Billionaire Jim Clark owns the Athena, one of the largest yachts of its kind, and you could see it first hand in Ft.Lauderdale recently. Docked just south of  the 17th St. Causeway in the south end of Ft. Lauderdale. This is where the big white boats love to dock, and when we say big, we mean it. Superyachts, Megayachts, Gigayachts – we’ll let Wikipedia define all that here. Recently, while visiting family I had the occasion to drive over the 17th St. Causeway and I couldn’t help but notice this giant “throw-back” of a sailing vessel.

Athena

Athena

What a magnificent craft! Check out these stats – (from yachtforums.com)

Design:

Type: Three Masted Schooner Yacht.
Naval Architects: Pieter Beeldsnijder Design and Gerard Dijkstra & Partners.
Interior Styling: Pieter Beeldsnijder Design.
Builder:Royal Huisman Shipyard.

Specifications:

L.o.a. spars: 90.00 mtr. (295.28 ft.)
L.o.a. hull: 79.25 mtr. (260.01 ft.)
L.o.d.: 77.04 mtr. (252.76 ft.)
L.c.w.l.: 60.52 mtr. (198.56 ft.)
Beam max.: 12.20 mtr. ( 40.03 ft.)
Draft (incl. keel): 5.50 mtr. ( 18.04 ft.)
Mast height: 60.00 mtr. (196.85 ft.)
Bowsprit length: 13.97 mtr. ( 45.83 ft.)
Displ. c.w.l.: 1,068 tons (2,354,497 lbs)
Ballast: 221.5 tons (488,316 lbs)
Hull speed: 18.9 knots

Commisioned by Jim Clark - remember Jim – he’s the one who invested in launched the first real web browser Mosaic with Marc Andreessen, which later became Netscape and is now Firefox.  Guess that was a pretty smart investment Jim!

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Read the full backgrounder on Yachforums.com,  and on Superyacht Times and the birth and launch at Yachtforums.com.

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