Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The rich are buying superyachts in record numbers.</li><li>A source who's worked on the vessels for years offered Insider an exclusive insight into their appeal.</li></ul>The superyacht is the ultimate symbol of wealth, and business is booming. Driven by a search for escape from the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, sales reached record levels in 2021. Though there was a slight dip in 2022, they still exceeded that of any year prior to 2021, <a href="https://yachtharbour.com/news/a-demanding-market--superyacht-sales-insight-5892" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">data from Yachtharbor.com</a> indicated.A source who has long worked on the vessels, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, offered Insider an exclusive glimpse into life on board the vessels and insights into their soaring appeal. Insider has independently verified the identity of the source.What happens on superyachts has long been shrouded in secrecy and the subject of rumor and speculation. Staff on <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-working-on-yacht-is-really-like-superyacht-crew-secrets">the boats</a> have to sign comprehensive non-disclosure agreements, preventing them from publicly discussing what happens on board.Even the identity of the owners of many of the vessels is unknown, with the boats often bought through a complex network of offshore companies instead of in the owner's name. Insider's source said the vessels were a ticket to enter an exclusive club unconstrained by national borders. "They are the smallest country in the world," he said of the global community of billionaire superyacht owners. "Depending on whose perspective you take, there are 2,800 to 3,000 billionaires," he said. "You have more in common with your fellow billionaires than your fellow countrymen." The level of wealth of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-inside-president-putins-100-million-superyacht-2023-8">superyacht owners</a> vastly exceeds that of even the sports stars and celebrities occasionally pictured on board. Often, they own properties, businesses, and other assets in a range of countries that superyachts give them seamless access to. <div type="image" title="A superyacht at a port." height="400" width="800" msid="103367219" hostid="261"></div>"We're not talking about what you would call 'celebrities.' This is a different wealth group," said the source, adding that there were "multiple zeros" of difference between that of superyacht owners and their famous guests.<h2>Brokering deals in board shorts </h2>On board the vessels, the superrich and their celebrity friends can enjoy a level of privacy, peace, and seclusion they rarely have on dry land where they face pervasive media scrutiny. But the vessels are also places to impress, strengthen contacts, and broker deals, with the informal atmosphere offering unique opportunities to bond."I had a fabulous guest — West Coast American family — and they're quite a bit more talkative than a multi-generational European wealth family — and we're talking about the boats and how much it costs," the source said.The owner of the vessel, the source said, disclosed that such is a deal-making power of the yachts that in "one year on board, it would pay for the boat. It's very hard to say 'no' when you've been on board for a week, and your family's been looked after so incredibly well."<div type="image" title="A woman poses in front of a yacht." height="648" width="865" msid="103367220" hostid="261"></div>The source said of one trip: "I'm looking at two absolute titans, and you'd be amazed that they're sitting next to each other in board shorts and skanky T-shirts covered in salt having a cup of tea. And you're thinking the deal might not be struck today, but the next time they're on the phone it's going to be a very, very different mood in the conversation."For other owners, the vessels offer the opportunity to escape the persona and pressures of their professional lives. He described one business leader accustomed to people "kowtowing" him all day getting mercilessly ribbed by old school friends he invited on a trip. "I'll be on the main deck, and his mates from childhood would be calling in every name under the sun, making fun of him. And that, I think, that's the value he got from his boat," he said. But with vast wealth comes high demands and tantrums. Superyacht owners can be intolerant of even the tiniest error or delay, the source says, and staff operate to precise schedules. "Do they react because they've been waiting three and a half minutes? They do — really badly," said the source. The guests lucky enough to be invited on superyachts must also navigate a maze of etiquette to gel with their hosts and other guests. But some are so desperate to impress their wealthy hosts that the results can be excruciating. "You do get your 'try hards,' and it's just like 'oh no, this is socially awkward,'" said the source. "Really the story of the day is about the kids playing in the water, and someone's trying to pitch. I've seen it a couple of times — I just walked away with a sense of how they misread the room." <div type="image" title="A drone in flight." height="672" width="897" msid="103367221" hostid="261"></div><h2>Spy drones and bugging devices </h2>Embarrassing guests are far from the only problems superyacht owners face. The privacy of the vessels and the wealth, fame, and power of their owners and passengers inevitably draw unwelcome attention.Simon Rowland is a former UK Royal Marines soldier whose company, Veritas, provides comprehensive security for superyachts. He told Insider that among the most frequent challenges he has to tackle is handling spy drones sent by news organizations to photograph the boats and their wealthy and famous passengers."Drones are increasingly a concern for superyacht owners," he said, adding that tabloid news organizations and the superyacht press liked to use the devices to get the "money shot" and take overhead pictures of the boats. He said some vessels deployed devices to scramble the navigation systems of drones and take them out of the air, but there were question marks over whether this was legal.An easier solution, he says, is an alarm system alerting passengers to the presence of drones, allowing them time to get off the deck and away from invasive airborne camera lenses. But drones aren't the only form of covert surveillance Rowlands has to be vigilant of. Spies could try to infiltrate superyachts through crew members or through installing surveillance devices to steal sensitive information on business deals or politics. Particular targets, he says, are vessels known to be frequently chartered by the wealthy. "You would expect a yacht that looks after the ultra-high wealthy or very high profile people well to engage a company like me to come along and sweep that yacht prior to the occupation to ensure that there's nothing being left on board," said Rowland.Despite the irritants, the seclusion enjoyed on board a boat far from the shore is set to continue to be a powerful lure for those who have everything money can buy — except the privacy many of us take for granted. "In a world of long-lens constant paparazzi there is a place for relaxed privacy that many of us take for granted," the source who has worked on the vessels said.

Inside the secretive world of superyachts, where the world's elite gather to relax and broker deals away from prying eyes

Berlin, May 1 (AP) German authorities agreed Thursday to reopen playgrounds, churches and cultural institutions such as museums and zoos that have been shuttered because of the coronavirus pandemic, but they postponed a decision on whether to relax the rules for restaurants, hotels and kindergartens.Chancellor Angela Merkel said that while there would be regional differences because of Germany's federal structure, the overall goal remains ensuring the health system can cope with the country's outbreak."So far, we have managed to succeed in doing so," Merkel told reporters after a meeting with the governors of Germany's 16 states. "We have all together achieved a lot in recent weeks." Germany, a country of 83 million people, has recorded almost 162,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 6,467 deaths, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. That is about a quarter the number of virus-related deaths reported in Britain and France, even though the three countries have similar numbers of confirmed cases.Over the past week, Germany recorded between 1,000 and 1,500 new cases a day, down from 2,000 the previous week.The country's success in flattening the curve of infections has sparked calls for its lockdown to end, particularly from businesses that have been forced to close because of social distancing measures.Jobless figures released Thursday showed unemployment in Germany rose by 308,000 to over 2.6 million in the past month. The jobless rate in April stood at 5.8%, up from 5.1% in March.Employers avoided the bigger layoffs seen in other countries by taking advantage of Germany's short-work program, which allows companies in distress to receive state funds if they hold onto employees rather than letting them go.Labor Minister Hubertus Heil said companies registered about 10.1 million employees for short work - more than a fifth of the country's workforce. Restaurants, bars and hotels were particularly hard hit, with 93% of those employed in the sector now in short work, he said.Merkel said the federal and state governments wouldn't make a decision on reopening hotels and restaurants at their next meeting on May 6, which will focus on further relaxing the rules for schools, childcare centers and sports facilities."Caution is required, as well as sticking to hygiene measures," she said.The head of Germany's disease control center earlier Thursday likened the pandemic to a marathon."We simply don't know how long it will take for the marathon to end," Lothar Wieler of the Robert Koch Institute said.Wieler said Germany is going through the first wave of the pandemic. "The majority of scientists believe that there will be a second wave and maybe even a third," he added.Federal and state authorities also agreed Thursday to extend a ban on large sports events, concerts and festivals until at least Aug. 31.But Germany's hospitals will be allowed to resume routine operations that had been ordered put on hold last month, after data showed a sufficient reserve of intensive care unit beds.Still, like elsewhere, medical personnel in the country are feeling the strain."The burden is certainly great as we have to deal with a highly infectious disease every day, and the treatment regime is not clearly defined," said Dr. Daniel Heidenkummer, who oversees the treatment of COVID-19 patients at the InnKlinikum Altoetting, near Germany's border with Austria.The hospital has treated almost 600 patients with severe illness resulting from the coronavirus since early March.Restrictions on visitors mean that staff members have to spend more time tending to the emotional welfare of patients, a burden that would normally be borne largely by friends and family, Heidenkummer said.Merkel acknowledged the sacrifices made by many Germans because of the lockdown. But she warned against venting frustration at health experts who have been providing sometimes contradictory advice to the government, resulting in a zigzag of decisions in recent months."That's in the nature of the matter," the chancellor said, citing her own experience as a scientist before entering politics more than 30 years ago."That's why science is so exciting, because you never do the same thing twice," Merkel said, adding that "we politicians are there to draw conclusions." (AP) TIRTIR

You Searched For "Lockdown relaxation" and got 2 results

Inside the secretive world of superyachts, where the world's elite gather to relax and broker deals away from prying eyes

Tom Porter

Germany relaxes lockdown for playgrounds, churches and zoos

PTI

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides