The Pacific is a huge ocean, but superyachts are huge ships… Can they cross this enormous expanse of water?
The Pacific Ocean might be an incredible size, but that doesn’t stop superyachts from having the ability to cross it. They can – and do – cross the Pacific Ocean on routes from the United States to Oceania, or Asia, or vice-versa. Superyachts are capable enough to handle the crossing with ease.
Read on to learn more about this massive ocean and the vessels that navigate it.
Super Ocean, Superyacht
If you’ve spent tens or hundreds of millions of dollars on a state of the art superyacht, you’ll want to flex it whenever possible. What better way is there to show off the prowess of your floating mansion than to cross the planet’s widest ocean?
The Pacific Ocean is quite simply a gargantuan body of water and ranks as both the largest and deepest ocean on Earth. It reaches from the coasts of Asia to the west coast of America, and beyond.
If you’re onboard a capable sea-faring vessel like a superyacht, the opportunities are almost endless. You could steam out to Melbourne, take a trip to Hong Kong, or venture to Vladivostok – there are countless options.
However, distance and time do play into it, and you’ll likely spend days at sea at least when crossing the Pacific. In many cases, you’ll be on board your superyacht for weeks, taking in the sights, smells, and sounds of the open ocean.
Let’s look at an example; say we’re on board a massive superyacht and we’re steaming from Tokyo to Seattle. As we follow the curve of the Earth, our shipping route lays out a path almost five thousand miles in length.
We skim the Bering Sea and route around the top end of the North Pacific Ocean, ensuring we’re never too far from the coastline. After all, this fifty million dollar superyacht might be capable, but it’s not equipped for battling potentially rough seas a thousand miles from the shoreline.
Now, the fastest superyachts have been known to hit speeds of around thirty-one knots. If we powered ahead at thirty-one knots over five thousand miles, it would take just over one hundred and sixty hours to make the crossing.
That’s just under seven days, providing we don’t stop, and we don’t slow down. This gives a perfect example of how long it would take a superyacht to cross the Pacific Ocean.
Equipped To Cross
Not all yachts are built exclusively for luxury, leisure, and pleasure. There is a collection of superyachts that are known as ‘explorer’ yachts, and they’re constructed (or converted) to travel immense distances, through some fairly treacherous conditions.
At the top end of the size scale for these explorer superyachts sits vessels that measure more than four hundred feet in length. For example, there’s the aptly named Ulysses, which sailed her maiden voyage in 2018 from Norway.
This beautiful and enormous vessel boasts a staggering size, coming equipped with a helipad, a fleet of tenders, and room inside for more than sixty guests. There’s even a 68-foot cruiser stored inside the belly of Ulysses for going ashore in style.
When it comes to going the distance, the Ulysses can sail uninterrupted for more than eight thousand miles. There’s a potential, with the right conditions, for this explorer superyacht to cross the Pacific and return again in a single bound.
This is owed mostly to the intensely oversized fuel tank, which has a capacity of almost half a million liters of fuel. To put that into comparison, the average family car’s fuel tank won’t exceed around sixty to seventy liters of fuel.
Small But Mighty
In 2019, Dutch yacht builders Heesen revealed plans to bridge the gap between rugged practicality and sumptuous luxury. They’d conceptualized a long-range, fantastically-equipped, and high-tech superyacht called the Xventure.
This vessel measured just one hundred and ninety feet but boasted a five-thousand-mile range, an infinity pool, helipad, and glass walls. Reportedly, the Xventure would come equipped with a submarine, but by the end of 2020, the vessel was still in the design phases.
It was said that the luxurious superyacht would be regarded as ‘seven-star luxury’, and would be sold with a helicopter, jet skis, and the aforementioned submarine. There’s likely no better way to cross any ocean, let alone the largest and deepest ocean on the planet.
Keep a weather eye on the horizon, and maybe you’ll be able to pick up an Xventure if it ever officially releases.