One of the most spectacular yachts in the world worth over 200 million euros has docked in Santa Cruz today, called the Black Pearl which is owned by the family of Russian billionaire, Oleg Burlakov, who died on 21st June 2021.
The luxury vessel, named in honour of the Pirates of the Caribbean, has been at sea since the end of 2018 and one of its favourite destinations has been the Balearic Islands, which it visited last year. However, now there is an opportunity to see it up close in the port of Santa Cruz.
The Black Pearl was built at the Oceanco shipyard in Rotterdam in 2016 and is 106.7 metres long. She has three 70-metre-tall carbon fibre masts (roughly the equivalent of a 15-storey building), supporting 2,900 square metres of sails that are stored in the masts, so they can be deployed in record time, and reflect the sunlight.
The Black Pearl is capable of crossing the Atlantic on just 20 litres of fuel with the help of clean energy. One of the key technologies to support this is using the speed of the ship through the water under sail to generate electricity with a variable pitch propeller and store it for later use, in a similar way to a Formula 1 car.
Oleg Burlakov, who owned the yacht, sold his electricity and oil company in 2014 for around 600 million dollars, and it is estimated that he spent around 30% of that money on the Black Pearl, which has all the comforts that money can buy.
According to the boating publication Boat International, the interiors are the yacht's best-kept secret, although designer Ken Freivokh revealed a detail that fits with the former owner's fondness for antiques, as he requested that a piano that belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte be fitted in one of the rooms.
The layout also includes the main salon and a huge private study, as well as the former owner's stateroom. There are four more double rooms for guests and family, plus a large gymnasium, a wine cellar with space for 4,000 bottles, an attached tasting room, a beach club, an upper deck cinema, and a hangar housing a dinghy and a limousine.
For once, I am writing this article with mixed emotions as my cousin was a high-ranking member of the crew on the Black Pearl, and a close friend of Oleg Burlakov who was loved and respected by those close to him and who worked with him.
If you get a chance, go to Santa Cruz and see her, as the Black Pearl is truly one of the wonders of the ocean.
