Mirabella V
{{Short description|Yacht built in 2003}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2017}}
| {{Infobox ship begin |display title=ital}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = Mirabella V at Rinia.jpg | Ship image size = 304px | Ship caption = Mirabella V at Rineia, Cyclades in 2008 }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = Isle of Man | Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|Isle of Man|naval}} | Ship name = Mirabella V (rechristened M5) | Ship namesake = Mirabella I, Mirabella II, Mirabella III | Ship owner = | Ship operator = | Ship registry = Isle of Man | Ship route = | Ship ordered = | Ship awarded = | Ship builder = VT Shipbuilding, Woolston, Hampshire | Ship original cost = | Ship yard number = 4322 | Ship way number = | Ship laid down = | Ship launched = 27 November 2003 | Ship sponsor = | Ship christened = | Ship completed = May 2004 | Ship acquired = | Ship commissioned = | Ship recommissioned = | Ship decommissioned = | Ship maiden voyage = | Ship in service = | Ship out of service = | Ship renamed = | Ship reclassified = | Ship refit = 2025 | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship homeport = | Ship identification = *{{IMO Number|8979374}}
| Ship motto = | Ship nickname = | Ship honours = | Ship honors = | Ship captured = | Ship fate = | Ship status = | Ship notes = Largest single-masted yacht ever built | Ship badge = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship type = Flybridge sloop | Ship tonnage = 1,017 GT (2013) | Ship displacement = 765 tonnes (half-load) (2013) | Ship length = {{convert|77.60|m|ft|abbr=on}} (2013) | Ship beam = {{convert|14.82|m|ft|abbr=on}} | Ship height = {{convert|88.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} | Ship draught = {{convert|10.20|m|ft|abbr=on}} maximum (2013) | Ship depth = | Ship hold depth = | Ship ice class = | Ship power = | Ship propulsion = 2 × Caterpillar {{convert|969|kW|hp|abbr=on}} (2013) | Ship sail plan = Triple-headed sloop | Ship speed = | Ship range = | Ship endurance = | Ship boats = | Ship crew = 17 | Ship time to activate = | Ship sensors = | Ship aircraft = Float-mounted Carbon Cub | Ship aircraft facilities = | Ship notes = }} |
M5 is a sloop-rigged super yacht launched in 2003 as Mirabella V. She is the largest single-masted yacht ever built.
Ownership
Mirabella V was built as part of a fleet of large sailing yachts used for luxury private charters by Joseph Vittoria, former Chairman and CEO of the Avis car rental company.{{efn-ua|Vittoria grew up on Long Island and worked as a "launch boy" at a yacht club in Sea Cliff, New York, where he developed a love for sailing. Two of his sisters married sailors who helped him learn and continue his enjoyment of sailing. Vittoria lived in Greenwich, Connecticut from 1980 to 1991 and still has a home and membership in the Belle Haven Club, there, although he and his wife, Luciana, later moved to Palm Beach, Florida.{{citation|url=http://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/World-s-largest-single-masted-yacht-anchored-in-472793.php|title=World's largest single-masted yacht anchored in Greenwich|newspaper=Greenwich Time|author=Frank MacEachern|date=2010-05-03|access-date=23 April 2016|archive-date=14 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514174738/http://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/World-s-largest-single-masted-yacht-anchored-in-472793.php|url-status=live}} Vittoria made his fortune helping organise the buyout and resale of Avis in the 1980s.{{citation|url=http://www.yachtingworld.com/mirabella-v/mirabella-v-vospers-super-sloop-39301|magazine=The Yachting World|title=Mirabella V - Vosper's super-sloop|date=2003-11-10|access-date=23 March 2016|archive-date=8 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408035828/http://www.yachtingworld.com/mirabella-v/mirabella-v-vospers-super-sloop-39301|url-status=live}}}} She was named after Vittoria's previous yachts.
Mirabella V now belongs to Rodney Lewis{{cite web|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11523396|website=The New Zealand Herald |title=Sail of the century has its own seaplane|access-date=28 January 2020|archive-date=29 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929081231/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11523396|url-status=live}} and has been renamed M5. It is no longer available for charters.
Design
The owner specifications combined fast sailing with motoryacht amenities.{{citation|url=http://www.mirabellayachts.com/mirabella5/pdfs/mirabella5_aspects.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016125927/http://www.mirabellayachts.com/mirabella5/pdfs/mirabella5_aspects.pdf|title=Presentation to the Royal Institution of Naval Architects|author=Ron Holland|author2=John Stott|date=2003-10-23|archivedate=2007-10-16}} M5 has achieved speeds in excess of {{convert|19|knots}} in 8 1/2 ft seas. To achieve the amenity requirements, a single mast was preferred to other rig types in order to maximize interior volumes in keel-stepped sailing yachts; To achieve the performance requirements, the higher aspect ratio of the single mast sail plan was also preferred in order to provide a better speed potential. A final demand was that the yacht be able to use the harbour at Palm Beach, Florida. This required the use of a lifting keel to reduce draft.{{citation|url=http://www.bymnews.com/new/mirabellav/index.html|title=Mirabella V: meeting a superstar|website=BYM News|author=Tom Walsh|access-date=6 March 2006|archive-date=13 February 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060213131806/http://www.bymnews.com/new/mirabellav/index.html|url-status=live}}
Mirabella V was designed by yacht designer Ron Holland. Load and structural calculations of the hull and rig were carried out by Hamble-based firm High Modulus Europe Ltd, (now part of Gurit).
Technical challenges
While vessels of M5{{'}}s size are typically made from steel or aluminium, an aramid foam core/vinylester sandwich build was chosen to achieve a shorter delivery date, reduced maintenance (regular repainting to inhibit corrosion is not required) and better acoustic thermal insulation.{{citation|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061028233127/http://www.reinforcedplastics.com/market_focus/marine_offshore/Mirabella.html|url=http://www.reinforcedplastics.com/market_focus/marine_offshore/Mirabella.html|title=Engineering a composite hyperyacht|journal=Reinforced Plastics|author=George Marsh|date=December 2002|archivedate=2006-10-28}}
Historically, large yachts were built with more than one mast in order to divide the sail area for easier handling. Today's technologies in spars, rigging, sailmaking, powered winches and electronics enable rigs with larger sail areas, higher aspect ratios, larger loads and simpler handling, allowing Mirabella V to be constructed with the tallest mast and largest jib of any sailing craft ever built at the time. One of the procurement challenges was finding sheets strong enough to trim the sails.
Construction
Mirabella V was constructed at the former BVT Surface Fleet yard (formerly VT Shipbuilding, formerly Vosper Thornycroft) at its Woolston Yard, Southampton, Hampshire. Luciana Vittoria specified to naval architect Ron Holland her wishes for interior decoration.{{citation|url=http://www.mirabellayachts.com/press/index.php?article=16|title=Ron Holland outlines design philosophy for Mirabella V|date=2004-05-24|archivedate=2011-07-14|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714100959/http://www.mirabellayachts.com/press/index.php?article=16}} After changing hands and being rechristened M5, she was handed over for refit to the Pendennis Shipyard in March 2013. She was relaunched in September 2013 with an extended stern and reverse transom, a lighter ballast arrangement and carbon fibre standing rigging.{{citation|journal=Pendennis Voyage|date=December 2014|url=https://pendennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Voyage-2014-Low-Res.pdf|title=M5 - Magnificence Reborn|access-date=23 April 2016|archive-date=26 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426055505/https://pendennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Voyage-2014-Low-Res.pdf|url-status=live}}
Particulars of ship
- LOA: {{convert|77.60|m|ft|abbr=on}} (2013)
- LWL (full load): {{convert|61.00|m|ft|abbr=on}}
- Beam: {{convert|14.82|m|ft|abbr=on}}
- Displacement (half load): {{convert|765|t|ton}}
- Ballast: {{convert|100|t|ton}} (2013)
- Draught (keel up) {{convert|3.80|m|ft|abbr=on}} (2013)
- Draught (keel down): {{convert|10.20|m|ft|abbr=on}} (2013)
- Air draught: {{convert|88.50|m|ft|abbr=on}} (cannot pass under any bridge that she can navigate to[http://www16.boot.de/cipp/md_boot/custom/pub/content,lang,2/oid,7916/ticket,g_u_e_s_t/local_lang,2 Boot.de: Mirabella V - the largest sailing sloop ever] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718203300/http://www.boot.de/cipp/md_boot/custom/pub/content,lang,2/oid,7916/ticket,g_u_e_s_t/local_lang,2 |date=18 July 2011 }})
- Sail area (mainsail+working jib): {{convert|2,385|m2|sqft|abbr=on}}
- Sail area (mainsail+reacher): {{convert|3,380|m2|sqft|abbr=on}}
- Her {{convert|1,833|m2|sqft|abbr=on}} UPS genoa is the world's largest sail, excluding spinnakers.
Accommodation
The boat has a master suite on the main deck and six cabins for as many as 12 guests. The boat's lazarette stores a {{convert|29|ft|m|adj=on}} tender, Lasers, jet skis, ski boats, kayaks and three remote-controlled models of Mirabella V. The foredeck has two recesses that serve as swimming pools and as storage for two launches.
Launch
Mirabella V was launched on 27 November 2003 and her mast was stepped at the Southampton Empress Dock on 30 December 2003.{{citation|url=http://www.yachtingworld.com/mirabella-v/historic-launch-of-worlds-largest-sloop-mirabella-v-38969|title=Historic launch of world's largest sloop, Mirabella V|magazine=The Yachting World|date=2003-11-27|access-date=23 April 2016|archive-date=9 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609212727/http://www.yachtingworld.com/mirabella-v/historic-launch-of-worlds-largest-sloop-mirabella-v-38969|url-status=live}} Her first sea trial took place off Portsmouth on 14 April 2004.
Charter
Service
After dragging anchor and running aground in Beaulieu-sur-Mer on 16 September 2004, Mirabella V was towed into La Ciotat for a survey and subsequently returned to Vosper Thornycroft in Portsmouth for repairs.{{citation|url=http://www.yachtingworld.com/news/mirabella-v-arrives-in-portsmouth-28803|magazine=The Yachting World|date=2004-10-22|title=Mirabella arrives in Portsmouth|access-date=23 April 2016|archive-date=9 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609210516/http://www.yachtingworld.com/news/mirabella-v-arrives-in-portsmouth-28803|url-status=live}}
See also
References
=Notes=
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