Friday, March 29, 2024

Breaking Island News

UK: An Amazing Portable Private Island

An innovative group of yacht designers from the United Kingdom have proposed what must be one of the most extravagant ships of all time – a floating tropical island.

(Image Courtesy of Yacht Island Design)

To own a sandy, palmed-treed paradise island is undoubtedly special – but to have one that can circumnavigate the globe is an entirely different story. The British firm Yacht Island Design has release their design for a 90-ft vessel featuring all of the accoutrements of island life, including tiki huts, a secluded “beach” cove, and floating “beach islands” that can be deployed behind the boat as private playgrounds.  Certain to startle your neighbours at the marina, the ship is even crowned with a volcano – albeit one spewing water, rather than lava. However, the question is: if built, how could such a craft actually be seaworthy?

(Image Courtesy of Yacht Island Design)

The answer is that the company makes use of a unique hull design that, according to their website, “frees us to explore bold and daring ideas which challenge the accepted norms within the yachting industry. No longer are we bound by the restrictions of a conventional hull shape.” Known as the SWATH hull, short for Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull, the twin-hull design resembles that of a catamaran, and rides deep underwater to improve stability and allow for wide, broad decks onto which virtually anything can be designed.

Another imaginative concept by Yacht Island Design is an elaborate 500-ft yacht dubbed “The Streets of Monaco,” which replicates a few of the city’s most famed landmarks, and certainly its glamour, too. Skirting the edges of the possible, this mammoth design features an interpretation of Monaco’s Grand Prix circuit, a fully-functional 3-kart track circling the boat. It offers winding promenades that pass by scale replicas of the Casino Monte Carlo and Hotel de Paris, with a decadent 4,800 sq. ft. “cabin” for the owner. Elsewhere on board, the elegant décor and architecture would perfectly befit a resident of Europe’s wealthiest state.

(Image Courtesy of Yacht Island Design)

Other projects in the pipeline are equally as creative; a traditional Chinese boat with fanned sails and a large dragon’s head for a bow, and an elaborate Eastern design with a large onion dome and minarets. Sadly, these fanciful ships are still just a dream: Yacht Island Design have not yet been commissioned to build one of their creations. According to company director Rob McPherson, however, they are “pursuing a number of leads,” so the firm’s volcanic tropical isles and miniature cities may sail the seven seas eventually. They do sound like a ideal gift for the flamboyant Middle Eastern sheikh who has everything.

Visit the official Yacht Island Design website: link

You must be logged in to post a comment.