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Monday, March 24, 2014

A Thing in our harbour

Wellington is currently experiencing a strange visitation



A Russian-owned superyacht resembling a stealth submarine has arrived in Wellington Harbour.
The harbour pilot met the superyacht named "A" about 6.40am on Sunday, CentrePort's marine services manager Captain Charles Smith said.
Named for the first initial of its owners, Andrey and Aleksandra Melnichenko, the yacht's provocative styling has been controversial.
The Russian chemicals magnate (reputedly worth $18 billion) is expected to re-join the vessel from Queenstown on Monday.
The yacht has requested to anchor in the harbour.
Built by in 2008, the 119m vessel is considered one of the finest yachts on the water.  It is also supposed to be built that way so that it can't be easily boarded by pirates.  Or irritated Ukrainians.
It can accommodate 14 guests in one owner's suite and six guest suites, according to superyachts.com. It can also accommodate as many as 37 crew members.
The yacht is rumoured to have cost $US300 million ($NZ351.60 million).
And it hasn't even docked.  Instead, it is anchored in the stream, in the road of ferries and local yachties, and all other kinds of important stuff.  Do you reckon it might be lurking out there to save wharfage fees?  

Or perhaps sanctions against Russian travelers are at work.

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