There are some superyachts that haven’t moved an inch, like the ill-fated Alfa Nero or the mighty Dilbar, and then there are some superyachts that one wishes didn’t move an inch further. Case in point is Steve Jobs’s widow Laurene Powell’s $140 million Venus superyacht, which rammed into (read: barely touched and go) Lady Moura, a luxury vessel owned by Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego.
A video showing the footage from aboard the seven-deck Lady Moura motoryacht shows the 344-foot mammoth watching the sleek, smaller Venus superyacht glide towards it.
It isn’t commonplace for something like this to happen, especially because Venus, designed by Philippe Starck, can be easily controlled with iPhone-like devices. A source close to the matter confirmed that a strong and sudden change of wind led to the collision between the 256-foot Feadship superyacht and Lady Moura off the coast of Naples, Italy.
The Venus yacht, which boasts a high-tech interior featuring Apple products, including 27-inch iMacs to navigate the wheelhouse, is still anchored in Naples and had no owner or family aboard. Lady Moura is headed towards Mykonos, Greece.
Lady Moura must be unfazed despite the screams and cries in the viral video to warn Venus from changing direction, as the touch-and-go incident would’ve left the $250 million mammoth with atleast a scratch.
The Salinas family continued their vacation in the Mediterranean despite the hiccup. He even took to social media to post a video on X showing Venus in unintended action. The owner of Lady Moura jested, asking his followers to head to Elektra Mexico (a retail corporation offering appliances, consumer electronics, furniture, and more) to buy Apple products so the sales can help Jobs’s widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, pay for the fender bender.
When you’re a man worth $10 billion, you can afford to make such jokes. What is funnier is Powell Jobs (worth $14.4 billion) needing the help of Elektra clients to pay for the damages. The crew of both luxury vessels was not nearly as casual about the incident.
Boat International stated, “On 22 July, while at anchor, Venus came into contact with Lady Moura, which was also anchored. No family was on board, only crew. The wind changed very suddenly, picking up from a breeze to 55 knots over the course of a few minutes. Neither boat dragged anchor, though the other boat was on a chain double the length expected in the depth of water they were in. Both captains were in discussion immediately following the incident about minor repairs needed.”
When nature strikes, there is little the crew of the vessel can do. As witnessed last week, strong gusts of wind prevented a crew member from closing the door of a motoryacht, which led to its sinking in Greece. Thankfully, the pleasure crafts of these billionaires only kissed and made up instead of becoming a catastrophe of Titanic proportions.
Lady Moura seems to be having some kind of bad spell going on. In April this year, eco-activists Futuro Vegetal vandalized the Mexican billionaire’s $250 million superyacht in Ibiza. And now, three months later, the beauty suffered a scratch on the surface. I guess the billionaire should first finish his summer sojourns before repainting the boat that boasts 13 cabins, a bakery, a dance studio, and much more.
Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas:
68-year-old Salinas is worth $10 billion and is known to be a connoisseur of cigars, luxuries, cognac, and bitcoin. It wasn’t all smooth sailing until he made it so, first by selling honey door-to-door with his siblings at the tender age of 10. With time, the family got richer, and Salinas succeeded his father as CEO of Grupo Elektra in 1987. The group expanded and ventured into the banking sector, where one can invariably find only money and more of it. The tycoon also heads Mexico’s second-largest broadcaster, TV Azteca. The alumnus of the A.B. Freeman School of Business is unabashed about his immense wealth and his love for it. He has been enjoying it all—from helicopters, planes, and superyachts, to properties.
