The mysterious Black Pearl sailing yacht launched in September 2016 with sea trails in 2017. She was built by Dutch Oceanco and has a spectacular LOA of 106.7m/350’, making her the largest Dynara Rig in the world and one of the largest superyachts around. Few details have been officially released about this yacht making her cloak of secrecy intriguing and leaving us wanting more. Given a brief statement and a fantastic video full of interviews, this is what we have learned. The yacht was designed by Ken Freivokh & Nuvolari Lenard with Dykstra Naval Architects developing the naval architecture and interior by Nuvolari Lenard & Gerard P.Villate. Twelve guests can be accommodated in six cabins and while we do not have images, we can imagine the accommodations are stunning.
Her dark blue hull is steel, superstructure aluminum and she is powered by two MTU 12V2000m 72 diesel engines. The keel is 4m and 80% is lead keeping the weight low and the top is fuel tanks. Black Pearl is registered in the Cayman Islands and is a tri-deck sailing yacht with a raised pilothouse, extensive sundeck, sleek lines and gorgeous decking. She has a reported maximum speed of 17.5 knots while under power and without her sails. When it is time to let the winds take over she boasts a massive sail area of 2,887 sq.m. that uses black Dacron sailcloth with 50% solar cell coverage. Richard Tatlow, chief engineer, discusses her astonishing systems that maximize the use of energy using the solar cells to recharge the batteries and special propellers capable of reversing the blades to generate energy eliminating the need to run the diesel generators. Tatlow also tells us that it may be possible that Black Pearl could reach 30 knots and achieve a transatlantic voyage without fuel. Marcel Onkenhout, CEO of Oceanco, states that Black Pearl is not an experiment but a real challenge in the yacht building industry and all that has been put on the drawing board has never been done before. And finally, the charming captain, Chris Gartner, shares that his first impression of Black Pearl was disbelief. He was overcome and impressed with her beauty and performance – she is one of a kind.
