The mystique of unusual ships stirs our imagination

Lots of Cape Region residents ogled the Chinese lift vessel Zhen Hua and its cargo of three giant cranes as it stopped briefly off Lewes recently. At the same time, Becky and I were on the British territorial island of Anguilla in the Caribbean keeping a close eye on what is reputed to be the world’s largest sailing vessel.

With a bunch of friends on a deck looking over Crocus Bay - on Anguilla’s highest point - we watched as Russian industrialist Andrey Melnichenko’s Sailing Yacht A came over the horizon and anchored a few miles down Anguilla’s southwestern shore.

We were on the island for two weeks, and the northeasterly trade winds blew steadily at 20 knots day and night. Sailing Yacht A’s crew, which can number up to 54, found a good lee to spend several days. There was plenty of time for the island’s residents and visitors to have a good look and speculate about what it was like to sail on and own a $500 million sailboat.

It’s not hard to spot A - maybe named in honor of Andrey’s wife, maybe so it would stand atop the registry list. The vessel is 468 feet long, steel gray with little color. Its three masts tower over its stark decks. I wouldn’t call the vessel sleek, but a photo is here, and readers can make their own judgments about its appearance.

Stats gleaned from the internet indicate that the Philip Stark-designed vessel, looking like a marine version of a Star Trek conveyance, was built by the Nobiskrug company in Germany. It reportedly cruises at 20 knots and has four different tenders including a getaway vessel for the owners that tops 55 mph.

The 28 clamshell doors of various sizes that open from the seamless sides of the vessel bring a transformer to mind. While crew members open doors near the water’s edge to launch or retrieve tenders for trips ashore, some of the 20 guests the vessel accommodates can choose a patio that folds down from higher up for a sunrise breakfast or sunset rum punches. James Bond could be comfortable on A.

Forbes magazine ranks Melnichenko among the world’s 100 richest people, with an estimated wealth of more than $13 billion. A website for his AIM Foundation identifies the 40-something as a self-made industrialist and philanthropic billionaire who founded one of Russia’s strongest banks and who also figures prominently in fertilizer and coal sales in Russia and all of Europe. His foundation works to identify human resources with great potential across Russia's vast regions - spanning 11 time zones - and help them realize their full constructive potential for their nation and the world.

Anguilla recovering nicely

I’m happy to report that Anguilla is recovering nicely from Hurricane Irma’s 200-mph winds that took down every utility pole on the island in fall 2017. Employees in restaurants and shops we visited told us this winter’s season has been one of the best in many years.

Meanwhile, the Chinese lift vessel Zhen Hua made its way up the Delaware River after leaving Lewes and passed this week - on low tide - beneath the Delaware Memorial Bridge on its way to Philadelphia. According to a press release from the Delaware River and Bay Authority, which owns and operates the bridge, the ship and its crane cargo had to wait for low tide before it could pass safely beneath the bridge’s 188-foot spans.

Two of the cranes were being shipped to the wharves at the Packer Avenue Marine terminal in Philadelphia for installation. They will be offloading and onloading cargo on the largest ships that make their way up and down the Delaware. The third will stay onboard the 836-foot Zhen Hua for its return trip down the Delaware on its way to the port at Wilmington, North Carolina.

For us coastal dwellers, watching the comings and going of ships and boats can be an interesting way to pass the time. Check out the MarineTraffic app to identify vessels in local waters and all over the world. The amount and variety of shipping traffic shown on the app’s maps is nothing short of amazing.