Making waves... superyachts on the reef

Superyacht Australia will now have a greater voice when it comes to protecting the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef.

A key issue for the organisation is the ability for superyachts to cruise through the World Heritage listed zone.

Superyacht Australia CEO, MaryAnne Edwards, stated “Superyacht Australia has made huge inroads to ensuring they are acknowledged as a key stakeholder that has an interest in the Great Barrier Reef”.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Parks Authority is conducting a strategic assessment of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and the nearby coastal zone.

The goal is to ensure the World heritage values of the Great Barrier Reef are protected while creating a long term plan for sustainable development in the region.

Superyacht Australia will have a representative at the strategic assessment workshops to ensure the voice of the superyacht sector is heard.

The Great Barrier Reef continues to be a major attraction and an iconic destination for visiting superyachts.

Currently Superyacht Australia is working with industry to further develop cruising itineraries for the Great Barrier Reef that meets the needs of visiting superyachts.

www.superyacht-australia.com

www.tq.com.au

Let’s just say some unspecified events occur in the near future, the peasants are revolting, the barbarians are at the gate and for some possibly concomitant reason you can’t get any diesel for your superyacht.

Several companies are stepping into the breach with hybrid and even solar powered superyachts – all in the name of the environment of course, whatever that may be.Because we all know what's really driving this innovation – where better to escape with a brace of breeding females than the ocean – millions of uninhabited islands to choose from, fresh water and unlimited food. What better way to ride out a zombie apocalypse or just the end of the world as we know it and get away from the madding and possibly murderous and brain eating crowd?

But wait I hear you ask – what about that apartment I just bought in that nuclear missile silo in Missourah after reading that brochure Oh, the Places You'll Hide?
As my sergeant used to say, “a bunker is a grave’’.
After dreaming about Charlize’s stockinged thighs in The Road, old Viggo Mortensen would have woken up a piece at a time inside the belly of a fellow denizen of the former United States. What – you don't think cannibals can smell frying Spam when it drifts through an air vent?

But enough of this idle chatter – to the catalog!

We begin with the recent announcement of the Columbus Sport Hybrid superyacht being laid down at their Palumbo shipyards.
The yacht has been designed to have as light an environmental impact as possible. Its hybrid propulsion system enables the yacht to run at a low speed of 7.5 knots on two generators with the main engines turned off. The electric engines are also quick to respond and thus useful when manoeuvring in port. Virtually silent too, they are ideal for night time navigation. Or for drifting out of danger. When in use the diesel engines have the ability to generate power.

Stay on the hook indefinitely ... the 12m Dsc Island Pilot

Meanwhile DSe’s Island Pilot 12m Hybrid – at 50 feet sadly not a superyacht – is showing the way forward in post-apocalypse cruising.Imagine living at sea, or "on the hook'' as we crusty sea dogs like to say, for months at a time, not using unobtainium (as diesel will inevitably become known). All your power needs are met by the 6 kW solar array, modern batteries and Diesel Hybrid Propulsion System from Steyr Motors. The beast runs at 5 knots electric cruising speed or at 7 knots if you fire up her diesels, which is not going to outrun the Enterprise but handy if you have to go into the eye of the wind to outrun pirates.

And Floating Life recently unveiled the world’s first fully electric superyacht design – ‘Project Ganto’ – the ultimate superyacht for that dystopian hellscape the earth looks set to become.
Andrea Pezzini, CEO of Floating Life said: “The Ganto project was created as a yacht with minimal negative impact, which means the exhaust fumes, black water treatment and all the things that have a big impact on the natural environment would be greatly reduced. This is something that has been our dream and it is the future for all the sea and the environment, a project like this takes a lot of time and money but we see it as something for the future of our children”.

So there you have it.
I’ve already bought my solar powered superyacht and I’d like to be tell you where it’s moored but I’m afraid I might just have to squeeze off an aimed round into your skull if you get too close. Now, where did I leave that eye patch, darling? Arrrgh!

Long term survivability for you and your breeding females ... Floating Life's Project Ganto