Sure, you might have a megayacht big enough to tote along several water toys, tenders, helis, and submersibles wherever you go, but who wants all that junk cluttering up the ship? For the truly indulgent megayachtsman, Dutch shipyards Amels and Damen have the answer – the Sea Axe FYS (Fast Yacht Support). Basically, it’s a supporting ship that does the dirty work so your ultra-luxury craft can be entirely devoted to sybaritic seagoing. Offering complete cruise logistics, in addition to acting as a floating garage the Sea Axe can also carry fuels, consumables, waste and extra staff.
In addition the craft can provide security and shuttle services, act as a base for fishing and diving excursions, and can scout ahead for anchorages. The Sea Axe is designed to be fast enough to arrive at the destination ahead of the mother ship and make sure everything’s copacetic, with speeds up to 28 knots and transatlantic range. The all-weather craft are available with various deck and interior configurations in 37, 51 and 67 metre lengths – i.e. practically superyachts in their own right. We’ll take two.
Attendees at the recent Women in Aviation International Convention comment on what made them choose aviation as a career,and where they think the best opportunities for advancement are found.
FMI: www.wai.org
A private jet charter broker will save you money and time plus arrange for better service.
Today, we thought we’d feature something rather unusual. JamesList cohort Douglas Damm got the opportunity to take a sneak peak at this year’s new Audi A8. Overwhelmed by the food, he just barely remembered to take some pictures…
Working with James has its perks and when the invitation from Audi found its way to my office a few days ago I couldn’t turn it down. After a long and unusually, even for Arctic Sweden, cold winter it was certainly time for welcoming the spring in the company of Audi’s new A8. Our friends over at Audi Sweden had with German efficiency and without any of the typical Swedish shyness planned the launch of this year’s new A8. I snapped some pictures with my phone so I’ll let you judge the exterior design for yourselves.
The venue was, interestingly enough, the concert house Berwaldhallen here in Stockholm. After the usual thirty minutes of mingling with both new and old friends over a glass of Champagne the show started with a few musical performances, most notably by a German group called Bauhouse. The group had composed a symphony which they’d simply named The Audi Symphony. A mix of imagery and sounds from the Audi factory combined with a live performance by a symphony orchestra was very innovative and also felt very German in a way. I’ve heard of industry techno but I never thought I’d hear a symphony I’d classify as industry.
I have to admit that when the music came to a sudden stop it felt a bit like I’d been awaken from a trance and I had totally missed that two stunning A8s were slowly cruising out on stage. I remember wondering how they got these two beauties into the concert hall, considering that the entire facility is below ground. Even though Sweden is the home of IKEA they couldn’t have assembled the cars here on location, or could they?
To get to business then, did I like the look of this car? Not only did I like, I loved it. I can’t say that I have been a die-hard Audi fan before but something about this one certainly made me reconsider. The main design feature of the new A8 that sets it apart from the rest is the headlights. I can, without hesitation, say that the fierce orgy in LED-technology is definitely the meanest looking headlights out there right now. Mean is good.
According to the president of Audi Sweden the interior was yacht inspired and being a huge fan of yachts of all kinds I just had to try the driver seat out. I was a little bit disappointed at first, this didn’t look much like any yacht I’d been on but maybe this was because I don’t usually spend much time on the bridge with the crew. The one thing I did found that certainly looked like it belonged on the bridge of any yacht was the gear stick, something out of the ordinary. When the automatic massage function in the seat kicked in I quickly forgot my disappointment though.
In two to three weeks you can go to your local dealer and have a closer look at an A8 for yourself. I don’t care if they brainwashed or hypnotized me with the Audi Symphony, when this baby hits the stores I’ll be the first to get one! Now I only have to figure out what color I want…
-Douglas Damm