Mystery over eco-friendly superyacht

Superyacht Ethereal berthed at Napier Port. Photo/Warren Buckland

One of the world's great superyachts has been berthed this week at Napier Port with some mystery about whether its owner is in town and how long it was staying.

The 58.04-metre Ethereal, is owned by Silicon Valley inventor Bill Joy and his wife Shannon. It was built to house up to 10 people in five luxury cabins, was thought to have arrived on Sunday night.

It remained in port yesterday, dwarfed by the 311metre-long cruise liner Voyager of the Seas, which arrived about 7am yesterday with 3130 passengers.

A seagull atop the yacht's 60-metre foremast still appeared to have a bird's eye view of the grass deck and pool atop the people-moving behemoth.

Designed by New Zealand yachting visionary Ron Holland and built by Royal Huisman Ship in Vollenhove in the Netherlands, Ethereal was launched late in 2008.

Having cost more than $60 million, it has already had at least one extensive refit, completed at Orams Marine at Westhaven in Auckland early last year.

It was built along eco-friendly lines - including the use of its luxurious space for political leaders to discuss major environmental and social issues - and it has been described as having the most technologically advanced and complex systems of any superyacht ever made.

Mr Joy, co founder of IT firm Sun Microsystems, wanted energy-efficiency and environmental-friendliness, and told the Herald On Sunday last year the design emerged out of brainstorming sessions between industry experts and academics, and added: "There was nobody to copy."

Napier's Bluff Hill Lookout attracted hundreds to view the two vessels yesterday from above but, in the case of Ethereal, it seemed much less impressive for those controlling the port's shipping more generally.