Cairns Marina plays host to world's longest sailing yacht

by Sail-World Cruising on 23 Dec 2009 If you go down to the Cairns wharf today, you're in for a big surprise. While the Maltese Falcon is probably the most famous sailing yacht in the world, the world's longest sailing boat is currently sitting at Cairns marina, with her crew busy on maintenance work (so what's new?) before she embarks again for the Solomon Islands.

Sadly, there are no current plans to sail anywhere south in Australia.

EOS is owned by Barry Diller, media millionaire, chairman and CEO of IAC, responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company and US Broadcasting.

The yacht, launched by the Lürssen shipyard in Bremen, is currently being used by Diller and his family for a world cruise. It was launched in 2006, having taken three years to build, and is thought to be worth around $100 million, with nine deck crew and three engineers, not to mention the stewards and cooking staff.

Chief Officer Dave Ackerley told the Cairns Post 'Cairns is a good place for us to pull up. No one has been here before and we are employing local help with the boat.'

At a little under 93 metres, EOS easily makes it as the world's longest sailing boat. Here’s a quick comparison with the three probably closest to her in length:

Maltese Falcon: Length: 88.00m

This huge square rigger is the newest and perhaps the most popular yacht to join the big 3. Maltese Falcon represents a departure from traditional yacht design, from a naval architecture and engineering standpoint, as well as an interior design one. She is a very modern yacht and like the other three quite unique in the yachting world.

Mirabella V length: 75.22m

By far the largest sloop in the world Mirabella was launched in 2004 to much fanfare. There is nothing to compare to Mirabella as far as ‘orthodox’ sailing sloops are concerned. Large enough to accommodate a double-decker bus in her hull (not that you would want to) Mirabella is a marvel to behold under full sail. The fact that she cannot be tacked without reefing the main is something that has been much discussed in sailing circles. However, designer Ron Holland defends his yacht, saying that under normal cruising conditions, she would never raise the full main anyway.

Athena Length: 90.00m

Athena is a traditionally inspired ‘modern classic’ and is the largest of all by gross tonnage (1,177 tons). She is the pride of the Dutch yard Royal Huisman and was the last yacht to be launched before Wolter Huisman passed away. Although classically inspired, and the largest, Athena is also an exponent of modern technology with her very impressive 18.9 knots cruise speed.