If you’ve been following the news surrounding Jeff Bezos’s superyacht, you might know it’s been a saga. Starting in 2018, when the Amazon founder reportedly commissioned the vessel, it was said to become the largest sailing yacht in the world. It was also announced that it would be among the most expensive in the world, supposedly costing nearly half a billion dollars. Things took a real turn in February 2022, when the vessel was still under construction and a historic bridge in Rotterdam was almost dismantled because the masts of the 417-foot vessel were too large to pass under it. Ultimately the bridge stayed put, and the yacht was towed because the public outcry was so intense—Rotterdam residents even pledged to throw eggs at the boat should the bridge come down.
It may sound a tad dramatic, but no story worth telling ever reaches a resolution without some conflict in the middle. Now it appears the tale has finally reached its conclusion: The yacht was reportedly delivered to Bezos last Thursday, according to Boat International, and it was officially named the largest sailing yacht in the world.
Named Koru (the ship was previously called Y721), the 417-feet vessel is outfitted with with three masts that tower 230 feet in the air—about half the size of the Washington Monument in DC—and reportedly cost Bezos $485 million. While official images of the vessel have not been released, Dutch Yachting, a YouTube channel that documents Dutch-designed and Dutch-built yachts, captured footage of the yacht during sea trials last month. The boat appears to span at least three levels and features a black hull, white superstructure, and retro silhouette. Despite large public interest, most of the details surrounding the ship remain undisclosed. Both the boat’s interior and exterior designers have never been identified, and the shipbuilder, Oceano, never officially confirmed its involvement with Jeff Bezos’s superyacht.
On the Dutch Yachting video, viewers praised the ship’s classic design, noting that it didn’t make use of overly modern embellishments like helipads. However, this doesn’t mean Bezos doesn’t want them. According to Boat International, it is believed that a support boat, Abeona, will accompany Koru and cary water toys and other add-ons.
