And now for something completely different, the world’s largest sailing yacht.
In 2026, the Orient Express Corinthian will begin her life as the largest most luxurious charter and cruising sailing vessel the world has ever seen. It is being built by the billion-dollar European travel conglomerate Accor.
In an age or mega billionaires, also like the world has never seen, this new yacht falls squarely into the “wretched excess” category occupied by this generation’s oligarchs in the US, Russian and beyond, a category the rest of us, it seems, can’t help ogling over.
(In addition to the pool, the ship will have a full gym, a luxury spa and a wellness center.)
The Corinthian is the latest project for Accor’s Orient Express brand that took over the luxury train business that the name made famous 125 years ago. In those days, the Orient Express that ran from Paris to Istanbul was synonymous with luxury travel, a kind Agatha Christie, Hercule Pioirot sort of thing. Butlers on hand, tuxedoes for dinner and a body in the library.
The new age of Orient Express is a bit more sedate and a lot more luxurious. The Corinthian will have 58 luxury staterooms, 43 luxury suites and seven penthouse-style apartments. The yacht will operate as a cruise ship and as a private charter yacht. There are seven bars, five restaurants and a Moulin Rouge style-Parian cabaret. But, of course.
And, come to think of it, guests may well come with their own butlers, will probably dress for dinner and the Corinthian will have a full library. What could go wrong?
(The two-bedroom suite above is actually called The Agatha Christie Suite.)
Say, you want to host you daughter’s wedding and have 100 close friends for an exclusive highly catered event, the Corinthian will be your thing, even if you already own a 300-foot yacht. Such are the excesses of our new gilded age.
Building a vessel of this size and luxury is no small undertaking. Accor turned to the well-known French shipyard Chantiers de l’Atlantique which successfully is blending classic styling, luxury and high-tech systems to create something unique. For example, the ship will be powered by liquid natural gas turbines (LNG), which are much more efficient than bunker fuel and emits lower carbon emissions.
The 16,100-square-foot sail plan in the three-masted schooner rig presented the riggers and sailmakers with a serious obstacle. The strains on the enormous sails will be so great, no combination of fibers and fabrics could be engineered to withstand them.
The answer it turned out was far outside the box. The designers chose rotating wing spars to power and depower the rig easily and quickly. The sailmakers invented an entirely new sail-making system using carbon-fiber reinforced glass panels to create sails that could be reefed and furled while withstanding the huge forces.
The Corinthian is not for everyone but as it sails past our more meagre boats it will be fun to see what the world’s largest sailing yacht actually looks like.
