Mumbai Terrorist Attacks Claim Life of Yachting Mogel

Andreas Liveras, owner of the Liveras Yachts and one of England's richest men, was a victim of the terrorist attacks that took place this past week in Mumbai, India. He was at the Taj Hotel for a meal, according to the BBC. The hotel was one of the primary targets of the terrorists.

Liveras Yachts owns the 280-foot Alysia and 295-foot Lauren L (see PMY's World's 100 Largest Yachts, numbers 27 and 22, respectively). They each charter for around €500,000 a week. More information on his boats is located at the company’s Web site. For more on the story, click here.

He is survived by his four children.

Mega Madness

We just wrapped up "The Power & Motoryacht 100," our annual compendium of the largest private yachts in the world, which you'll be seeing in your mailbox in about a month's time. Until then, I thought I could whet your appetite for what's become our most popular issue with some more video footage of these mega-beauties. Here's one I found on YouTube, shot on New Year's Eve. You'll get good looks at Lone Ranger, Rising Sun, and particularly Octopus.

You'll also see Mine Games—which despite being a healthy 164 feet LOA is a good 40 feet too small for the list.

Enjoy!

Sigma Sighting

Okay, so the music in this video is a bit much, but there's something undeniably hypnotic about it in combination with the singular (and yes, even strange) styling of the yacht Sigma showcased. Unless you've been living under a rock or have somehow otherwise escaped the Internet insanity, you'll recall that Sigma is one of the most hotly debated and highly anticipated megayacht deliveries of the year. People either applaud or are appalled by her design. Personally it ain't my cup of tea, but then again, if I were building a custom yacht, I'd make sure she truly embraced every definition of "custom."

Watch the video, and let me know what you think of her. You'll also find out more about Sigma when our August issue arrives in your mailbox, since she's on our Power & Motoryacht 100 list of the world's largest yachts.

Fit for a Prince

In what the spokesman of Clarence House is calling an attempt to cut carbon emissions, Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, have opted to travel around on their junket to the Caribbean aboard a yacht instead of by plane the Associated Press reported today. Although the spokesman said the trip aboard the yacht would “advance...environmental protection,” we all know that it’s simply the best way to island hop.

The couple’s tour includes Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, the active volcano of Montserrat, and Jamaica. They’ll be taken to the places aboard Leander, the 245-footer owned by British businessman Donald Gosling and built by Germany’s Peenewerft Shipyard.

Leander was ranked #42 in our 2007 edition of PMY’s World’s 100 Largest Yachts. The charter price for the Prince and Duchess was undisclosed, but according to our guide to PMY's World’s Most Expensive Charter Yachts, Leander is tied for 8th place at $566,463 a week. For an interactive map of the deck plans of Leander, click here.

Good Enough to Eat

Every now and then, when Richard Thiel deems our behavior worthwhile of a reward (such as being permitted to leave our cubicles to see sunshine), we here at Power & Motoryacht kick back and relax. We did that earlier this week, to celebrate the release of our annual August issue article "The World's 100 Largest Yachts," now known as the Power & Motoryacht 100. It's a big attention-getter each year, and it's already being noticed by the likes of Dow Jones' Marketwatch.

So what better way to celebrate than by diving into the all-chocolate cake pictured here? Even the cleat and anchor were edible. It didn't last too long with this crowd (not that we're sugar addicts or anything...). Custom-created by Craving Something Sweet, it mimicked our August cover.

If you haven't gotten your issue yet, what are you waiting for? Run, don't walk, to your local bookstore, or log on to our Web site to see who's #1 (and even #100).