshore - which will produce the oil and gas, with the oil piped to conventional surface tankers for transport to Europe. The gas, however, will be piped to a gas liquefaction plant on the coast of Novaya Zemlya Island, where it is to be processed into LNG, then transferred to submerged submarine LNG tankers.

The plan is for Werner's submarine LNG tankers to carry the gas in an 11-day voyage under the polar ice across the Kara, Laptev, and East Siberian Seas of the frozen Arctic Ocean north of Russia to Alaska's St. Matthew Island, in the Pacific Ocean's Bering Sea. Once at St. Matthew, the LNG is to be transferred to conventional surface LNG tankers for further transport to Japan or China.

The first voyage of LNG under the arctic ice is expected to occur in May 2004. Werner Offshore predicts peak production will find the submarine fleet carrying more than 21 million tons of LNG a year



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Why would Richard Branson mention "galleons full of gold" when asked by "business insider" why he is going to the bottom of the ocean? ....

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-05-07/news/31605041_1_solar-system-british-entrepreneur-ocean#ixzz2C78IUUTF

The colombian archives mention 1200 (no joke 1200) galleons lost at sea during the time of the spanish treasure fleet! only the treasure of the San Jose lost in the the battle of Baru a few miles outside of Cartagena has a load list evaluated in todays value at 17 Billion USD - no joke ! - this is a lot of money even for a billionair.

Colombia, legal follower of the spanish treasure fleet has indicated to be willing negotiate a 50/50 deal with professional treasure hunters that can pull of the recovery of such a treasure.

Mel Fishers Atocha (the biggest official find) shrinks to the size of a "mere sidenote" in this picture.

With gold prices up like never before in history - looking for lost gold - becomes a increasingly atractive business venture for somebody who can afford to be on the cutting edge of ocean and deep sea exploration.

Mel Fishers Atocha was a shallow water wreck - it took decades to find the pieces spread over kilometers and dig the sand and mud that hurricanes spread over it away.

Deep Water wrecks are frequently sitting undisturbed at the bottom of the ocean waiting for the one who has the technology to reach them. The treasure of the Central America was sitting on the deep sea ocean bottom with gold coins exposed at plain sight.

Developing this technology can be a interesting thing - not only from a scientific or military point of view...

A modern Captain Nemo could be the "owner of the sunken treasures of the world" - just like Jules Verne predicted in his Novel 20000 leagues under the sea...

.

A submarine yacht, combined with a ROV as performed in the secret recovery missions of the USS Halibut - would be an ideal tool...



-- Edited by admin on Tuesday 13th of November 2012 03:51:48 PM



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What Richard Branson hopes to find at the bottom of the sea




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VISIONS
Visionary Concepts for Vessels and Floating Structures

VISIONS is the new ‘think tank’ of the European maritime industry and has implemented an annual process for the definition and validation of visionary concept outlines for vessels and floating structures (i.e. potential products for the next 5-15 years).

Tags: Water

Background

Europe’s maritime industry is at the leading edge of innovations. However, to defend this position, future challenges have to be picked up as early as possible. Many ideas for long-term maritime products and services appear quite futuristic today and are rarely systematically investigated. On the other hand, without such project-based investigation, it is difficult to identify and define the possible R&D tasks necessary before commercialisation. In times of constantly decreasing cycles of technology and increasing speeds of innovation, it is essential to work on future challenges early enough, even if they may appear visionary today.

Objectives

The project has been implemented to organise a systematic, scenario-based, pre-competitive ‘think tank’ process to increase the number of ideas for potential products, validate them and identify possible necessary R&D efforts early enough to be prepared for future needs. The scenarios, which are input for the annual ‘ideas contest’ and which are created with the help of professional users, enable a link to business reality.

The process, which will be repeated three times during the proposed NoE duration, is open for teams of students and experts from Europe’s maritime universities (annual idea contest and open call for validation experts). The definition of all concept outlines and possible R&D gaps is done based on professional market and society scenarios created in the NoE, which are the basis of the process. The results of the annual process will be presented to the maritime industry, which is invited to team up with the ‘idea-creators’ for further development by annual showcase events and will be used as input for the definition of R&D strategy of the maritime industry, linked to its actual and future European Advisory Council and technology platform structures.

The project will also provide a closer link between the European maritime universities and industry.

Business Area 1: Maritime tourism/leisure
Business Area 1: Maritime tourism/leisure
VISIONS consortium

Description of work

The annual process (‘innovation loop’) has the following elements:

  1. creation of professional market and society scenarios by a dedicated scenario group including external key user interviews
  2. a ‘call for ideas’ answering the scenario challenges to student teams from the European maritime industry. The best five to seven ideas will be short-listed by the core partners and will be subject to further investigations.
  3. evaluation of the short-listed tasks done according to identified tasks and by selected experts (tender process). Compilation of a comprehensive report per idea (including ‘distance to market’)
  4. selection of three winners by a high-level industry jury, with an industry-sponsored contest award and the presentation of all ideas (‘showcase’).
The process is vertically structured and managed in five business areas:

  • maritime tourism/leisure
  • intermodal transport (short sea shipping, inland shipping, deep sea shipping)
  • floating infrastructures

    and horizontally structured in seven expertise fields:

    • market/society needs
    • technical feasibility/design
    • production
    • equipment/systems
    • operation/security
    • infrastructure/logistics
    • safety/environment.

The organisation and main decisions during the project will be done by leading industrial and research core partners.

Results

The expected results are:

  • systematic scenario work in all relevant business areas (‘think tank’ function)
  • a greater number than today of scenario-based visionary concepts, which are discussed, presented and considered by the industry as a basis for further development work, including floating infrastructure projects
  • systematic, project-based early identification of R&D needs
  • closer link and practice-based co-operation between the European maritime industry and the European maritime universities, using the creative potential in an organised and business-relevant way.

VISIONS will keep European maritime industry and R&D resources at the leading edge of innovation for global competitiveness, but also contribute to the quick and sustainable solution of transport problems in Europe.

Business Area 5: Floating infrastructures
Business Area 5: Floating infrastructures
VISIONS consortium


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http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/private-submarines-gain-popularity-with-millionaires-a-819643.html

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Lear Jets of the Deep Private Submarines Gain Popularity with Millionaires

By Philip Bethge

A new class of private submarines has become the latest plaything for the super rich. They allow would-be adventurers to navigate the wonders of the coral reefs, explore shipwrecks or even to cruise alongside dolphins. The cheapest models start at $1.7 million, but prices can go as high as $80 million.

Just recently, Graham Hawkes tracked down a group of hammerhead sharks. Along for the ride on his Deepflight Super Falcon at the time was an investor named Tom Perkins, a potential client. "We were literally stalking them from below," Hawkes says. "It felt like flying in liquid sky."

 

Hawkes is an engineer in Point Richmond, California, and his workshop is located at the town's marina, directly on San Francisco Bay. Visitors don't exactly wander in here often, but when they do come, they generally have full pockets. Hawkes builds submarines for millionaires.

His company, Hawkes Ocean Technologies, is one of a number of businesses that specialize in taking the superrich diving. Hawkes' asking price for the Deepflight Super Falcon, for example, is $1.7 million (€1.3 million). American manufacturer SEAmagine's Ocean Pearl costs even more, at $2.5 million, but has the benefit of being able to dive to depths of around 900 meters (3,000 feet).

Triton Submarines, based in Vero Beach, Florida, is another company that specializes in submersibles for the well to do. "Our customers are large yacht owners who want to offer their friends and their family something special," says Bruce Jones, CEO of Triton. In the deep sea, "they can show them things they have never seen before."

Crisis Hasn't Stopped Demand

The financial crisis hasn't stopped the demand for submarines, says Jones, 55. "There are 2,500 large yachts in the world today," he adds, and most of them have enough room to carry a submarine.

Today, Jones is in the Bahamas for a trial run. Around 20 prospective clients have come to Grand Bahama Island to try out Triton's submarines. From the dock in McLeans Town, a speedboat zips them across the turquoise water to the Atlantis II, a retired research vessel Jones uses as the mother ship for his submarine fleet.

The mustachioed CEO welcomes his guests on the deck, where two yellow submersibles sit waiting. Voluminous floats mounted on their sides also function as ballast tanks. Triton's trademark features, however, are the acrylic spheres jutting from the top and bottom of the submarines, offering a 360-degree panoramic view.

A shipboard crane lowers the three-seater Triton 3300/3, which weighs eight metric tons (nine US tons), into the water. The guests board through a hatch in the top. Pilot Troy Engen points to two black valves located behind the gray artificial leather seats and explains they can be used to quickly "bring it (the submarine) up in an emergency."

"Roger, payload is okay," Engen then calls into the headset that keeps him in contact with the Atlantis II. The pilot lets water gush into the floats.

A few waves crash over the submarine, then it's calm again. The only sounds are the whirring of the electric motors and the hum of the air conditioning.

Straight Out of a 'Bond' Movie

Engen pushes the small black joystick on the control panel forward. "Heading 285 (degrees)," he reports to the ship above. "Life support (systems) OK." The Triton continues on its whirring way, gliding just above a reef like something out of a James Bond movie.

Colorful fish glow in the submarine's LED headlights. A nurse shark whooshes past below the passengers' feet -- a surreal experience, since the acrylic wall of the ****pit, around 16 centimeters (6 inches) thick, becomes invisible under water. "Pretty amazing, right?" asks Engen, good-humored and tan.

The Triton 3300/3 can remain under water for around 10 hours and its purchasing price is about $3 million. Most of the company's customers wish to remain anonymous; Jones recently sold two submarines to an Australian businessman with a private island in Belize.

Jones' next idea is to take tourists under the sea. He's building an underwater resort with submerged suites (price per week: $15,000) off a private island in the Fiji archipelago. Five submarines will be on hand to ferry guests across artificial reefs during the day. "I am just an old kid living a dream," the CEO says. As a boy, he wrote letters to legendary French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, though Jones says regretfully, "Sadly, he never wrote back."

Triton's submarines are large and heavy machines, hardly useable without a mother ship, but Graham Hawkes in California has developed a very different submarine concept. His vessels are sportier and slimmer -- they look like small airplanes with truncated wings.

A 'Flight Over Ancient Shipwrecks'

"We're building the Learjets of the deep," says the inventor, who likes to compare his work with that of aviation pioneers. He speaks in flowery terms, promising a "flight over ancient shipwrecks," "barrel-rolling with the dolphins" and "skyhopping with whales."

A new design principle makes these lightweight vessels possible. Unlike other submarines, Deepflight models don't sink using their own weight, instead applying a similar principle of physics to that used by airplanes: When water streams across the inverted wings, the underwater vessel is drawn downward.

One of the Super Falcons stands propped up in Hawkes' workshop in Point Richmond. Two hemispheres of Plexiglas curve up from the top of the cigar-shaped submarine, resembling fighter jet ****pits. Hawkes clambers into the front ****pit and explains the technology involved. A joystick steers the submarine. Instruments indicate cabin pressure and oxygen content in the air. A compass and artificial horizon provide orientation even in murky water.

This latter-day Captain Nemo has completed around 200 dives with his submarines. A few months ago, Hawkes traveled to the Gulf of Aqaba at the invitation of Jordan's King Abdullah II. With researchers onboard, Hawkes saw nearly all of Jordan's coast. "We flew along the whole contour of a coral reef," he recalls. "I felt like a bush pilot."

Graham Hawkes and his wife Karen have set up a "flight school" for submarines as a way of attracting new clients. Many of the customers are enormously wealthy CEOs. Virgin founder Richard Branson, for example, recently purchased one of Hawkes' Merlin submarines, which the billionaire now rents out to visitors on his private Caribbean isle of Necker Island for $25,000 a week.

Plans for More Affordable Subs

But Hawkes has plans to make his submarines affordable for the less wealthy as well. He hopes to be able to bring the price for his "Ferraris of the ocean" down to around $250,000, as soon as there is high enough demand for the Deepflight vessels. "We've uncovered a new customer base with our submarines that nobody had thought of," Hawkes says, expressing hope for his business' future development.

 

When that happens, the super rich will have to look for something more exclusive -- perhaps the Phoenix 1000 model, made by manufacturer US Submarines, also part of Triton CEO Jones' submarine empire.

Passengers on this 65-meter (210-foot) submersible yacht can travel in comfort both above and below water. Its luxury berths easily hold 20 guests. The manufacturer promotes the Phoenix 1000 as a the unique "opportunity to explore the depths of the world's oceans in perfect comfort and safety."

Such luxury comes at a price, of course. The Phoenix 1000 costs approximately $80 million.

Translated from the German by Ella Ornstein



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Richard Branson, Necker Island, Virgin Oceanic, James Cameron, Bob Ballard, Chris Welch, Wilfried Ellmer, floating concrete platforms, honeycomb floating platform, floating concrete shell construction, ocean colonization business alliance, ocean base, deep sea investigation, vent base alpha, deep sea mining, oceanic aquaculture, floating structure development, floating marina development, key player network, underwater hotels, underwater tourism development, submarine yacht, seasteading, Peter Thiel, ocean investigation, business, Greg Venter,

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The Ocean Elders

sae PHOTO2008 don tedturner © Tom Ordway, Ocean Futures Society rich ritacolwell browne_home graemekelleher neilyoung Lindblad_home_SvenLindblad018a QueenNoor_10x8 Nainoa photo



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Submarine Superyachting

 

7 October, 2012, Ft. Lauderdale: The Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show will be featuring a large number of new yachts, tenders and marine products this year but, as it turns out, not all vessels at the show will be surface vessels. While megayachts have been known to carry small submarines Triton Submarines is not only launching a new line of personal subs, but also offering a new service: Triton Submarine Charters, in a partnership effort with captains and megayacht charter owners.

People who want to charter a submarine might have to wait however. Triton Submarine, based in Florida, currently only has two submarines ready for delivery. Marc Deppe, VP of sales and marketing, explains that the market has yet to fully develop and planning ahead is still very necessary. Deppe says that if the boats are to be delivered locally, in South East Florida, charters can be arranged fairly quickly. But in most cases anyone who wants delivery out of the area there needs to be at least three weeks lead time for delivery. One of the reasons for this is that Triton provides pilot, surface officer, technician and in some cases even a RIB pilot.

Passengers are not trained by receive pre-dive briefings and the crew itself is professionally trained. The two subs currently online both have dive capabilities of 1,000 foot but they have different passenger/crew capacities. The maximum capacity is currently either one or two passengers, plus the pilot. Charters must be made for at least two weeks (no maximum length) but fees are quoted by the day and include crew, shipping and any specialty equipment needed or requested. One of the first boats to use the Triton subs is the SuRi, which will be cruising in Antarctica at the end of this year. Triton has plans to add more subs, with deeper diving capability (as deep as 3,300 feet) before the end of 2013.

http://www.blueoceanyachting.com/yachting-news-and-information/general-marine-news/1937-submarine-superyachting.html

 



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  1. Ocean Elders | OceanElders serves as a catalyst in the conservation ...

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OceanElders

OceanElders is an independent group of global leaders who have joined together to use their collective influence and experience, supported by science and data, to promote ocean conservation, pursue the protection of the ocean's habitat and wildlife, and preserve its ecosystems and species biodiversity.

OceanElders was created to be a locus of collaboration in the field of ocean conservation. By working with and leveraging the work of other ocean organizations, OceanElders intends to encourage, endorse, and champion their ocean initiatives. The structure is optimized and the team focused to be a catalytic agent of change in order to achieve lasting impact at scale in ocean conservation and sustainability.

The idea for OceanElders began on the Mission Blue voyage to the Galapagos Islands in April 2010, where over 100 scientists, business leaders, philanthropists, and entertainment icons came together to support Dr. Sylvia Earle, 2009 TED Prize Winner, in her TED Wish to draw public attention to the urgent need for ocean protection. Gigi Brisson returned home from that voyage with a renewed commitment to ocean conservation. It seemed to her that all the efforts were admirable, but fragmented, and hence, often ineffective. The ocean needed one voice; one very loud voice. Aware of the mission and impact of The Elders in human rights, Gigi believed that a similar structure could be applied to benefit the ocean. Gigi created and funded OceanElders, developed its plan and model, and sought out global leaders who had a personal passion for the ocean and its wildlife. OceanElders welcomed Dr. Earle as its first Ocean Elder in June 2010 and has added eleven to the team since. We plan to add more Ocean Elders, including individuals from China, Japan, India, Europe, Africa, and South America.

http://www.oceanelders.org/



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Invasion of the super-yachts: They've got swimming pools, helipads and even a mini-submarine. How the world's mega-rich are turning London into a floating Olympic playground

By Zoe Brennan

This could be Monaco, or an exclusive resort on the Med as the world’s most lavish superyachts jostle for space. Their perfectly scrubbed decks bristle with security guards, while hot tubs bubble and helipads wink at the sky.

This is the playground of billionaires, oligarchs and A-list celebs. There are rumours that Roman Abramovich’s sumptuous $1billion boat will arrive tomorrow.

At 557ft, the Russian tycoon’s Eclipse is the largest private yacht in the world. It has two swimming pools, two helipads, a dedicated disco hall, 30 cabins, a cinema, a mini-submarine, and even its own missile defence system. Abramovich’s master suite is armour-plated and protected by bullet-proof windows and a laser system designed to dazzle long-lens photographers.

But where is this mecca for the mega-rich? Cannes perhaps? Or the crystal-clear waters off Antibes?

Improbable though it may seem, this is gritty East London — with all the spent industrial allure of  down-at-heel Beckton to gaze on,  for example.

Yet some of the world’s richest people used to mega-luxury and the most gorgeous, exclusive hideaways on earth are heading here — just in time for the Olympics.

Over the coming weeks the Thames will be transformed into a glamorous floating village of luxury and excess. Up to 100 superyachts are due to arrive and a glittering string of parties are scheduled.

Billionaires who are planning to berth their giant luxury vessels in London for the summer include Microsoft founder Bill Gates whose superyacht Gogypus will drop  anchor at the Royal Docks in  East London, five miles from the Olympic Stadium.

Microsoft co-founder, billionaire Paul Allen, is expected aboard his 414ft superyacht Octopus, manned by a 57-strong crew. Other superyachts believed to be on their way to London include The Maltese Falcon, owned by the Greek millionairess Elena Ambrosiadou, and the 246ft Leander, owned by Donald Gosling, the NCP car park tycoon.

The £80 million Illona, owned by Frank Lowy of the Westfield shopping centres, has already docked near Canary Wharf.

For those too penurious to run their own superyacht, there are charter yachts aplenty. The Seanna, a 213ft superyacht, is being chartered out to wealthy visitors for the duration of the summer. Yours for £294,000 a week.

The Harle, a comparatively modest 146ft charter yacht, is moored nearby with its crew of nine. It can be hired for £143,000 a week.

Officials at the Royal Docks complex, which looks after the Royal Albert Dock, the Royal Victoria Dock and the King George V Dock, believe they will have 20 of the world’s biggest yachts moored to their bollards by the time the Olympics open.

An estimated 800 security guards are expected to be hired and Mike Luddy, of the Royal Docks Management Authority, says: ‘It will be a real sight to behold and there will be a considerable return for us.’

At West India Docks near Canary Wharf, they are expecting ten or 11 privately-owned boats, reaching maximum capacity. There is also space for 19 super yachts at nearby St Katharine Docks.

Prime Central London berths, such as at Tower Bridge Upper, next to HMS Belfast, have been booked months in advance.

Such spots aren’t cheap. A 230ft superyacht will cost £64,000 for  two weeks of the Games in mooring fees alone.

Yellow Submarine: The rear deck of the 413ft yacht holds a submarine which can be taken out for two weeks at a time - something which may come in handy if the London transport network gets too crowded for Mr Allen

Once the yachtsmen have disembarked, parties and VIP treatment await. The yacht advisory company MGMT has organised a string of concierge services for the superyacht invasion. The company can arrange VIP tickets to Olympic events — and transfer by helicopter or speedboat.

Among the Hollywood stars reportedly attending are George Clooney and his girlfriend Stacy Keibler, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

The market for superyachts has defied the economic crisis. After a brief dip in demand following the financial crash of 2007, the market in luxury yachts is buoyant once more.

The dull blue-and-white interiors of old are long gone, and an army of glitzy yacht designers have sprung up to fulfil their clients’ every outrageous whim. In the world of top-end yacht design, what the client wants, the client gets.

One of the most sought-after interior designers is Tara Bernerd, who is currently overseeing the design of a 150ft superyacht being built for clients in Turkey.

‘They are three brothers, based in Istanbul — a sporty family who love swimming, canoeing and water skiing.’ They are building the six-bedroom yacht so they can share family holidays. Bernerd took on the project in October, and it is now nearing completion.

Before embarking on the design she undertook an in-depth analysis of her clients’ needs: ‘Where they will eat, how much salon space they need.’

An entire deck has been turned into a sky-lounge ‘with a cool club feel and floor to ceiling windows’.

She adds: ‘The heat is so intense in southern Turkey that being indoors part of the day is a necessity.

‘Everything has been so overblown on these vast yachts with cinemas and so forth, but this is far  more elegant.’

The main deck is a vast salon, with a bar on one side. A second bar in the sky-lounge area will create a ‘moodier more evening feel’. On the top deck is a whirlpool bath. The interior is done out in a palate of soft greys.

Bernerd says: ‘The client prefers a more contemporary, fresh feel. When you walk in, you’re met with subdued grey limestone, and a sleek grey wood floor.

'The ceilings are in white lacquer, and there is layered off-white leather. It is very sleek.’

A huge bespoke bookcase is the main feature in the library, again made of grey wood. The main staircase is made of polished plaster, with grey oak stairs and burnt orange detail on the handrails.

Bernerd says the scale of the vessel in dry dock is immense.

‘It reminds me of being taken to the London Science Museum as a child,’ she adds. ‘It’s like a dinosaur skeleton, the scaffold of ribs, and the height. It towers over you, the scale is overwhelming’.

Bernerd is also working on the  art collection that will adorn the interior of the finished yacht.

Dickie Bannenberg is another London-based designer with yacht design in his veins.

His late father Jon pioneered yacht design in the Sixties, creating classic boats including Saudi Arabian arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi’s yacht Nabil, which is now owned by Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal Alsaud. Jon Bannenberg also designed the interiors of John Paul Getty’s 262ft yacht Talitha G.

His son says: ‘While there is still a big middle ground of a fairly corporate and anodyne look, designers are increasingly trying to introduce some sort of individuality, on the basis that anyone commissioning this sort of yacht, with the price tag it commands, has a right to expect something that is one-off.

‘You don’t want to walk onto an impressive 150ft vessel and find it has a slightly ho-hum feel.’

For the 150ft yacht Raasta, Bannenberg’s studio commissioned a sculptor to make a series of handmade bronze wall lights at £2,000 apiece.

And for the 200ft Bacarella, the British sculptor Richard Kindersley carved a large stone map to be placed in the bridge deck lobby. Made from five pieces of Lake District slate, it depicts sea horses and dolphins, alongside marine-inspired quotes from Yoko Ono.

But that’s nothing compared to a project recently completed by yacht designer Remi Tessier, who created a five-storey atrium in polished stainless steel and glass, studded with tiny LED lights making the walls sparkle like diamonds.

The billionaire U.S. industrialist Dennis Washington has just completed a four-year project building a superyacht, Attessa IV.

He says: ‘I set out to build the ultimate family boat. I’ve tried to make every room an experience. A great gym and spa, just to make it fun for family and friends.’

It is believed he spent $50  million on the yacht — and an extraordinary $200  million refurbishing it. But, then, he can afford it. Gucci stainless steel lounge chairs decorate the decks, while a huge pool dominates the outside.

A helicopter perches at one end of the vessel, waiting to ferry guests to shore. It has four guest cabins, and everything from the curtains to the air conditioning is operated by remote control.

The outrageous cost, quite simply, doesn’t matter. As Monte Fino yacht designers say: ‘Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten.’

As Camilla Storey, a PR executive co-ordinating Olympic party events, says: ‘We will have the entire financial industry, everybody from the worlds of business, sport and entertainment, all coming together. That is a unique opportunity.

‘Do these people want to be lost in the hubbub, immersed in the tourist crowds, or do they want to be watching it, waited on hand and foot, from the top of one of the world’s most exclusive yachts?’



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  1. Oceanic Support, Network Status, Planned Outages, Known Issues ...

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Triton Submarines running dive operations in Japan with support of the 56m motor yacht Alucia
July 06, 2012

In order to capture video of the storied but elusive giant squid, Triton Submarines (Triton) is diving deep in Japan for a project funded by NHK, JAMSTEC (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology) as well as the Discovery Channel. The Triton 3300/3 and two other submersibles are being utilised. The main aim is to capture never before seen video footage of the mystical creature at depths varying from 1500 to 3000 feet.

The expedition will film in several locations near Japan’s coast in an effort to film a variety of deep-water predators. The filmmakers hope to film the giant squid at the expeditions final location in Ogasawara about 550 miles south of Sagami Bay where diving is currently taking place.

The submersibles have been fitted with special infrared and low light cameras developed by NHK to allow filming in near pitch-black conditions. Giant squid are extremely light sensitive so traditional underwater filming equipment that relies on powerful lighting cannot be used. A variety of scientific instruments including CTD’s and suction sampling equipment have also been added to each submersible. The integration was greatly simplified and enhanced because of the built in versatility and expandability of the electrical and PLC based control and monitoring systems in the Triton 3300/3.

The base of operations for this expedition is the 56 meter Motor Yacht Alucia. A purpose built expedition and research vessel, the Alucia is unique in the world. She carries three deep diving submersibles and a host of scientific monitoring, sampling and testing equipment. Operational support of the Alucia superyacht is being provided by the renowned Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a leader in deep-sea research and submersible operations for decades.

Triton’s CEO Bruce Jones is proud to see his company’s submersibles being utilized for research and filmmaking. “Triton is very happy to be part of this groundbreaking project. The opportunity to capture images of giant squid and other rare marine species is incredibly exciting. It is also a great opportunity to dive the Triton 3300/3 with a mission profile that makes use of its full depth capability. When you dive beyond 1000 feet, you can be sure that each dive will take you to places where no man has ever been before and that you will see things that no man has ever seen. This type of diving is what Triton is all about.”

http://www.charterworld.com/news/triton-submarines-running-dive-operations-japan-support-56m-motor-yacht-alucia



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More than a holiday: The luxury superyacht that doubles as a science lab

By Sheena McKenzie, for CNN
updated 10:32 AM EDT, Mon October 1, 2012

(CNN) -- A recently built superyacht suggests that at least some wealthy holiday makers are demanding more from their sailing trips than just exotic islands and sun-drenched sea decks.

The 74-meter RV Pegaso comes with the usual roster of flat-screen TVs, designer furniture and en-suite bathrooms, but a closer inspection reveals that it also doubles as a fully-fledged floating laboratory.

Indeed, Pegaso's "RV" designation stands for "research vessel", and the boat is equipped with a five-man submarine, a decompression chamber for deep sea diving and a small team of marine biologists.

Alex Flemming is the chief executive of the yacht's managing company, Pegaso Marine. He explains that anyone who charters the yacht can have as much or as little involvement in the research as they like, with the one condition that they always allow a group of scientists to travel with them.

Flemming believes demand for boats of this type represent a growing trend within the yachting community, where people are looking for something more than just a hedonistic getaway.

"The historic perception of the superyacht set is the south of France, drinking champagne and having a lovely time," he said. "But suddenly people are going: 'Hang on a second. I can go somewhere further afield and be a part of something bigger.'

"This is about getting the most out of time and also feeling as though they're doing some good," he added.

Read: Land of superyachts, super casinos and super rich

According to Sean Dooley of the Ocean Preservation Alliance (OPA), the boat is owned by an accomplished diver and marine preservationist who wishes to keep his identity private.

"This is his fourth vessel. He'd already been yachting for 15 years and traveled around the world twice," claimed Dooley. "It was at that point he said: 'Let's do something different.'"

The boat's original dining area was converted into a lab and fitted with scientific equipment capable of everything from tagging endangered marine life to monitoring water pollution levels.

As well as the decompression chamber, the vast array of diving equipment on board RV Pegaso includes a machine that produces high-quality oxygen -- allowing trained guests to dive deeper, longer and safer.

Read: The eco-conscious superyacht

One of the biggest draws -- for guests and scientists -- is the five-person submarine on board.

Weighing 14 tons, managing company Pegaso Marine claim it's the world's only privately owned diver-lockout sub, allowing divers to enter and leave underwater via different chambers and explore depths few others have ventured before.

Such experiences can be transforming. Dooley recounts the journey of a guest aboard a similar research vessel in the Socorro Islands, just off Mexico, who helped scientists tag giant manta rays in an effort to track their migration patterns.

The vital data was packaged into a video that the guest then presented to the president of Mexico.

"He was able to help conduct important research that will have a lasting impact. And as he kept telling us, this was the best trip he'd ever had," said Dooley.

But all this worthy enterprise does nothing to distract from the luxury embellishments at hand on RV Pegaso.

True to its owner's vision of combining high-level research with opulence fit for a sultan, guests who are not otherwise tagging hammerhead sharks or monitoring the breeding habits of whales, can enjoy comforts that include an eight-person spa pool, bar, cinema, gym and extensive observation lounge.

"When we do trips with our clients, they still like wonderful meals, they still like massages, they still like the luxury of living aboard a superyacht," said Dooley.

"But we've got a whole other layer of richness you just can't get from your average superyacht."

 

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/01/travel/superyacht-science-laboratory-submarine/index.html



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  1. Submarines to dredge lake for Nazi gold | World news | The Guardian

    www.guardian.co.uk › NewsWorld news
    25 Jan 2000 – An American-Israeli submarine mission is preparing to dredge an Austrian lake said to have been the dumping ground for Nazi gold and Third ...
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    Submarine dredge.

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    11 May 2010 – The story behind the curious remains of New Zealand's first submarine, built in 1874, lying beside the Strath Taieri Museum at Middlemarch, ...
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    gold dredge | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

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    26 Aug 2009 – gold dredge. I've seen a lot of contraptions to try and wrest gold from the sea floor and beach, but this one takes the cake. Be interesting to see ...
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    Pro-Mack Mining-- Underwater Mining Specialists

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    Patent US1497360 - GOLD-PLACER-MINING SUBMARINE - Google

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    GOLD-PLACER-MINING SUBMARINE DREDGE. CHARLES B. ... US4163330, Jun 14, 1977, Aug 7, 1979, Dredge cutter head having a volute compartment ...
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    Cape Nome Alaska, Bering Sea and Beach sand gold prospecting

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    Gold nuggets and flakes - placer gold on the Bearing Sea beaches: Nevada ... pan, dredge or something else you may be able to get some of that placer gold - and .... Interest in finding possible submarine beaches off the coast led to extensive ...
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    Gold Dredging Forum - New Zealand's Pioneer Submarine Boat

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    We. or at least the act thinks that a bottle dug frOm an old gold fields site is ... winches, gold stampers, dredge remains...and yes...a submarine!
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-- Edited by admin on Thursday 1st of November 2012 05:17:41 PM

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Triton Submarines diving deep in the water



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Extreme Explorer Yachts

 

On most megayacht charters, adventure means motoring from one idyllic Caribbean cove to another, or hopping among the Mediterranean’s most glamorous ports of call for ****tail hour. But a new breed of explorer yachts is bringing the same level of comfort and service one might find in Monte Carlo to the extreme ends of the Earth. From Greenland to Patagonia, these durable, long-range expedition vessels offer safe access to rarely visited regions of the world—and a host of tenders and toys for exploring them. Here we present five of our favorite megayachts for charting the adventure of a lifetime.



Built for traveling through icy waters, Aquos Yachts’ 148-foot explorer vessel Big Fish cruises comfortably from the Northeast Passage to Ant­arctica. But one of the standout features of this 10-month-old yacht is best enjoyed in the tropics: a massive foldout deck that wraps around the stern, creating a “beach” that provides passengers easy access to the water.

Charter guests can hit the water in one of several tenders and toys, which include a 14-foot Nautica RIB and a custom 26-foot boat with a 300-nautical-mile range. Big Fish packs 12 sets of diving gear (the crew includes a divemaster), as well as snorkeling, fishing, and windsurfing equipment; paddleboards, wakeboards, and surfboards; and water skis and kayaks. Crew members can capture all the action with Big Fish’s two underwater cameras, images from which can be displayed on the main salon’s three-story video wall.

Thanks to its stash of water-sports equipment, and its ability to access remote destinations, Big Fish appeals to an active clientele. “One charter party turned up in Tahiti on their [Gulfstream] GV,” says Jim Gilbert, the commercial director for Aquos Yachts. “They went directly to the stern beach [deck], unpacked their kitesurfing bags, and took off for a sail around the island.”

 


Like most charter yachts, the Lürssen-built Northern Star spends plenty of time in the Mediterranean and Caribbean seas. But with a 7,000-nautical-mile range and a hull built to ice-class specifications, this 247-foot explorer is equally suited to navigating the Earth’s extremes. Recent charters have taken Northern Star from Greenland and Norway to the Galápagos Islands and through the Panama Canal. With its hull, alloy superstructure, advanced sound- and vibration-reducing features, and zero-speed stabilizers, the yacht remains a comfortable ride in virtually all sea and weather conditions. (According to Sean Zamora at Moran Yacht & Ship, the charter broker for Northern Star, crew members claim that one cannot feel any movement on the boat while in rough waters.) The vessel’s double-thick windows—several of which slope inward to ensure that snow and rain do not stick—offer unobstructed views of the surrounding sea. For an even closer view, passengers can embark on an underwater adventure from Northern Star’s dive center.


Built by the 104-year-old Ger­man shipyard Abeking & Rasmussen, Silver Cloud has a Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH) marked by a superwide, 58-foot beam. The bulk of the vessel’s displacement is below the waterline—a feature unique to this type of design—which makes the 135-foot expedition yacht nearly impervious to most wave turbulence. The water-bound fortress accommodates as many as 12 guests in five staterooms and keeps them entertained with a 39-foot Intrepid Walkaround outfitted with deep-sea and sportfishing gear, as well as a 23-foot Novurania that can tow toys including a wakeboard, a banana boat, and inner tubes. Silver Cloud also carries diving and snorkeling equipment, plus sea kayaks and paddleboards. It does not include a helicopter, but an aft-deck helipad is at the ready for passengers who bring their own.




During her ongoing circumnavigation of the globe, Exuma has cruised along the Pacific coast of Central America, making stops in Costa Rica and Panama’s San Blas and Las Perlas islands. This spring and summer, the 164-foot motor yacht—designed by architect Philippe Briand and built by Perini Navi’s Picchiotti division—will be available for charter in the South Pacific, where its 7.5-foot draft will allow it to nose into shallow coves inaccessible to most yachts of its size. A hovercraft and an amphibious vehicle (plus a pair of bicycles and a moped) facilitate land-based adventures, while 14- and 21-foot Castoldi tenders tow water toys that include wakeboards, skis, and inflatables. Exuma also comes with diving and snorkeling equipment, a Sea-Doo, and two Seabob personal diving watercraft.




Launched more than 80 years ago and fully restored in 2005—with a stint in the U.S. Navy somewhere in between—the 233-foot Haida G is a classic yacht built for transatlantic travel. This old-school explorer boasts a maximum range of 5,000 nautical miles courtesy of a nearly 50,000-gallon fuel tank. Its extended range has enabled Haida G during previous trips to cruise along the Pacific coasts of Canada, the United States (including Alaska), and Japan. The boat’s classic styling harks back to the golden era of yachting, but Haida G features a host of amenities and toys befitting the modern adventurer. In addition to a dive compressor and six sets of scuba gear, the vessel carries 12 snorkeling setups, a banana boat, a wakeboard, water skis, deep-sea fishing equipment, a pair of WaveRunners, and 21- and 24-foot tenders.

http://robbreport.com/Boating-Yachting/Extreme-Explorers



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(CNN) -- It could be an alien spacecraft or a 21st century version of Captain Nemo's Nautilus from Jules Verne "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," but in fact it's a live-aboard, ocean-going laboratory that could be exploring the seas as soon as late next year.

Called the SeaOrbiter, the part submarine, part research vessel is the concept of French architect Jacques Rougerie. Currently the centerpiece of France's pavilion at Expo 2012 in Yeosu, South Korea, it has spent almost 12 years floating around as a mere concept. It recently completed its industrial design phase and construction is slated for October this year.

"All technical issues are resolved, all the modeling is done," says Ariel Fuchs, education and media director of the SeaOrbiter project. "We gathered institutional and industrial support five or six years ago and it's been a real institutional and financial project for the last two years."

It is expected to cost around $43 million and when built, will be 58-meters in height, taller than Nelson's Column, a monument in London. When launched, around 50% of the vessel will be below the water line, allowing for constant underwater study, Fuchs says.
It's designed to explore the ocean in a new way, mainly spending time under the sea.
Ariel Fuchs, SeaOrbiter project

"One of the first users will be the science community," he says. "It's designed to explore the ocean in a new way, mainly spending time under the sea, giving people the opportunity to live under the sea for a very long time, to observe, to undertake research missions, like marine biology, oceanography and climate issues."

Rougerie's inspiration for SeaOrbiter comes from ocean explorers like Jacques Cousteau and the experimental Tektite underwater capsule laboratory that was used by oceanographer Sylvia Earle in 1969.

Earle is one of many vocal supporters of the SeaOrbiter project; others include former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin and astronaut Jean-Loup Chretien. The space connection doesn't stop there as SeaOrbiter has enlisted the support of the European Space Agency and other industrial organizations to help develop the technology needed for the ambitious project and its onboard systems.

Designed to drift with ocean currents, the vessel will generate the majority of its power for life-support systems and propulsion to avoid other ships and storms from renewable energy, including solar, wind and wave power, Fuchs says. A side project is underway in conjunction with EADS, the European defense and space systems conglomerate, to develop a biofuel as the ship's main power source.

"It meets the requirements of today's philosophy of sustainability," Fuchs says.

When built, the ship is expected to go to Monaco -- the same place where Jacques Cousteau began his missions.

"The larger education plan is explaining how important the oceans are in to the balance of the planet," says Fuchs.



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Private Submarine Yachts


By CHRISTINA NG abc News

March 19, 2012

Some call it the final frontier. While humans have breached the limitations of land, air and space, the underwater world remains largely untouched.

In addition to researchers and scientists, another group has taken an interest in the underwater unknown--the mega-rich.

The race to the bottom of the sea is being led by director James Cameron and British entrepreneur Richard Branson.

This week, Cameron is launching his unprecedented mission to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the South Pacific. The "Titanic" and "Avatar" director is hoping to make the seven-mile dive as a solo venture, which no one has ever done before.

The only pair to ever make it all the way down made the trip in 1960 and spent only 20 minutes at the site. Cameron hopes to spend six hours shooting footage of the dive for a National Geographic documentary, complete with 3D footage.

Branson unveiled a single-person submarine in April 2011 that he said would break records by exploring the five deepest sea locations of the next two years.

"More people have been to the moon than to that depth of the ocean," Bailey S. Barnard, associate editor of luxury magazine Robb Report, told ABCNews.com.

The magazine for the "ultra-affluent" has written about private submarines in the past and plans to include the vessels in an upcoming "Toys of Summer" feature.

"They're pretty darn cool and we'll continue to see more of an uptick in them as toys and vessels for exploration, as opposed to underwater homes," Barnard said.

For those who consider sports cars, yachts, and private planes old news, private submarines may be the new accessory of choice for the wealthy, ranging from about $2 million to $90 million, depending on the model.

"Most people don't have any idea what happens below the surface of the ocean," L. Bruce Jones, U.S. Submarines CEO, told ABCNews.com. "I've been doing this for 25 years and it's something that's getting more popular all the time."

In addition to U.S. Submarines, Jones is CEO of four other companies including Triton Submarines, which specializes in luxury deep-diving submersibles. Depending on the model, the subs hold two to three people, dive between about 1,000-3,000 feet and cost between $2-3 million.

The company sells about four or five subs every year, but Jones has seen an "awful lot of activity" in customer interest for the private vessels. Most of the interest has come from mega-yacht owners wanting to get a submarine for their boats that they can take out whenever they want, without having to go through an underwater tourism company.

"They can sip champagne, sit around and see things no one else has seen," Jones said. "They love it."

U.S. Submarines built one $90 million submarine that was the equivalent of an underwater yacht, complete with dining areas, kitchens and a gym. Even so, Jones does not expect submarines to become common.

"I think that they're always going to be relatively unique," Jones said. "We expect to continue to accelerate to a new place in production, but I don't think it will ever become a household item."

Ian Sheard, director of engineering for SEAmagine, a leading producer of two to three person submersibles, agrees with Jones.

"We started in tourism and then had people asking, 'Can I have one?'" Sheard said. "[Customers] want a submarine and they want to drive it themselves."

SEAmagine is currently training its latest customer to purchase one of the vessels, a sea enthusiast who plans to move his yacht and submarine all over the globe to the world's best diving spots, like Costa Rica, the Galapagos and Alaska.

So, what's the draw?

"It's exclusivity. People can't just go do it," Sheard said. "It's mind-blowing what you can see down there. The places you have the possibility of going are literally where no man has been before."

Not everyone agrees that the crafts are the new plaything of choice for the rich and famous.

"There's been an increase in the interest of submarines generated by those interested in increasing that interest," Stockton Rush, co-founder and CEO of OceanGate, told ABCNews.com. OceanGate organizes underwater expeditions, mostly for research purposes.

"It doesn't take much to double sales," Rush said, when only a handful of subs are sold each year.

Rush also pointed out that boat and submarine combinations can be tricky, as they require special attention.

Subs require specialized training, dedicated space on the boat due to their bulkiness and weight and special certification to travel to certain places.

"There's definitely an interest in undersea exploration and in submarines in general, but the interest is in going underwater and seeing stuff, not in owning submarines," Rush said.

Rush doesn't deny the draw of the dive, which he calls a "spiritual experience" where passengers see and hear things differently than they ever have before.

"All the sensory input you get, plus the emotional side…it's totally indescribable," he said. "Everyone gets passionate about the experience."

And for those who happen to be both passionate and wealthy, a submarine may be just the thing they're looking for.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/private-submarines-yachts-wealthy/story?id=15953822#.UJGeT2dP-F8



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Living aboard a cruise ship

It’s a well-known fact that where you holiday during your working life can have a direct and significant impact on where you plan to retire abroad. After all, who wouldn’t want to spend their free time in retirement in a place that for them held the fondest memories? It’s a fact that some of the most popular holiday haunts are therefore also some of the most popular overseas destinations with retired expatriates; and whilst the thought of a beachfront mansion in Mexico or a condo in the Caribbean therefore makes absolute sense for a retirement home abroad, could you see yourself living out your retirement years on the high seas instead?

If you’re a cruising enthusiast and you like to spend your hard earned wealth and your hard won holidays on a luxurious liner as often as you can, then your experiences may lead you towards contemplating enjoying more of your free time in retirement doing just that which you love best, namely sailing the seven seas on board a cruise ship. There have been many tall tales told of wealthy widows living reclusive lives on board great ships that sail the oceans all year round – and there is actually some truth in many of these stories. Rosemarie Roberts was just one woman who made a home for herself on board a luxury liner for over a decade, and the QE2 was permanent home to Bea Muller for example.

So a precedent has therefore been set and a path has been marked that you can now follow if you too fancy the idea of living in permanent luxury on board a cruise ship. But how practical could this plan be, what are the pros and cons of inhabiting a small cabin and having staff at your beck and call 24 hours a day, and what are the decent alternatives for those who would love to live this life, but who may perhaps baulk at the tens of thousands of dollars such a lifestyle can cost year-on-year? We take a closer look at the bigger picture.

All Abroad! – The Pros of Retiring on Board a Cruise Liner

The benefits and advantages of retiring on a cruise ship are plenty, for example: -

You can have as many meals a day as you can eat, and the food is always fantastic!
At usually no extra charge you can call room service and instead enjoy the likes of breakfast in bed or afternoon tea in your cabin – daily!
Your accommodation will be serviced, cleaned and maintained for you constantly.
Staff will get to know you, and if you treat them well, they will reciprocate and you will find you enjoy an even better service.
There is a high standard of medical assistance on board.
You can swap ships when you want to change your scenery.
There is daily, high quality entertainment – all included in the price you pay.
If you want to swim, dance, learn new skills, join an exercise class, worship God, attend a wine tasting seminar, visit exhibitions or a book store, try your luck at a casino and make new friends every couple of weeks, you can do all of this and so much more on a cruise liner.
You can attend cultural enrichment events, watch the latest movies, go to the theatre, play bridge, take afternoon tea, have a spa experience, listen to live jazz, sip champagne or go down the pub and play darts.
You can wash and dry your clothes for free, and your room will be refreshed with new cosmetics and bathroom goodies on a daily basis…even saving you money!
You will never be alone or lonely, you’ll never get bored or have to face the day with nothing to look forward to.

Abandon Ship? – Reasons Why Cruising Your Way Through Retirement Might Not Suit You

Whilst a cruise for a fortnight or even a month can be an incredibly luxurious and stimulating experience, a lifetime of sailing and living on what is really just a floating hotel can begin to become tiring for some people for some or even all of the following reasons: -

Your ‘home’ is usually a less than spacious cabin that has been furnished and decorated to someone else’s tastes.
As lovely and comfortable as your cabin is, it is not a home where you can potter about and have the space and freedom that you may crave…for example, your allocated wardrobe space will be just about enough for a couple of week’s worth of clothes, but to fit a lifetime’s possessions in a cruise liner cabin is an impossibility…even if you upgrade!
Ships have to dock and dry dock, the crew have to have downtime and the liner needs to be out of service to be serviced or refurbished on a regular basis – at which point you become homeless!
If you want to swap ships you can – but this can be unsettling and upsetting to those enjoying their ‘routine’ and their life on their chosen original liner.
People who take longer than average cruises can find themselves missing their friends and family back onshore, and that the constant goodbyes they say to their new friends every couple of weeks can become trying as old faces disembark and a whole new crowd boards the ship.
After a while you may tire of eating out for every meal and of having no real privacy despite being alone in your cabin sometimes.
You can’t have pets on a cruise and your grandchildren can’t just pop in for a cup of tea.
The costs associated with living 24/7, 365 days a year on board a luxurious ship are quite steep, as we will soon discuss, and you may still need accommodation when your liner is in dry dock being serviced or refurbished.
You may not be able to avoid tiresome people, and you may miss the good friends you’re lucky enough to make when they leave after a couple of weeks.
Constant ‘entertainment’ can be tiring and eating and drinking all day long is bad for your health!

The Practical Aspects of Packing Up and Shipping Out

Determining whether life on board a cruise ship would suit you or not depends greatly on your personality, your likes and dislikes and whether or not you could adjust to residing in a relatively small cabin and paying a relatively high price to maintain your unusual retirement! The most obvious pros and cons have been laid out above, but you will have your very own reasons driving you forward towards your retirement on a cruise ship, and your own concerns that you will need to think long and hard about before you make a final decision.

To help you determine whether you could take the practical steps necessary to make your dream life a reality, perhaps it’s time to grapple with the facts – such as the cost of living on a cruise liner, and how you go about selecting your ship…

If money really is no object for you, then pick your favourite liner – from Royal Caribbean’s brand new Oasis of the Seas, to Cunard’s soon to be launched Queen Elizabeth – and book your place. Alternatively, you need to do your research into which liners offer you the standard of living you’re after, at a cost you can afford. There’s a great resource on the Internet (http://www.cybercruises.com/shiplist.htm) that lists every single cruise liner and company in the world – even those that are now out of business or decommissioned! This resource, or something like it, could act as your start point; you could make your own short list of the companies you like then visit their own homepages to learn more about their ships. With a company you like and a ship in mind, it’s time to look more closely at where that ship sails, and whether you could become part of life on board.

Many companies offer discounts to seniors, and those who book for extended breaks on board their ships, so it will be well worth you directly approaching your preferred shortlist of companies about booking your passage on one of their ships for life! If you explain that you’re of a mind to retire on board and you’d like to discuss securing an ongoing annual rate for your presence aboard their liner, a deal may be brokered that will see you enjoy a significant discount on the book price. If you look online or in brochures to get an idea of what your life may cost you before any discount is applied however, you’ll see it of course depends on the company, the liner, the room you choose and the route you sail.

One of the cheapest ways you can perhaps make your dream come true will be joining a decent ship on a permanent Caribbean loop – you can expect to pay about $1,000 a week with Holland America for just such a life for example.

This can have the added advantage that you regularly re-dock in Florida, so you can catch up with old friends back home and perhaps even maintain some sort of postal address service on land to make aspects of your life easier to manage. However, if your idea of cruising is literally seeing the whole world from the decks of a luxurious liner, there is one alternative that we’ve yet to even mention – you could actually buy yourself anything from a one bedroom apartment right up to a 6 bedroom luxurious penthouse aboard The World – a brand new concept in cruising that’s an exceptionally sumptuous liner specifically designed for those who want to live on board, or travel the world for extended periods of their life.

The World’s own philosophy sums up this exciting opportunity (http://www.aboardtheworld.com/) : -

“Your private apartment becomes your magic carpet and provides you with the ride of your life! Life aboard The World is just the beginning of a lifestyle devoted to the new, the exciting, the adventure and the peace of allowing yourself into cultures and communities only witnessed on television documentaries. Our spacious apartments fitted with all the accouterments found in quality home design, a relaxed atmosphere and a never ending itinerary to the far reaches of the world are all combined to make The World the most unique vacation home experience.”

If you decide to rent your accommodation instead of purchasing an apartment on board, and you’d like to sample just one year of travel before you commit to The World’s lifestyle for example, you could consider boarding on March the 1st 2010, travelling for a year to places as varied and fantastic as Chile, Lima, Thailand, Venice, Dubai, Muscat, Croatia, Spain, Ireland, Greenland, New York, the Caribbean and Antarctica at a cost of $613,800 for a basic studio residence.

However, upgrade and buy in and you can purchase a one bed, two bath apartment styled by Hirsch Bedner Associates Design and literally come and go, join and leave the ship whenever it suits you. There is a spa on board, 6 restaurants, shops, a movie theatre, you can go out for dinner or have friends over for luncheon, socialise in good company or relax in private. You can improve your golf handicap, play tennis, do yoga or workout – and the best thing is, you will be living with and travelling with likeminded people who will become your friends.

One bedroom apartments start from $825,000 (337/31.3 sq ft/meters, studio with bath) and two bedroom apartments from $2,300,000 to £2,950,000 (1,106/102.8 to 1,391/129.2 sq ft/meters). Annual maintenance fees are based on square footage and calculated at $159,00 USD per square foot, and annual food and beverage will cost you $33,180.

Acceptable Alternatives to a Permanent Life on the Ocean Waves

The World perhaps offers a best of all worlds approach to those who can afford to buy in. You can hop on and off and travel for as long or as short a period as you like either by renting or buying an apartment – and you will literally cruise all over the world. Cruising a Caribbean loop or adding in Mexico, Canada and even Alaska can be an option for those who want to get away but not stay too far from home, or alternatively, you could buy a yacht and sail the seas alone!

You may find that you can enjoy your retirement by dividing your time between shore and ship, by perhaps downsizing your home on shore to fund your regular sojourns at sea. Maybe you could also move closer to where cruise liners regularly dock to cut down on travelling time and associated costs of getting to your next cruise. Don’t be put off your dream by fiscal concerns when you can perhaps find a way around them – but just ensure you do enough research to make sure that your dream is really what you want.

http://www.escapefromamerica.com/2010/02/cruising-towards-retirement/



-- Edited by admin on Wednesday 31st of October 2012 10:21:18 PM



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Victor Ozols has long talked about taking up yachting as a hobby. He recently realized that he was thinking too small.

Money aside, I've always thought I'd make a great yachtsman. I've seen that yacht show on the Travel Channel, and I'm pretty sure I can do everything those experienced yacht owners do, only better. I'd cruise the waterways of the world in an energy-efficient mega-yacht with my family, dropping by elegant ports of call to host parties and explore the new surroundings, all while treating my crew really nicely and doing some charitable stuff for the local people as well. Yeah, it would be great.

Only maybe a regular yacht isn't good enough, not when I can have a luxury submarine instead. As the U.S. Submarines website points out, a yacht is fine and dandy until you hit rough water, and then all the fancy floor tiles in the world won't keep you from getting seasick. A submarine, however, has the ability to submerge to the tranquil world beneath the whitecaps with a moment's notice, so you can enjoy a few rousing games of underwater baccarat without losing your lunch on the croupier. Knowing that, why would anybody suffer with a "regular" mega-yacht? It's crazy.

Christmas is still four months away, so there's plenty of time to put a bid on the Phoenix 1000 (pictured), the most luxurious submarine in the world. At 65 meters long and 8 meters wide, it has 460 square meters of interior space spread out over multiple decks. A flying bridge at the top provides a fantastic perch from which to take in the sun when on the surface, while the deck saloon and passenger areas below have every conceivable amenity, including panoramic windows that provide amazing views of the outside world. There are even remote fish feeders to give you something to look at as you gaze into the great blue beyond. A diver lockout chamber and a diving mini-sub ensure that a quick getaway is always possible should the need arise.

The estimated price of the Phoenix 1000 is $78 million, but it looks like it's been on the market for a while, so there might be some wiggle room. What do you think, Jaunted readers? Show your weekend editor some love and pony up for the luxury submarine he so surely deserves for his efforts. I promise to be the nicest submarine owner on the seven seas.

http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/9/145354/8067/travel/Luxury+Submarine+Travel%3A+When+a+Regular+Mega-Yacht+Just+Won%27t+Cut+It



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For billionaires only - Most popular luxury submarines

Loitering around the race-courses and five-star hotels used to be the most favorite pass-time of the filthy rich in the society a few years back. But now, the luxury playgrounds include deep-under the sea, to the high peak of Himalayas, to the deep spaces of the Universe. Living under the sea in private-owned submarines is the latest fad among the super-rich.

A few months back, we introduced you to the top 12 high-tech luxury yachts. These megayachts are majestic, royal, breathtaking, and simply graceful. The sub-aquatic playgrounds have become the latest maritime attraction for many of the richest people around the globe. Very much like the luxury yachts, the submarines are catching the fetish of the billionaires of the society.

Forget the Lamborghinis, Rolls Royce, Ferraris and private jets and cast your beady eyes at some of the most popular luxury submarines.

In a world of $100-million mega yachts, the U.S. Submarines' Phoenix 1000 rules the long list of luxury subs. The beauty has 5,000 square feet of interior space on four levels and is able to dive up to 1,000 feet. Fully customizable, the only thing that makes it a bit different from the full-on megayacht is the enchanting view for the truly valiant undersea buccaneer. The integrated docking mini-sub can take passengers to an extreme 2000 feet below the surface.

The luxury amenities include Jacuzzis, gyms, wine cellars and up to ten bedrooms. The clients even have the option of going for a basketball court, which would win the trophy of being the world's most expensive basketball court. Costing a whopping US $80 million, the luxurious 65-meter (213-feet) undersea vehicle takes about three years to build.

With a 36-meter (118') overall length, the climate-controlled luxury submersible enjoys a central twin deck arrangement and more than enough space for independent staterooms, crew's quarters and galley, living and dining areas. The interior space of the Seattle 1000 submarine allows for several layout options and is fully customizable to the owner's requirements.

The Seattle will set you back for around $25 million and a 24-hour trip inside the beauty will cost you around $2500 per person.

Microsoft's co-founder, Paul Allen seems to be an ardent fan of sea cruisers. His luxury private yacht, Octopus was there at the second place in my list of top 12 high-tech luxury yachts. The latest plaything in the billionaire's playground is a fully operational 40-foot yellow submarine for which he has paid a huge sum of $12 million. Allen's fad for these gorgeous water beasts might be the reason that his net worth is only a third to that of Bill Gates.

The 305-meter, two or three passenger submersible is the latest design from U.S. Submarines. Four Triton 1000s are being developed for Poseidon Undersea Resorts. It offers excellent visibility, which is especially designed for launch and recovery from megayachts. The luxury sub is fully air-conditioned and touts lavish amanities with luxury leather seating.

Touted to be the world's first luxury submarine, the Nomad 1000 has almost all the facilities of a luxury yacht and it can dive to 1000 feet. While you're cruising under the water like Captain Nemo, the massive panoramic viewports soothe your eyes with the denizens of the deep in the air-conditioned luxury. The 65-feet submarine touts a gorgeous and comfy interior, a fully equipped galley and a marine toilet with shower.

In case, you need to take a break on the move, simply close the hatch and dive. You can either continue the journey submerged or take the Nomad to the sea floor. So, you need proper light too. You can light the submarine with up to sixteen 1000 watt, quartz halogen undersea lights. It's a true autonomous submarine.

You surely have been living in caves if you haven't heard of Exomos, the most technologically advanced submersibles. The 65-feet Proteus is exceptional and is capable of offering the ultimate in underwater luxury. It can accommodate up to fourteen divers on the fore and aft deck who can submerge with the vessel while eight people can sit inside the dry cabin for magnificent viewing.

Mystery of 100 luxury subs:

'If you can find my submarine, it's yours,'' says Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich. There are an estimated 100 luxury submarines lurking around the Seven Seas and no one knows who the owners are. Anyway, for about $25 million you can purchase your own luxury submersible.

Private submarines, from two-seaters to the 5,000 square-foot luxury liners, are becoming a fad among the super-rich. At Hawkes Ocean Technology, chief engineer Graham Hawkes is busy building two customized $1 million vessels for clients. On the other hand, U.S. Submarines is said to design the $1-million, two-passenger Explorer 1000 sub.

What could be the better way other than the luxury submarines for billionaires (who wish to rule the seas like Captain Nemo) to submerge in luxury?

http://www.bornrich.com/entry/for-billionaires-only-most-popular-luxury-submarines/



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. . .


A live-aboard research laboratory that will drift permanently through the sea is poised to be launched as soon as next year.

The part-submarine, part-research vessel, called the SeaOrbiter is expected to cost around £27million ($43million) and will be 58 metres high - taller than London’s Nelson’s Column monument.

When launched, around half of the vessel will be below the water line, allowing for constant underwater study.

The SeaOrbiter, part submarine, part research vessel, will drift across the permanently across the seas

‘It's designed to explore the ocean in a new way, mainly spending time under the sea, giving people the opportunity to live under the sea for a very long time, to observe, to undertake research missions, like marine biology, oceanography and climate issues,’ the SeaOrbiter project's education and media director Ariel Fuchs told

The designers hope to make their ambitious project close to self-sustainable.

It will drift with ocean currents, but when it needs power to avoid other ships and storms, it will draw on reserves from renewable energy, including solar, wind and wave power.

These sources will also be used to power its life-support systems.

Perhaps taking '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' as inspiration, SeaOrbiter will allow a permanent research facility in the middle of the ocean

The developers are also working with the European defense and space systems conglomerate EADS to develop a biofuel as the ship’s main power source, and are working with the European Space Agency to develop other technology needed for its onboard systems.

Taking its inspiration from ocean explorers like Jacques Cousteau – and perhaps the fictional Captain Nemo's Nautilus from ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ - the vessel is the concept of French architect Jacques Rougerie.

It is currently the centerpiece of France's pavilion at Expo 2012 in South Korea

Originally suggested almost 12 years ago, it recently completed its industrial design phase and construction is slated for October this year.

‘All technical issues are resolved, all the modeling is done,’ says Mr Fuchs said.

Monaco is planned as the ship's first port of call -- the same place where Jacques Cousteau began his missions.







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. .

 

The Phoenix 1000 is a 65-meter (213') personal luxury submarine. The initial design was originally executed for a client and now awaits a buyer. As proposed, the submarine would constitute the single largest private undersea vehicle ever built, and arguably, one of the most significant personal transportation devices of the century.

A Luxurious Undersea Vehicle

This design, which we have named the Phoenix 1000, has more than ample space. The total interior area of the submarine is in excess of 460 square meters (5000 square feet). The significant volume, coupled with very large acrylic viewports, and the potential for relatively large open spaces, results in a vehicle as luxurious as the finest of motor yachts.

Clearly, the Phoenix provides its owner with substantially more capability than a simple yacht - the opportunity to explore the depths of the world's oceans in perfect comfort and safety. The Phoenix is capable of making trans-Atlantic crossings at 16 knots yet can dive along the route and explore the continental margins of some of the most fascinating waters on earth. And unlike surface yachts, when the water gets rough, the submarine can submerge into a perfectly smooth and quiet environment, continuing on toward its destination, providing a ride unsurpassed in quality-unequaled by the finest motor coach or the most luxurious executive aircraft.
The Size Advantage

At 65-meters (213 feet) in overall length, and with a beam in excess of 8 meters (26 feet), the Phoenix is a vehicle of formidable size. Yet despite its 1500-ton displacement, the submarine is quite streamlined. Given the significant waterplane area and ample internal volume, which allows for greater battery storage, the Phoenix will out-perform smaller counterparts in surface speed, submerged speed and submerged endurance. The large pressure hull diameter allows for very large acrylic viewports, making the undersea viewing capability truly extraordinary. The interior space, with the noted absence of structural bulkheads, provides for tremendous versatility in interior layout and space planning. And finally, the Phoenix's large size coupled with its integrated roll stabilization system makes surface transit quite comfortable in all but the worst conditions.
A Walk Through the Phoenix

Join us as we examine the physical spaces of the Phoenix 1000.
Flying Bridge

The uppermost level of the vessel is the flying bridge. This area is similar to its equivalent area on most yachts, with the exception of the fact that the materials selected are subject to immersion in water. Ample space exists for lounging, and cushions may be brought up from the area below. The flying bridge also houses the pressure-compensated radar radome, GPS antennae and satellite communications radome, as well as radio aerials, running lights, etc. A remote steering station is also available.
Deck Saloon

Immediately below the flying bridge and accessible through a large hydraulically operated hatch and a stairway, is the deck saloon. As proposed, this area would be composed of structural acrylic cylindrical sections 2.1 meters (7') in diameter and 20 centimeters (8") in thickness. The overall length of the deck saloon pressure hull would be 12 meters.

The deck saloon would have a comfortably appointed interior and would boast an incredible view for observation, both on the surface and when submerged. By fitting transparent sections into the deck of the flying bridge, a view above can be enjoyed as well.

In the forward portion of the saloon is the surface bridge. This area contains all the necessary control, monitoring and navigation equipment to operate the submarine in the surfaced condition. The captain has a hemispherical sector acrylic viewport immediately in front, with the transparent cylindrical walls to either side.

The aft portion of the saloon has a large acrylic window, providing a view astern that also acts as a large hydraulically operated hatch. A small automobile could be kept in the aft section if desired.
Superstructure

The superstructure itself is composed principally of aluminum (or FRP if the owner prefers), and it houses the deck saloon pressure vessel and also provides the structural base for the flying bridge. There is a large degree of latitude possible with regard to the styling of the structure, with the caveat that its hydrodynamic efficiency will have a significant effect on the submerged speed of the submarine.

Aft of the deck saloon is a covered space that can be either fully or partially enclosed. The greater the degree of closure to the after portion of the structure, the less turbulence and the more hydromdynamic efficiency. Hydraulically actuated after doors could be designed to open, allowing fresh air to circulate. The area would be excellent for covered, informal, deck- level dining.
Docking Minisub

Aft of the superstructure, or optionally, above the control cabin on the bow, is an area for a docking minisub. Utilizing a special docking collar, this vehicle is capable of leaving the Phoenix while submerged and making excursions down to 610 meters (2000 feet). With both top and bottom hatches, the minisub could also bring passengers from the surface to the submarine lying at depth. The minisub could be designed to hold between two and eight passengers, depending upon the owner's preferences. Additionally, in the unlikely event of an emergency at depth, the minisub could be used to take passengers and crew to the surface.
Forward Control Room

The forward control room is entered from the main deck through a watertight, pressure-proof door. The control room has a 2.4 meter (8') diameter hemispherical sector acrylic viewport forward and three 1.8 meter (6') diameter viewports on either side, with the foremost pair angled slightly forward.

The control room contains all of the control and navigation equipment necessary to operate the submarine while submerged. The 8 meter x 4 meter (26' x 13') area contains sufficient space to fit comfortable lounge chairs for passenger observation while underway.
Main Passenger Areas

The main passenger area consists of two decks, each 31 meters (102') long and 6 meters (20') wide. The upper deck is accessed from one of two hatches, either from the deck saloon or from a hatch to the after portion of the superstructure. Two stairways, one in the center of the deck, the other in the after section, lead to the lower deck.

The upper deck is intended to provide space for an engineering workstation, a switch and contactor room, crew cabins and mess, as well as the galley. The forward portion, which ends at a bulkhead, is designed as a room of the owner's choosing.

The main deck is situated such that the forward portion, with eight 1.8 meter (6') diameter acrylic windows, contains the living and dining areas, while the section aft of the beam houses the owner's stateroom and guest cabins. Five viewports, 90 centimeters (35") in diameter, are situated on both port and starboard sides.

Below the passenger area is the battery compartment and bilge. A narrow manway allows access through the compartment for battery maintenance.
Engine Room

The engine room is accessed through doors at the after portion of both passenger decks. The space contains the majority of the equipment necessary for the submarine's operation, including the main diesels, motor generators, drive systems, air compressors, hydraulic aggregates and life support systems. The upper level of the engine space provides access to the minisub, and in the stern section, to a diver lock-out chamber. The bottom level allows maintenance of the main engines and related components.
Diver Lock-out Chamber

A spherical diver lock-out chamber, 2.4 meters (8') in diameter is fitted above the shafts and attached to the aftermost section of the pressure hull. The chamber allows a diver to enter or exit the submarine from the area between the shafts at depths of up to 45 meters (150'). The chamber can be fitted with decompression capability if required.
Commercial Opportunities

The Phoenix would be suitable for use as an exclusive submarine cruise ship or as a charter yacht.

The estimated price of the Phoenix is $78 million.

Download a brochure on all our large luxury submarines (750kb)

Download a brochure on the Phoenix 1000

Phoenix 1000 Technical Specifications

 



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World’s Largest Yacht - Dubai

 

531 feet make the mega yacht Dubai the largest private yacht in the world. Originally named Platinum 525, this yacht was commissioned by Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei in 1996, but a lack of funds caused the project to be abandoned a couple of years later. Then, in 2001, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, then Crown Prince and now ruler of Dubai, took over the yacht project, renaming it Golden Star. The mega yacht was finally completed in 2006, and at 300 million dollars (US) it was the most expensive yacht ever built. It was then renamed Dubai after its country of residence, where the yacht is currently kept by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of the Emirate of Dubai, and the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates.



The interior of this 162 meter long mega yacht is a sight. In addition to three elevators serving all the decks, the Dubai has a huge open glass staircase which connects a large number of guest and VIP suites, as well as an owner's deck. If you're dining on the mega yacht there is a choice of a large formal dining area, or a variety of formal and informal saloons both inside and out. On Dubai's deck you also find a variety of pools, hot tubs, sunbathing areas, and a big swimming platform for water sports activities. Most of this space on the yacht's deck is actually enclosed, so the guests can make use of the air-conditioning to combat the hot Dubai weather.

As you would expect from a modern mega yacht, in addition to the two large tenders, the Dubai also holds a wide variety of water sports equipment and toys, including a small submarine. In fact, the mega yacht Dubai has so many water toys, there are two rooms on the boat just for stowage, like giant toyboxes! But wait, there's more! The yacht also has a squash room, spa, and is fitted out with the obligatory mega yacht helicopter pad.



Powering this huge mega yacht is as you would imagine, as long as you imagine that it's complicated. The Dubai has a fully redundant engine room installation, which employs air conditioning for the hot climate. The designers say this ensures trouble free operation anywhere in the world. The propulsion installation consists of two shaft lines with controllable pitch propellers, each driven through a gearbox by two MTU diesel engines; fully flex-mounted to guarantee the lowest possible noise and vibration levels onboard, and powerful enough to push the floating villa to speeds of up to 26 knots.

Although the Dubai is the largest private yacht in the world currently is use, the yacht Eclipse, which is now receiving final touches, will soon be roaming the sea with that title. Roman Abramovich’s new mega yacht Eclipse is reportedly at least 533 feet LOA! Just a little bigger than the mega yacht Dubai, but big enough to take the title of largest private yacht in the world away from Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, when Eclipse is officially launched in 2010. You'll have to "stay tuned" here at YachtPals for more on that one!



- By Nick Riley exclusively for YachtPals.com

ABOUT THE MEGA YACHT DUBAI

Mega Yacht Name: Dubai
Mega Yacht AKA: Panhandle; Golden Star; Platinum
Mega Yacht Completed: 2006
Dubai's Shipyard: Platinum Yachts FZCO. Dubai hull and superstructure built by Blohm & Voss with Platinum Yachts.
Port: Dubai
Country: UAE

Mega Yacht Type: Motor Yacht
Designer: Andrew Winch
Interior Designer: Andrew Winch Designs Ltd.
Dubai Hull Material: Steel
Superstructure: Steel/Aluminium
Mega Yacht Length Overall: 531.50 feet (162 meters)
Beam: 72.18 feet (22 meters)
Draught Max: 16.40 feet (5 meters)
Gross Tonnage: 13470
Displacement: 9150

Dubai's Max Guests: 72
Mega Yacht Crew: Cabins available for 88 crew, including Captain, Chief Engineer & Doctor. A total of 115 persons including crew and guest staff.

Mega Yacht Engine Manufacturer: MTU
Dubai Engine Type: Diesel
Number of Engines: 4
Engine HP: 8,450 Total HP: 33,800
Model: 20V 1163 TB93
KW: 6,301 Total KW: 25,205
Propulsion: Dual-shaft propulsion system each consisting of 2 MTU 20V1163TB93 (6323 kW each) via reduction gears MAAG (twin input single output configuration) connected to a controllable pitch propeller.

Dubai's Max Speed: 26
Yacht Cruise Speed: 25
Yacht Range: 8,500 at 25

Mega Yacht Dubai Fuel Capacity: 277,410 Gallons (1,050,000 Liters)
Mega Yacht Dubai Water Capacity: 105,680 Gallons (400,000 Liters)
Fresh Watermakers: Reverse Osmosis plant with 2x 50m3/24hrs capacity.





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What is the difference between a cruising yacht and a live-aboard yacht?

When you look at a boating catalog, yachts are often described as either a cruiser or racer or racer/cruiser. And this indicates the intended use of the boat. Racer yachts are obviously intended for racing and cruising for cruising. The thing they all have in common is that all these boats intended use is ‘recreational’. They are intended to be used in the weekends and on holidays and the rest of the time they spend their life sitting empty in a marina.

Now compare this with the house you live in and a holiday house. Your expectations and in fact what you do with a holiday house is quite different from what you do in your home. The same is true for cruiser yachts; they are like holiday homes and are only used for short periods of time, usually don’t go far from their home base and don’t need to carry much gear or supplies.

A life-aboard yacht like your home, has to fulfill on all the needs and requirements of a boat that is being used 365 days per year.

This immediately suggests that there are much greater demands made of a live-aboard yacht over a cruising yacht.

Not only does it need to carry all your possessions and stores for extended periods. But it also gets used in entirely different ways. For example, when on holiday you want to be out in the sun as much as possible, feeling the sea air and enjoying the thrill of helming your boat. As a live-aboard your preference is to avoid the sun and the wind, you get enough without even looking for it and as for helming… I only choose to do it when I have to, much preferring the self steering to helm the boat while I get on with daily tasks.

Another example is the ****pit is an essential item on a cruiser, but an optional extra on a live-aboard; whereas a closed in pilothouse with an inside steering position is a much more likely place you will spend your time. In fact fishing boats have more in common with live-aboard yachts than cruising yachts, because fishermen in fact live and work on their boats.

http://www.lifestylesailingblog.com/peoples-comfort/cruiser-liveaboard-differences/



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'Mythical' giant squid finally captured on camera

 

Giant Squid

(China Daily) A giant squid, the elusive leviathan that inspired Jules Verne, has been observed alive for the first time, scientists reported on Tuesday.

The creature, which is as long as a public bus from tentacle tip to tail, has been filmed by Japanese researchers using a baited underwater camera, shedding new light on the lifestyle of one of nature's most enigmatic living wonders.

The first observed specimen measured about 8 metres in total, with 5 metre tentacles. Even so, it was something of a titch by the standards of the species as a whole, with the largest yet washed ashore, in New Zealand at 20 metres more than twice as big.

The giant squid, Architeuthis dux, has been known since the 16th century from dead specimens washed up on beaches or snared by fishermen's nets, and from the occasional fleeting sighting when it has neared the surface. But it had never before been seen in its natural deep-water environment.

Giant Squid

Its size, fearsome tentacles and beak have captured the imaginations of sailors and writers, for whom it has become an emblem of the terrors of the deep. In Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Captain Nemo's submarine Nautilus was attacked by a "squid of colossal dimensions" that almost destroyed the vessel.

Occasional attacks on shipping have been reported, most recently in 2003 when a yacht skippered by Olivier de Kersauson was gripped during a round-the-world race.

Giant squid have also been found in the stomachs of sperm whales, which feed on the creatures. Giant squid beaks have been found inside sperm whales, which have in turn been found sporting huge tentacle-inflicted wounds. Almost nothing, however, is known about where and how Architeuthis feeds, or about how it behaves in its natural habitat.



Giant Squid Comparison

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That has now changed, after Tsunemi Kubodera of the National Science Museum and Kyoichi Mori of the Ogasawara Whale Watching Association used sperm whale migration patterns to guide them to the best place to watch for giant squid.

Tagging of the whales showed that they dive to depths of about 1,000 metres where giant squid are thought to lurk.

The team devised a rig at this spot comprising a camera, light and data logger attached to two baited hooks, each carrying a bag of mashed shrimps. Pictures were taken every 30 seconds over a five-hour period.



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Diving Into the Liveaboard Lifestyle – Marina or At Anchor


One of the things I hear most from people who think we’re crazy is, “What will you do on a boat?” Well, the same thing you do in a house except for our house will have the capability of moving all over the world! Moving aboard a boat is not so we can sit around drifting aimlessly out in the middle of the ocean. That would drive anyone insane after a short while. When we are at sea, we will have a destination in mind. When we arrive at that destination, we will explore the land and sea there until our heart’s content and all within the comfort of “our home”.

There are different lifestyles for those who live aboard a boat. Some prefer the marina life and some prefer to live at anchor, “on the hook”. Both have their pros and cons. We’ve known people who live both ways and it is really a matter of preference and what suits your lifestyle.

Living docked at a marina allows easy access to shore without having to launch a dingy. You can have water and electricity at your fingertips and depending on the marina you choose, you may have amenities from the simple things like washer, dryer, and shower, to the luxury marinas with all the accommodations of a four star resort. Of course, this doesn’t come cheap and especially not for catamarans who often have to pay the price of two slips Marina living also offers more of a social life as you are docked alongside others who yearn for this same environment. The marina may be a permanent lifestyle or just a temporary one if you have short-term needs to be at shore. We plan to be “on the hook” but there may be times when we need the marina, especially starting out.

Living at anchor, you are afforded a little more privacy than in marinas. Some marinas offer mooring balls where you can live on the hook within close proximity to the marina and have easy access to shore as needed. This is offered at a fraction of the cost to actually docking at the marina. Other times, you may simply drop anchor somewhere you’ve found to be a suitable place to stay awhile and then pull up and sail off when you’re ready to move on. The ability to do this depends on how self-sufficiently you’ve equipped your boat. With the right equipment, you can generate power from the sun and wind and make fresh water right from the sea. It takes a lot of planning and research to know the equipment necessary and there are so many models to choose from that it can be quite overwhelming. We don’t know a lot about any of them yet; we only know they are out there. We plan to learn all we can about these things and make our boat capable of withstanding extended periods of time out at sea or “on the hook” in secluded anchorages.

Having the boat equipped properly, we’ll be able to reach those diving and surfing spots we dream of and live off the land for unspecified and unplanned durations. We’ll dive for fresh fish and lobster and we’ll make our own water. We’ll be able to anchor in spots where we can dingy in ashore or over to the reef break for surfing and be nestled right back on our boat at the end of the day. Some of the most recognized charter companies in the world take surfers and divers out to these remote locations for a pretty penny. This is the vacation of a lifetime for some people. We don’t want to do it as a vacation; we want to make it a lifestyle.



http://www.divingintocruising.com/diving-into-the-liveaboard-lifestyle-marina-or-at-anchor/



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Luxury Liveaboard


A luxury liveaboard is increasing in popularity and it's no wonder why. The continuously floating mode of transportation creates endless possibilities for adventure and excitement. For people who love oceans, lakes and rivers a luxury liveaboard can be a very unique and refreshing way to live. Permanently living on the water appeals to those interested in liveaboard cruising whenever they desire. A luxury liveaboard is especially beneficial for those vacationing or living in areas like the Bahamas, Brazil, Australia and other warm climates.

The practice of living onboard a water vessel is the most general way to describe a liveaboard. It refers to both a boat or ship designed for living onboard or a person living on a boat. A luxury liveaboard comes in a large variety of styles, each offering unique experiences. Liveaboard cruising can be practiced by a couple on a houseboat or motorboat, a few deck hands on larger boats or numerous deck hands of very large ships. Liveaboard cruising can be enjoyed on trawlers, yachts, and houseboats which are often laden with many modern amenities found in most homes. Liveaboards have been around for thousands of years but only recently have they become equipped and stocked so lavishly.

In many tropical destinations such as Honduras, the Caribbean and Hawaii liveaboard dive boats are extremely popular. Recreational diving is one of the most popular activities in the tourism sector lending many opportunities for a variety of excursions. Traditional boats take passengers to numerous dive spots located around their holiday destination, while liveaboard dive boats require more of a time commitment. The payoff is visiting the best dive sites off the beaten, watery path.

Liveaboard cruising on open water affords some of the best coastal views and special sights like whale and dolphin pods, secluded islands and clandestine coves and caves. Many tours operate liveaboard dive boats and offer different luxury travel packages to choose from. Often a specific number of nights aboard with a predetermined number of dives plus meals and evening entertainment are all included. Though living in confined spaces and continuous travel on open water may have its downfalls, the ability to visit some of the best and most pristine dive sites in the world is all the pay off that's needed for many.

Take liveaboard dive vessels a couple of steps further and increase them by thousands of square feet and you've got a liveaboard cruiseship. Sail from Canada along the coast to California and even further to Hawaii or enjoy a European tour around Spain, France and the United Kingdom. A "residential" luxury liveaboard cruiseship is designed for navigating the ocean full time in the midst of luxury and refinement. A liveaboard cruiseship has larger cabins, staterooms and suites than most luxury cruises and feature kitchens or kitchenettes for the best in convenience.

Also located aboard are sweeping homes with square footage equal to large condos and apartments. Some are multi-level units that could fit three or four apartments in total. Each liveaboard cruiseship also has an onsite medical hospital complete with trained staff, optometrists, dentists, surgeons, and many other healthcare workers. Complete grocery stores with all the fixings and thousands of square feet of shopping complex's offer the same opportunities found on land. Restaurants, cinemas and other entertainment are also found onboard creating a watery world in constant motion.

There are many advantages to choosing a luxury liveaboard for dive trips, island hopping on vacation, weekend travel or even full-time living. You can even rent a liveaboard at many popular lakes and seaside destinations. Besides living in a very untraditional way, you're experiences could be that much more fulfilling than living an ordinary life on land. Liveaboard cruising affords a unique opportunity to see and experience locations you might not ever see in your life otherwise and live in a perpetual adventure on open water.

http://www.destination360.com/travel/luxury-travel/luxury-liveaboard



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Registering a Ship in Malta - The Benefits

Favourable weather conditions
Low berthing and maintenance costs
No requirement for the ship/yacht to be berthed in Malta
Low company formation and registration costs
A legislative framework which is mainly based on UK legislation
No restrictions on the nationality of the shareholders of the ship owning company and of its directors, on the master, officer and crew of the ship/yacht
A complete tax exemption for the owners, charterers and financiers of Maltese ships over 1000 tonnes which can be extended to smaller ships
A complete tax exemption on the profits derived from the ownership or the operation of a ship
A complete tax exemption on dividends
No EC VAT is payable on the acquisition of the ship by the Maltese company. The EC rule is that the shipping vessel will not be liable for EC VAT so long as it does not spend more than six months (whether continuous or not) in any one year in EC territory. EC Member States also have their own specific rules. Further details of such rules are available on request.
No restrictions on the sale or transfer of the shares and no capital gains tax or stamp duty
No succession duty
A wide Double Taxation Treaty network

http://www.firstgozo.com/taxadv.htm



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How To Live In A Yacht

Living in a yacht is a romantic fantasy some people have. The movies dramatize and romanticize the experience in many different ways. Yacht living may be suited to many people. However, there is a big difference between traveling on a yacht for a few weeks or a month, and living on one. There is also a big difference in living on a yacht that is not seaworthy and must remained docked, and one that can travel out to sea. A well-maintained seaworthy yacht can be a romantic and pleasurable experience whether the plan is to use the yacht as a summer home, for an extended trip, or as a full time home. Yacht living can offer all the amenities of a traditional home with a few added perks.
Step 1: Test It Out

Stay aboard a yacht for an extended period of time before making a final decision about living on one. Taking up a permanent residence on a yacht is usually hard to reverse should it turn out to not be an appropriate arrangement. Consider transportation to and from work if applicable, the logistics of shopping, and visiting family and friends.

Charter a yacht for a month or more. Stay on the yacht without staying overnight anywhere else. This will provide the best information about what living on a yacht will be like. It will introduce the weather conditions to be expected and determine the ability of the resident to live strictly on water. Even large yachts will move as the water moves. Research appropriate marinas before purchasing or renting a slip. This should be a location that is convenient to on-land activities. No one wants to live in a neighborhood that is incompatible with their own lifestyles. Some marinas feel safer than others. Some marinas will have a younger age group of residents and others will have an older age group of residents. Find out who the neighbors are before making the commitment.
Step 2: On-Shore Transport

Store a bike or small moped on the yacht. This will be transportation to and from town. Only a few marina will have all the shopping conveniences available in walking distance. There will also be limited parking facilities nearby. Another alternative would be to spend time and money calling taxis and asking for rides to the store. This will restrict independence when the resident has to rely on others for transportation.

Reduce the clutter. The number of personal items that can be fit onto a yacht will be very limited. The space restrictions will dictate that many accessories will need to be stored in a storage facility and will be inconvenient to access. Anyone who has a need for many personal goods at hand will likely not make a successful transition to yacht living, since space is at a premium even on large yachts. Others will find the ability to set sail at any given time to be worth the reduction in personal belongings.

http://www.yachting.com/research/guide/how-to-live-in-a-yacht.html



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Bob Ballard, James Cameron, Richard Branson, Greg Venter - are all over it already...

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Submarine Yachts are the only vehicle that allows a private man to "go where no one has gone before" and see things no one has seen before. Looks like a attractive lifestyle to me, and could be a economic beneficial lifestyle too - just like Jules Verne predicted.

But the best thing of all is, that a "Nautilus Style Submarine Yacht" is no fiction anymore. It is feasible in our days - and compared to the yachts that cruise the ocean on the surface at everybodies sight it might be a economic concept too.

As long as "Starship Enterprise to explore the ultimate frontier" is not yet invented - exploring the ultimate frontier of the "inner space" on our home planet will be the most interesting thing a man can do.



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Bob Ballard talk about exploration of the oceans.



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Concrete Floating Structures

Surface Floating Concepts:

The axes of ocean colonization / floating real estate building lots on the water / Plate Seastead - Plate Floating Element for Ocean Colonization / Catamaran Concrete Floating Elements - Base for Ocean Living / Floating Concrete Breakwater Marina / Ocean colonization how to get there / Ramform ship island as ocean base mobile stable scaleable / small honeycomb floating concrete structures in cartagena / Seabreaks for dampening colossal ocean waves / Ocean colonization technology / Ocean colonization company / Oustanding floating concrete structures / ocean colonization general considerations / Interesting projects for ocean colonization / Aquaculture, business, trade, mininig, energy, salvage, making money afloat /

Submerged Concepts:

The captain nemo float out - seasteading / Sub movement finished - Submarine Yacht / Is submarine living space expensive? / concrete pressure vessel / Concrete submarine project / submarine yacht / concrete submarine yacht supporter club / Submerged living space bubble concept basics / Exotic Submerged Bubble Hotel / sea orbiter / Current Turbine Concrete Hull /



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http://www.kampachifarm.com/offshore.html



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Further and Deeper -- Developing Technology for Next-Generation Mariculture

In order to keep pace with growing global demand for seafood, marine aquaculture will have to expand. The vast majority of mariculture is conducted in protected embayments and estuaries, where farm effluent accumulation and interactions with wild stocks can cause environmental disruptions. To produce marine fish on the scale required by global demand, there is only one real solution: mariculture must move further offshore, into the deeper waters of the open oceans. Here, the tremendous assimilative capability of the sea is in full effect, potentially allowing a responsible mariculture operation to produce delicous, healthy fish with virtually no negative impacts to the ocean environment.

With the Velella Project, Kampachi Farms and its partners are taking the lead in the development of technologies to support true open-ocean mariculture.

 

Named for a genus of small drifting pelagic hydrozoan, the Velella Project is the world's first "beta-test" of an unanchored free-drifting oceanic fish culture system. The Velella array consists of a 132 cubic meter brass-netted Aquapod® net pen produced by Ocean Farm Technologies, of Maine attached by a combined towing/umbilical line to the 65-foot staysail schooner S/V Machias, which serves as the farm tender, dive platform, crew quarters, and operations center. By drifting on the ocean currents in waters two to three miles deep, the Velella is essentially "perpetually fallow", with no direct connection between the seafloor and the farm. No build up of effluent, no impact to wild stocks -- just clean fish growing in clean water.

In May 2011, the Velella was deployed from the harbor at Kawahihae, Hawaii into the open ocean West of Hawaii Island. In July 2011, the Velella was stocked with around 2,000 Kampachi fingerlings. These fish, the first ever raised in a drifting pelagic farm, accheived outstanding health and growth performance, reaching the usual harvest size by December, 2011. Roughly half of the fish were harvested to reduce the density inside the cage, and the remainder were harvested in mid-February 2012.

 


In addition to proving the feasibility of farming fish in the pelagic environment, the Velella has been used by Kampachi Farms and project partner Lockheed-Martin as a test platform for various supporting technologies. Ranging from automated feeder systems and robotic cage cleaners to satellite communications, these are the innovations that will be necessary make commercial-scale open ocean farming a reality. The next phase of Velella research will focus on replicating the outstanding biolgocial results of the drifter trial while using a single point mooring (SPM) system to facilitate the further development of automation and remote control technologies. By building on this sucessful research, and pioneering the permitting pathway for such operations with U.S. government agencies, Kampachi Farms will lead the push of next generation mariculture over the blue horizon.



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Salvage from a submarine. USS Halibut

. . .

During the cold war USS Halibut was equipped with a FISH that was deployed on a Cable from a streamlined fairing on deck of the submarine - Halibut found and photographed a sunken Soviet submarine in a secrete mission ...

It is obvious that the combination ROV / submarine platform has great advantages compared to surface ship based salvage missions. Submarine deployment is weather independet while surface missions frequently loose 90% of the expediton time to bad weather and cable spooling.

The technology of deploying ROVs from a submarine was later refined by James Cameron on the Titanic. Where he deployed ROVs from small subs like MIR and Alvin.

Depending on the mission the ROV can have sonar, camara, arms, or suction device functions for recovering objects.

Concrete Floating Structures

Surface Floating Concepts:

The axes of ocean colonization / floating real estate building lots on the water / Plate Seastead - Plate Floating Element for Ocean Colonization / Catamaran Concrete Floating Elements - Base for Ocean Living / Floating Concrete Breakwater Marina / Ocean colonization how to get there / Ramform ship island as ocean base mobile stable scaleable / small honeycomb floating concrete structures in cartagena / Seabreaks for dampening colossal ocean waves / Ocean colonization technology / Ocean colonization company / Oustanding floating concrete structures / ocean colonization general considerations / Interesting projects for ocean colonization / Aquaculture, business, trade, mininig, energy, salvage, making money afloat /

Submerged Concepts:

The captain nemo float out - seasteading / Sub movement finished - Submarine Yacht / Is submarine living space expensive? / concrete pressure vessel / Concrete submarine project / submarine yacht / concrete submarine yacht supporter club / Submerged living space bubble concept basics / Exotic Submerged Bubble Hotel / sea orbiter / Current Turbine Concrete Hull /



roi focused digital marketing

-- Edited by admin on Tuesday 16th of September 2014 02:20:09 PM



-- Edited by admin on Saturday 16th of December 2017 01:30:00 PM

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Get a foothold in ocean colonization:

 

http://concretesubmarine.activeboard.com/t49529137/oceanic-frontier-develpment-investment-foothold-in-ocean-col/

 

The Captain Nemo Lifestyle:

 

http://concretesubmarine.activeboard.com/t43942461/the-captain-nemo-float-out-seasteading/

 

Why oceanic business is the next big thing to come:

 

http://concretesubmarine.activeboard.com/t56680633/the-reasons-why-oceanic-business-is-the-next-big-thing-to-co/

 

Ocean sphere fish farming:

 

http://concretesubmarine.activeboard.com/t55433095/ocean-sphere-the-next-wave-of-sustainable-fish-farming/

 

Ocean colonization gallery:

 

http://imulead.com/tolimared/concretesubmarine/picturegallery/concept/



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harper goff’s nautilus

Model of the 'Nautilus' by Harper Goff used in '20,000 Leagues Under The Sea' (Fleischer 1954)
Just recently we heard that the mash still is safe and sound at the Smithsonian—now there’s even more comforting news. The original model of Captain Nemo’s submarine ‘Nautilus’ designed by Harper Goff and used in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Richard Fleischer (1954) is kept intact at the Disney Archives.



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