[Music] welcome to the whole story I'm Anderson Cooper tonight we take you into a world that few people get to see up close the world of super Yachts private boats some of them longer than a football field they can cost hundreds of millions of dollars and it seems there's plenty of buyers since the pandemic more people than ever are building and buying them business is reportedly booming they become status symbols for the super rich and striking symbols of economic in equality their impact on the environment and the oceans is a topic of debate the US has seized some super Yachts of Russia's Elite and now your tax dollars are surprisingly being spent to keep their ships in tiptop shape CNN's Allison camarada takes us inside this Hidden World of super yachts and her first stop the Monaco yacht [Music] show this is is Monaco land of the ultra wealthy and dotting the harbor like crown jewels are some of the world's largest super Yachts pleasure that's no surprise considering this is the richest country in the world per capita people here don't pay income tax which as you can imagine attracts Millionaires and billionaires from all over the globe a picture Queen who will become a princess greets her new subjects from the moment the American actress Grace Kelly sailed into Port Hercules to marry Prince reer III the princess carrying her poodle Oliver arrives with her husband to board their yacht we've been fascinated by the yachting life from the TV show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous the glamorized wealth in decadence decades ago to today's popular reality show Bravo below de deck to social media feeds of celebrities lounging on Yachts like Beyonce's photos on Instagram we seem to have an almost Primal fascination with rich people and how they spend their money the Obamas aboard David gein's yacht vacationing with Bruce Springsteen Tom Hanks Oprah [Music] Winfrey these boats look very nice these are yachts and I think a lot of people would look at these and say these are pretty big yeah they're beautiful until you see the big ones CNN contributor Evan Osos is also a staff writer at the New Yorker magazine who scored the plum assignment of researching super Yachts what can be important to keep in mind is none of this existed a few years ago his 2022 New Yorker article on the super wealthy obsession with super Yachts created some waves in the industry they've become in some ways the final frontier of wealth the emblem of what you buy when there's nothing else left to buy they are a higher caliber of wealth than even a beautiful Penthouse apartment a private plane that's all chump change compared to these I mean in the end expensive art is perhaps $200 million for a war hul the most expensive apartment ever sold in New York City was $240 million in yacht terms that's pretty ordinary money actually these things can become 300 400 $500 million a gigot in the end is the most expensive thing that humans have figured out how to own Giga yachs are the largest kind of super yacht we'll show you the different sizes in a bit but on board it seems no expense is spared we saw mosaics made of Italian leather a working Spa complete with a hair and nail salon and massage rooms dive centers with walls that open onto the ocean wooden flooring made from a 16th century Monastery glass encased pools to swim laps and a swimming pool in a bedroom ceiling this is the really the center of the supero universe in Monaco at this time of year so if you're in the market for a big yacht this is the place to come this is where we see the biggest super Yachts yeah sure Monaco hosts the Formula 1 grand prix Every Spring but this annual weeklong yachting event is called one of the greatest concentrations of wealth in the world is a bucket list place to be if you're in the industry if you're shopping for a yacht and a big yacht not a small yacht this is it this is a Super Bowl this is the World Cup final strolling along the peers of the Monaco yach show one thing becomes Crystal Clear size does indeed matter what's Loa Loa that's the coin of the realm it stands for length overall and look on some level yes this is about people mostly men buying giant yachts and competing with one another call it B big yacht energy and it fuels a 10 billion doll a year industry Bernard dandre has been Secretary General of the Monaco Yacht Club for over four decades and tell us about the changes that you've seen the size of the boat is very increase every year are you seeing people want bigger boats more length always and every time they change the boat they grow approximately 40% of the size and the value of the V why is that what can they not get on an 80ft yacht that they want to upgrade first of all life change your family grow or maybe you change you change wife and you have a new life you make more money and then you like to have a bigger boat as we learned not all Yachts are created equal tell me about the distinctions between super yacht mega yacht Giga yacht well super yacht's anything over 20 4 M length overall at Loa the rules maintain that you need crew and a cruded boat over 24 m means it's a super yacht so that's like 78 ft for the American that's right let me do the math a super yacht is at least 78 ft long and has a full-time crew the larger you go the looser the terms but at 230 ft it's generally called a mega yacht above 295 ft most people will call it a giga yacht later we'll give you a glimpse inside the queen of the Monaco yacht show one of the largest Giga yachts in the world at 318 ft just for reference an NFL football field from one goal line to the other is only 300 ft so how many passengers can you take on a huge floating football field generally only 12 this surprises people outside of the industry the LA is written in a curious way it goes all the way back to the sinking of the Titanic they imposed rules that said that you can only have on most Yachts 12 people spend the night not to get too technical but in the wake of the 1912 Titanic disaster stricter safety rules were put in place for commercial passenger ships including having lifeboats or rafts for 125% of the passengers and crew but those Maritime rules are much looser for private pleasure crafts with 12 passengers or less and that's the category for most Yachts but there's no limit on the number of crew so as a result you might have a yacht that has 12 guests and up to 50 people who are working on the boat attending to them Devon J Von rensburg is the captain of the virtuosity I'm so excited please remove your shoes does everybody have to remove their shoes everyone removes their shoes the virtuosity he Helms one of the newest Super Yachts from the Italian ship Builder San Lorenzo at 187 ft how many crew for 12 guests on board virtuosity we have 12 but boats of this size can accommodate up to 20 crew 20 crew for 12 yes correct people can be doed on in their every wish is your command some people like fresh strawberries in the mornings and we might sit in in the middle of nowhere at anchor strawberries will come by a helicopter on board virtuosity we can make the impossible possible within hours but a miracle takes me at least a day to truly understand what that level of service and luxury feels like this is the crew San Lorenzo invited me to spend one glorious night aboard the virtuosity it was a tough assignment but I accepted yeah this doesn't suck the virtuosity spent the summer in the Mediterranean or the med as they call it here the Canadian owners have opened her up for Charter after the Monaco yacht show she'll head to the Caribbean for the winter in the meantime the captain gave us a tour even this is beautiful the staircase yeah the staircase is also one of their show pieces that they very proud of on board virtuosity I can see why how many floors is this we have three this yacht has everything from a disco way the music happens to the bridge oh my God to the upper Salon where guests hang out on rainy days to the sunbathing area SL helicopter deck and of course the swimming pool in the spirit of reporting I had to try them all this is where you'll be staying tonight ah welcome to the owner's cabin the owner's cabin oh my heavens look at this I'm getting used to this it's worrying me how comfortable I'm getting here so for our first course we have the cicho SE dinner on super Yachts is just as delicious and extravagant as you'd imagine the virtuosity comes with Gourmet level Cuisine which definitely stretched our CNN per DM budgets but don't be fooled by the peaceful Ambiance a lot of work is being done a few decks below no problem tell me what I need to serve okay just a taste of the meticulous round thee clock White Club service yacht crews are expected to provide to guests on board what are some of the most extravagant food requests you've gotten oh I got a good one bolog sauce they want that's only made with Kobe A5 beef and that's not cheap around 5 grand just for the sauce for 10 people oh my God if it's $5,000 for special pasta sauce how much does it cost to Charter a whole super yacht we'll run at about 4 to 500,000 per week4 to $500,000 to Charter this boat per week correct and that's just for the yacht not included travel to the boat's location food and drink Fuel and gratuities for the crew give me the archetype of the type of people who are chartering it people who are serious about their [Laughter] holidays coming up waking up on a super yacht and an inside look at one of the world's largest Giga Yachts no has really seen her she was very secretive for a very very long time and the undeniable environmental impact there's no way around it these are gas guzzlers and later the unexpected cost of seizing the super Yachts of Russian oligarchs once the US seizes it they have to maintain it and spend a lot of taxpayer [Music] money stunning Sunrise Tranquility it's just glorious it turns out waking up on a super yacht in Monaco is well just as incredible as you might imagine morning thank you times 100 but it's time for us to get back to work the beauty is to go in side of Pino San Trope uh Capri masimo peroti is the executive chairman of italian-based ship Builder San Lorenzo they had several vessels on display at the Monaco yacht show including the virtuosity if we show to the people how good is voting you know if we can increase from 3 to 4% the rate of penetration to the super Rion that means 25% more business which is huge of course this luxury does not come cheap never mind chartering or even owning one of these Mega Million doll vessels even the cost of maintenance is eye popping we tell people assume 10% of the cost of the Y as an annual maintenance on it Chuck Ashman is the chief Revenue officer of marine Max the world's largest retailer of recreational boats Frasier is their premium yacht brand if the yacht was 10 million it's probably going to cost you a million dollars a year despite those bottomless costs business is still booming for super Yachts it started with the pandemic when people wanted to get away from their possibly infectious neighbors and set sale 2020 and 2021 saw record high sales on super Yachts for the super rich but it turns out that boom carries a big cost for the rest of us as well the best estimates are that one big diesel yacht will generate as much greenhouse gas as500 passenger cars over the equivalent period of time that kind of environmental impact has put a big Target on their sundex Spanish climate activists posted videos of themselves vandalizing a super yacht activists holding a banner in front of the $300 million ship where they spray it with red and black p pain the Y reportedly belongs to billionaire Walmart AIS Nancy Walton Lori then there's Jeff Bezos one of the world's richest men and philanthropists the Bezos Earth funds 10 billion commitment to fight climate change he's built the world's largest sailing yacht the koru undoubtedly a giga yacht but don't be fooled by this sailboat's air of environmental Consciousness kou is trailed behind by abiona a 246 ft Motor Yacht that has a 70,000 G tank a boat kou size at 417 ft typically would have at least one helicopter landing pad but because koru is a Sailing Boat you can't land a helicopter on that so the fact that she was a sailboat and that she was greener than most megga yots actually necessitated the existence of abiona because Jeff likes his helicopters and Lauren Sanchez his fiance as a licensed pilot Jeff Bezos declined to comment for the CNN documentary it's a symbol of something deeper which is that it tends to be that wealthier people have a larger carbon footprint because of houses the jet the cars and the yacht becomes the most visible expression of that the industry is aware of the bad Optics of their gas guzzling ways the proof was in the buzzword we kept hearing over and over again in Monaco sustainability sustainability sustainability we're at a very interesting time in Ocean conservation Claire Brooke heads the blue marine Foundation a charity dedicated to securing at least 30% of the world's oceans as Marine protected by 2030 some of their efforts are showcased in this video narrated by Sir David Attenborough the kelp fron lock up vast amounts of carbon as they grow while the super yacht industry struggles to make its Public Image greener some companies give money to environmental organizations doing the work every time we transact any business we donate to Ocean conservation with blo Marine foundation and ask our clients and then it's a question of of them saying yes I'll donate you know a half a percent or a percentage of my chter fee directly to Ocean conservation it's sort of like being asked for a donation of a few cents at the grocery store checkout line but the luxury yacht brokerage Burgess believes even little green gestures can add up all the flowers on the Burgess stand at the moment should last up to a year they are real flowers they are beautiful flowers how did they last a year they are preserved biologically with natural oils so if you are able to keep the same arrangements for a year or you know even 6 months for a season it's it's a small thing but all those 1centers will make a sea change we've heard about flowers They're going to try to make that why is that funny not to put too fine a point on it but but you know when you look at the scale of the problem you know some more sustainable materials or fake flowers are a little bit like putting lipstick on a pig they hardly scratch the surface so we've got a massive job to do in terms of reducing our CO2 emissions our industry needs to be extremely cautious when we communicate about ability in Ting uh a y would never be 100% green and certainly a yacht like this will never be considered eco-friendly Corinthia 7 the 97 meter boat built in Germany by Lon she a very very famous supot no one's really seen her she was very secretive for a very very long time it's very funny that you say she's been quite secretive because it's such a paradox for something this you know ginor to be secretive yeah it is a strange combo built in 2002 and refit by a new owner in 2023 the Corinthia 7 is the queen of the Monaco yacht show remember that's the Giga yacht that is larger than a football field from one goalpost to the other one of the biggest in the world but even on a ship this size you can still only have 12 overnight guests that can be stretched to five more with people called super numerar like security a nanny a teacher or a helicopter pilot but the number of crew is virtually unlimited this will run you around $1.6 million a week to Charter you know the Emoji where your brain explodes like an atom that's that's the effect it had David seal is a former broker turned YouTuber there Yachts who shows the rest of us land lovers the inside of these Giga Yachts on his Channel Yachts for sale I think the buyers now are more intelligent buyers what does that mean at one time you could pay for a super model to PW lips on the power of a yacht with a big hat and sell the yach not anymore that doesn't sell anymore it's getting a little bit boring so now people they actually want to know um how fast does it go how how far does it go is the big question how far can it go on a tank of gas that's right but the folks at the Yacht show say we're thinking about this all wrong these may be Giant Gas Guzzlers but they're also huge job creators this is uh a really brilliant way we've devised of extracting a lot of wealth from rich people and redistributing it to an awful lot of other people how so well first of all to build one of these things costs some of the bigger ones hundreds of millions of Euros or dollars Behind These objects there is a whole world of families of workers of designers which make uh this happen it's the trickle down theory of yacht ownership these boats require constant and Relentless servicing and maintaining from those tireless Crews endlessly swabbing and polishing to the tenders which are small boats that fer passengers to land from their super Yachts anchored at sea to the ship Builders and designers to the highly skilled Craftsmen to the yacht Brokers to the yacht industry media buying a yacht is often referred to as a purchase of passion there's a lot of people making boatloads of money from Super Yachts so rather than people seeing these things as just the toy of some you know billionaire X there are actually many floating economies and wherever they go they absolutely fire hose money into local economies and populations up next speaking of owners we've found them to be sort of camera shy our search to find a super yacht owner who'll talk to us does somebody need a 250 ft [Music] yacht [Music] at the 2023 Monaco yacht show 117 super Yachts were on display with every toy and accessory [Music] imaginable take two come on you don't have to be in Monaco long to cross paths with this colorful character Eddie Jordan a former race car driver Formula 1 team owner current drummer in a rock band TV personality and owner of roughly 20 Yachts over several decades I'm a drugie I've got the needle in the arm for boats but even this self-described yacht junkie thinks we may have reached the Tipping Point and that the size of these floating buildings may be going overboard what do you think when you see all the 200t yachts and all the mega yachts and Giga yards for me personally I don't get it they leave me cold why because they're too ostentatious I think it's very much a here I am this is what I've done I've been Mega successful uh and this is my [Music] boat why does somebody need a75 ft or 200t yacht I'm not even sure about that the maximum size I had was 150 ft but you know what the biggest problem was Finding enough friends who had time available at the right time to join you because being on a big boat like that is very boring very selfish and I'm not sure it's creating the right Vibe for the staff the crew or anybody we tried to get present day super yacht owners to talk to us about what makes it so addictive but oddly no one agreed to go on camera the truth is nobody in that world pretends that it's a productive investment the yacht from the very moment it's created is essentially in Mortal Combat with its own environment the water is trying to rust it from below the Sea Air is trying to turn this thing Brown and sink it to the bottom of the ocean so it's a horrible investment it's a terrible investment you're buying it partly because of the fact that it is utterly unnecessary so if you're concerned about the amount of money you're spending that right there probably disqualifies you at the outset maybe that's why no owner would talk to us maybe they're embarrassed by the over-the-top extravagance of these things maybe that kind of talk is too go for Monaco so we headed west some place with even more Super yachts and maybe more accessible owners Fort Lauderdale Florida home to the world's largest boat show what's the difference between the Monaco yacht show and the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show it's often harder to tell the American owner from a man in the street the full rob butt you could see a guy walking along here at 9:00 in the morning with a can of beer and shorts you know he could be worth $500 million you just don't know Stuart Campbell is the editorinchief at Boat International a yachting industry Media Company America is the market for supia is half the market the American supia owner keeps this industry alive this you can see is my wife's doing if me you would have paper dishes mhm plastic cups right she has to have all this faace silverware and all this crazy dishes and you know everything Vace with my wife finally we found one 76-year-old American owner owner John stupi was happy to talk to us and give us the Run of his mega yacht he bought it in early 20123 when she was named solo he refit and renamed her Casino Royale so John I know you're a big James Bond fan we even got one in this elevator the but the elevator look at this Casino Royale with his wife of 36 years Janette and their beloved dog buddy stupy shared his story of yacht addiction how many Yachts have you had about 22 you've had 22 Yachts yeah why so many you know when you build a Bo you always forget something you know I like a bigger bedroom I like a fireplace you know so you always look to do something different he likes projects when I was a kid we used to buy this dog called Potato Head you put different eyes and different clothes on it and stuff like that so basically a super yacht is just like Mr Potato but this toy cost $70 million used and more than $4.5 million to maintain each year the stupes only spend two to three months on it annually but they do Charter it out for $800,000 a week plus food drink fuel tips Etc so all in is it a million dollars yeah probably a million dollarss a week yeah that's staggering so when this bat goes on charted we need a closet for close a floating closet how big is that one 110 ft you have another yacht over there 110 ft yes it's your backup yacht it's my backup boat then we're going to sell that boat stupi is a self-made man originally a mechanic from Brooklyn he made his fortune with successful car dealerships like the one in this grand opening video April the 9th 1988 the launching takes place of octopos in 1988 he also set the world record for creating the fastest yacht when he put three huge diesel engines in a 140 ft yacht and throttled it up in this archival footage you can see cupi setting his sights on his goal I knew I could never afford to have the biggest shott in the world but I knew I could have the fastest shot in the world when you say the fastest yacht in the world what does that mean well I'm the first guy that went 53 knots with a boat 61 m per hour a new world [Music] record more and more people have super yachs now yes is it harder to get in some places now there's only a few marines that could really handle us like when you go to Europe if you're over 200 ft you got to Anchor out because there's really not a lot of places to go but you know there's people with 300 ft 400 ft you know it gets crazy I know what's too big I think 250 ft to Big cuz yours is 243 I just took it easy a little bit lower but seriously if some great places in the world won't let you in with a bigger than 200t boat why have a bigger one you know why you build a big a house or what do you do something you know is there a reason for it no I guess it's ego his ego has gotten bigger and [Music] bigger as the same goes time stand still when you're on the water hi Steve thank you for welcome modos there's another benefit that American owners like Steve ltis talked to us about fantastic thank you as corny as it may sound they say they buy these ginormous boats for the intimacy they create for their family Ames having your family on the boat they're sort of Trapped with you so they can't get away from you at home your kids do try to escape where here everybody sort of hangs around and has a nice family conversation so this is where the kids sleep yes Steve's a brilliant American owner he's into bigger boats so Steve's perfect for our industry because he will just keep going and going and going ltis showed us around his latest super yacht and answered some of our pressing questions Steve your yacht has a his and hers bathroom it does with a shower in between room for two that's great is there any size that's too big you know um probably not are you looking to upgrade at some point yes always looking to upgrade does somebody need a 250 ft yacht probably not but you know there's a lot of things that we have in life that we don't have to have it's just a matter of enjoying uh fruits of your labor coming up the seizure of Russian oligarchs Yachts did the governments realize how much this is going to cost the taxpayer we're joining with European allies to find and seize their Yachts their luxury apartments their private jets his administration planned to seize their ill-gotten gains and now the world is targeting the Billionaire's extravagant Yachts German authorities seiz the dillbar It is believed to be the world's biggest yacht and it's the latest to be swept up in the global drag net targeting The Riches of Russian oligarchs Russian oligarchs really seem to love their Mega yachts all of a sudden in the spring of 2022 Yachts became a matter of geopolitical concern because you have the US government and in cooperation with countries like Italy Germany Spain they were beginning to freeze One yacht after another Italian authorities just seized a super yacht that may belong to Putin himself pral authorities have seized a super yacht at least 13 super yachts allegedly owned by Russian oligarchs have been seized or detained around the world since the invasion of Ukraine in many cases ownership and the right to sanction and seizure is playing out in each country's legal system as is the case with the dillbar in Germany as for the US American authorities were directly involved in two of those seizures the FBI boarded the 199 million doll yacht off the coast of mayorca in Spain first in April 202 2 the mega yacht Tango Western allies have seized the $90 million luxury yacht attorney general mer Garland said it will not be the last the next month a 348 ft Giga yacht seized in Fiji called the amadea federal officials sailed the $300 million yacht into the bay this morning the boat is Big it's four stories tall nearly 350 ft long with its own pool and helipad it's docking in San Diego comes after a more than 5 th000 M Journey from Fiji have you spent time on Russian Yachts I have I have most of the real super wealthy Russian would have a chain of people that you had to deal with before you could actually get to them in order to figure out who owns a yacht in many cases it's owned by a shell company in an offshore tax Haven there are lawyers and companies standing between the real owner and the names on the page these things now entered a kind of legal limbo in the meantime by the way these boats are being maintained strangely enough by us taxpayers the law requires that these boats are maintained at the level at which they were seized meaning that it can cost tens of millions of dollars to keep these boats afloat that's right American taxpayers are paying the upkeep on both Yachts seized by the FBI including the amadea it's been sitting in a Southern California dock for more than a year and a half according to court documents it's reportedly costing taxpayers $1 million a month what happens if you just let it deteriorate well at the end of it maybe you on that sanction listing undeservedly now you're going to say well you took my $100 million yacht and you let it rot at the dock for a year and now it's worth 50 million where's my compensation for that some of them are up for sale but I personally spoken to brokers who are dissuading their clients from buying them Kevin Koenig is a journalist who's been covering the yacht industry for 15 years and blogs about it on his Instagram account the yacht fella the initial intention was seizing these Yachts for the US government in the UK and the EU is oh we're going to sell them off a great profit and pump that money into rebuilding Ukraine and the war effort there US Government couldn't sell them so far no nation has been able to finalize the sale of any seized super Yachts for Ukraine's benefit or government coffers to my knowledge these seizures did nothing to the oligarchs these guys are worth 6 seven8 12 billion and you take away their $300 million yacht yeah so what and a lot of them are keeping their boats in turkey and the UAE and friendly ports where they're untouched due to different political reasons but American authorities say these things take time the doj's task force klepto capture runs the US sanctions on Russian oligarchs so it may be months or even a year or more before we finally see the fruits of this effort but we're fully committed to seeing it to the end we do spend some money up front to maintain these assets that will pay off significant dividends down the line both in terms of what the US Government Can recoup and also what the US government can then make available for Ukraine and we intend to Prevail in court and see it through and some critics of the seizures claim that there are costs far beyond the financial personally I think nobody has the right to seize anybody's personal belonging whether it's Russian or American or Japanese or Chinese Muhammad Hussein Al shali is a former Emira Diplomat he's now chairman of golfcraft a yacht Builder based in the United Arab Emirates the princip of taking somebody else personal belonging it's not good for relation between people and governments and countries the big Yacht broker said to me look what happens someday if there's a war over Taiwan will China look at American Yacht owners and say all right we're going to start seizing these where we can it creates a tremendous amount of nervousness up next the future of super yachts you can dive right off the side of the [Music] yacht so Captain what is this this is our very own Dive Center on board you can dive right off the side of the yacht correct straight into the water oh my gosh this is the 209 ft Atomic a super yacht up for sale at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat [Music] Show Captain Alex AO a Florida native showed us some of the perks you can get for a mere $63 million wait a second what's this uh this would be our four-story Glass Elevator wow and here we have the owner's office very lavish so does the owner use this office not very often but on occasion he does make some phone calls and things here oh my God I'm glad you have a special room for phone calls so obviously to propel a 210 ft boat you need a lot of fuel about 35,000 gallons of fuel over three semitruck full of fuel so when you fill up this yacht what is the price t uh usually about $80,000 $80,000 how often are you filling it uh probably about seven times a year $80,000 seven times a year yes and that's just one of the maintenance costs uh yeah that's relatively small in the spectrum of how much money we spend to keep the vessel to a high standard using the 10% industry standard annual maintenance on this yacht would be roughly 6.3 million a year but that's not why the owner wants to sell it this is for sale correct because the owner wants to upgrade that is correct yes the owner wants a bigger yacht than this 210t yacht H slightly larger the most important question and this drives the entire industry is who is willing to spend more on a bigger yacht the entire thing only works if people are being tempted with the possibility of a bigger more expensive yacht constantly right cuz you'd think it's a oneoff you get you buy your yacht you're good oh no no it's a gateway [Music] drug we met this impulse buyer looking for his first hit in Fort Lauderdale it's the blue one is here on the you just bought it yeah how much 1.5 M congratulations but just moments later Felipe admits he may soon want something different you sure you're not going to want to graduate to a bigger boat one day make lot of money when we checked back after the boat show we learned Felipe already wanted something new he put in an order for a different color the superat business is thriving even owners of small boats will tell you that there's a thing called twoot itis so basically you get a boat and you want one two feet bigger I cannot recall such a a positive period we have gained a lot of newcomers osnos reports that in the '90s there were fewer than 10 mega yachs over 250 ft today there are more than 200 in service and according to the super yacht times close to 60 Mega yachs being built around the world what does the future of yachting look like those people who can afford to buy Yachts will be always there because they are not affected with the economic uh fluctuation we have 50 million people that vote a year in the United States right but you don't have 50 million billionaires I don't need 50 million give me 10 10 more billionaires that's all you're looking for that's all we need 3% of the US population owns a bone 97% Prospect to me while most people will likely never get to set foot on a giga yacht I kept coming back to the same seemingly unanswerable question for the owners are they happy on there do they end up feeling cooped up how many times can you go to your own inner disco with just five of your friends that's the question is there any boat ultimately that will satisfy whatever it is that you're seeking that drove you out into the water in the first place in a candid moment I remember a a CEO in Silicon Valley said to me look the reality is that this thing can go on forever you can continue finding and building and buying a bigger and bigger yacht and the question that you're ultimately posing to yourself is what is it actually that you're [Music] seeking according to the super yach times there were more than 5,500 Yachts over 98 ft long in operation by August of 2023 and Industry experts think the market will continue to grow thanks for watching the whole story I'll see you next [Music] Sunday
