A billionaire superyacht gathering is taking place not in St. Tropez, but in La Ciotat, one of the world’s premier “superyacht spas.” Nestled among the port’s enormous docks, specialist engineers, and world-class refit facilities are the floating palaces of three tech titans: the late Steve Jobs’ $140 million Venus, $650 million Breakthrough yacht, originally commissioned by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s $450 million Dragonfly.
While spotting these mammoth vessels gliding past one another is usually a privilege reserved for those aboard neighboring yachts, the French shipyard is one destination where such sights are becoming increasingly commonplace. All three pleasure craft are known regulars here, arriving for some post-summer TLC. La Ciotat, after all, is not simply a glamorous marina; it is an industrial hub specializing in the maintenance and servicing of the world’s largest privately owned vessels.
Prolonged periods of summer cruising can require work such as cleaning marine growth off the yacht’s underwater hulls, servicing propulsion systems, repairing exterior surfaces when necessary, inspecting stabilizers and testing safety equipment. As La Ciotat handles almost 150 yachts annually, there are arguably few better places in the Mediterranean for such services. Even with such goliaths, some longer than 100 meters, its 4,300-tonne shiplift, a 200-meter dry dock, extensive engineering workshops and specialized painting facilities make it ideal. For such world-class vessels, an extensive refit involving major structural work and interior renovations could cost anywhere from $5 million to $20 million, or even more.
The dimensions of this elite fleet could put monuments to shame. Dragonfly spans 466 feet, Venus measures 257 feet, and Breakthrough stretches 390 feet. Combined, they measure approximately 1,114 feet (longer than New York’s iconic Chrysler Building) from bow to stern, with a collective value estimated at $1.2 billion. Breakthrough superyacht that is currently owned by Canadian billionaire Patrick Dovigi, and Dragonfly sailed in for scheduled repairs on September 15, followed by Venus two weeks later.
Venus, now owned by billionaire philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, arrived after a busy summer cruising nearly 3,000 nautical miles through Greek, Italian, and Spanish waters. Dragonfly’s summer itinerary spanned 1,300 nautical miles, visiting pristine locales like Sicily, Menorca, Ibiza, Gibraltar, and the French Riviera. Breakthrough, meanwhile, has spent ample time at La Ciotat this year, returning to base after a month of maintenance that ended in July and subsequent voyages to St. Tropez and other Riviera hotspots.
While La Ciotat has cemented its reputation as the trusted destination for these floating leviathans to receive their beauty treatments, seeing the yachts of the Silicon Valley visionaries who transformed the modern world converge in one place remains a remarkable sight. This billion-dollar “parking lot” offers a rare sneak peek into the logistical workings of the ultra-wealthy, a spectacle rarely matched even at the most exclusive yacht club gatherings. The vessels are moored next to Hollywood icon Steven Spielberg’s Seven Seas superyacht, according to MarineTraffic at the time of writing.
