Charting The Uncharted: Unbelievable Superyacht Facts That Will Blow Your Nautical Mind!

10 crazy stats about superyachts that still manage to tickle us

1. What you can’t see is just as mind-blowing. Behind those deckheads and panels is a highway of cabling. In fact, Dilbar (no.5 on the world’s biggest yachts list) has nearly 700 miles of cabling — a greater length than the north-to-south span of the entire United Kingdom.
2. When working on yachts over 40m, there’s an almost 1 in 4 chance an American will own your yacht! US owners are streets ahead of the competition with 23% of ownership of the global fleet. The next closest are the Russians, with 9%. Europe follows with UK and Greek ownership tying with 6% each, and Italy and Turkey tying on 5%.
3. A superyacht can have sails and the tallest mast on earth, but still not technically be a sailing yacht. Yes, we’re looking at you again Sailing Yacht A. Despite its name, Sailing Yacht A actually is not classed as a sailing yacht but rather a sail-assisted yacht. The official biggest sailboat is Jeff Bezos’ new yacht, Koru, which launched in 2023 at 127m (417 feet), 20 metres longer than its closest rival, Black Pearl.
4. One of the oldest superyachts in service is Egypt’s Presidential yacht, El Mahrousa. It was built in 1865, but it is also STILL one of the largest, coming in at a staggering 145m.
5. On Blue, you can drink your own wastewater. (Yay?) The world’s fourth-largest yacht has been fitted with a new membrane technology, meaning treated grey water can be turned into drinking water.
6. Longest doesn’t mean biggest. Dilbar has the largest gross tonnage at 15,917GT, closely followed by Al Said, a whisper-lighter at 15,850GT.  
7. The fastest superyacht in the world, the 41m Foners, reaches a blistering speed of over 70 knots. That’ll blow your hair back. Even more impressive is that this boat has held that record for almost a quarter of a century, with no other yacht touching it for speed since its launch in 2000.
8. There are nearly 6000 superyachts over 30m* afloat. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that that asterisk is pointing out that while a superyacht was classified as anything over 23 metres, that entry-level measurement has shifted to over 30m. Who wants to tell their owner of a 28m?
9. There are currently over 150,000 yacht crew, up from around 25,000 in 2003. As the world’s leading yacht crew agency, it’s been incredible to be part of that transformation!