Spotting

Our summer sightings in Portland, Maine.

We’ll just look out and go ‘Oh, there’s a big one!’” yacht spotter Jill Blackwood says.

“We keep a camera on our dining room table at all times.” From her home in South Portland with its expansive view of the channel between Portland Head Light and Ram Island Ledge Light, nothing coming in or out of Portland Harbor escapes Blackwood. Some of her highlights from this year? The 241-foot Sherpa “because it actually goes on expeditions,” and the sailing yacht Anne. “It’s impossible to appreciate how tall the mast is until you see it. I mean, the mast is taller than the lighthouses as it passes them!”

Anne

Length: 172 feet.

Designed by Andre Hoek in 2007 and built by Dutch company Vitters in 2009, the Anne is ranked as the 46th largest sailing yacht in the world by Culturamarinara.com. The mysterious new owner who purchased her as Erica XII from Swedish education billionaire Bertil Hult in 2018 has managed to keep their identity a secret for over five years. Meanwhile, the Anne has been spotted all over the globe, sailing with Blue Too in Stockholm in 2018, weathering a ferocious storm in Cape Town in 2020, and spectating the St.Barths Bucket Regatta this spring.

Sherpa

Length: 241 feet. Max speed: 15.7 knots. With a unique, expedition-style design, the Sherpa was custom built in 2018 by the Dutch company Feadship for Sir James Ratcliffe, the second wealthiest individual in the UK, with a net worth of £29 billion. Ratcliffe, the founder and CEO of INEOS Chemicals Group, is a passionate sportsman and adventurer who has skied to the North and South Poles, ran the 56-mile Comrades Ultra Marathon between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, in 2013, and is currently in talks to purchase Manchester United F.C. According to Feadship’s website, the Sherpa [italics] was specifically designed to support Ratcliffe’s adventurous lifestyle with “all kinds of transportation and logistics options available as he embarks on his adventures in different parts of the world,” including an icy voyage through the Northwest Passage in 2019.

Viva

Length: 308 feet. Max speed: 20 knots. Ranked as the 93rd largest superyacht in the world by Superyachttimes.com, the behemoth Viva is worth an estimated $175 million dollars and racks up $17.5 million in yearly operating costs. Launched in 2021 by Feadship, the Viva is owned by casino billionaire Frank Fertitta, who permanently keeps an Airbus H145 helicopter onboard. Fertitta’s company owns 16 casinos in the state of Nevada, headlined by the Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa in Las Vegas. Fertitta is also the former co-owner of Ultimate Fighting Championship, and a childhood friend of UFC President Dana White.

Corinthian

Length: 128 feet. Max speed: 14 knots.

Built by Dutch company Feadship in 1997, billionaire Anthony Langley’s Corinthian boasts an impressive range of 5,182 nautical miles—more than enough to cross the Atlantic. But Corinthian isn’t the British industrialist’s only boat; his 160-foot ketch Thalia was the first sailing yacht to be produced by renowned Dutch shipbuilder Vitters in 1994. Langley is an avid yachtsman with a passion for sailboat racing; he is a member of the prestigious Royal Thames Yacht Club and the owner of the Gladiator Sailing Team, an international yacht-racing squad.

Reef Chief

Length: 161 feet. Max speed: 20 knots.

Built in 2008 by Trinity Yachts, Reef Chief is known for a gorgeous Art Deco-inspired interior designed by Glade Johnson. Previously known as Anjilis, Reef Chief is now owned by James F. Dicke II, the CEO of Crown Equipment Corporation, the largest American manufacturer of forklifts, according to Mmh.com. Dicke is also an artist and art collector with a personal collection of over 2,500 artworks and three of his own artworks in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Toll Car ferry from Deer Island to Campobello

Ferry schedule:

• Deer Island to Campobello 8:30am ADT (7:30am EST) to 6:30pm ADT (5:30pm EST) every hour on the half hour.

• Campobello to Deer Island 9am ADT (8am EST) to 7pm ADT (6pm EST) every hour on the hour.

Season runs mid-June to end of September

Check our Facebook page for more information and pricing.

Silver Lining

Length: 164 feet. Max speed: 17 knots.

Owned by Louisville, Kentucky, real estate developer J. D. Nichols, the Silver Lining is available for charter through Northrop & Johnson for $285,000 per week. Included in the charter package is an onboard five-star chef, an elevator servicing all four floors, and extensive black walnut and stonework in the yacht’s decor. Formerly owned by eldercare giant Forrest Preston, the Silver Lining was built in 2016 by American shipyard Christensen and sold to Nichols in 2019 for $34 million dollars. Christensen is also known for building Tiger Woods’ 155foot yacht Privacy

Berilda

Length: 157 feet. Max speed: 14.5 knots. Another yacht built by Dutch shipyard Feadship, the Berilda was launched in 2001 as Northern Light. In 2009, the yacht was sold for approximately $25 million to an unknown owner, who painted her formerly white hull navy blue and renamed her Mary A. In 2021, following a comprehensive refit, the chartering company Fraser Yachts purchased the boat for approximately $19.5 million. Now available for charter at $192,100 a week, the Berilda features exterior design by the renowned De Voogt company, and a mahogany-paneled interior by John Munford Design.

Club M

Length: 130 feet. Max speed: 18 knots. “I love being on boats, and I was OK to spend the money to fix them when they needed it, but I was not happy with the layout or the quality or specifications,” Club M owner Miki Naftali told Boatinternational.com in 2021. Naftali, the New York City real-estate tycoon known for renovating the iconic Plaza Hotel, had the yacht custom built by Italian company Baglietto after being dissatisfied with previous boat purchases. Designer Achille Savalgni helped Naftali create an interior that felt like his “own planet” using accents of parchment, eucalyptus, and bronze.

The Chart Room

Paper Charts & ARTIPLAQ Dealer Admiralty, Canadian, Imray, NGA, NOAA, POD, Waterproof

Chart Books

Maptech, Richardsons’, Explorer, NV Charts Books

Cruising Guides, Celestial, First Aid, Log, Navigation, Seamanship, Tide/Currents Navigation

Archimedes

Length: 222 feet. Max speed: 16 knots. It’s not surprising that the Archimedes—named after Archimedes of Syracuse, the ancient Greek mathematician who discovered the physical law of buoyancy—is owned by a math whiz. A native New Englander born in Newton, Massachusetts, James Simons is an MIT-educated mathematician and hedge-fund manager worth over $28 billion and ranked as the 49th richest person in the world by Forbes. com. According to the Financial Times, his hedge fund Renaissance has made $100 billion in profits since 1988—more than any other firm in history. Simons’ secret to money-making? Never wearing socks.

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