sail yacht ghost

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Exceptional design and performance

Ghost, a 122 ft. ocean runner, is a very challenging, radical and different yacht designed by Luca Brenta & Co. Yacht Design. Ghost is a lightweight high performance yacht with a carbon fibre hull and superstructure. The metallic silver colour fits within a stylish minimalist concept.

This minimalist concept adds another dimension to the construction and the development of the various components of the yacht. It was not the first time Vitters worked on a light weight composite hull, but it was surely the most challenging project in all aspects.

The perseverance of everybody involved to achieve the overall goal eventually resulted in this magnificent yacht. One of the many eye-catchers on Ghost is the extended skylight panel that covers practically the entire length of the superstructure. The cockpit is seamlessly connected to the coach roof geometry both in terms of outside space and interior volumes, with the continuity also being evident in the design and layout of the two adjacent areas.

Ghost has won three prestigious awards. A stunning result and a statement to the Owner, designer, our building team and everyone involved!

World Superyacht Awards: “Best Sailing Superyacht Performance”

The international Superyacht Society Award: “Best Sailing Yacht Interior”

ShowBoats International Awards: “Most Innovative Sailing Yacht”

Type: 

37.2 light weight performance sloop

Design: 

Luca Brenta & Co. Yacht Design

Interior Design: 

Piero Lissoni

Length hull overall: 

Delivery: .

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Ghost is a custom sailing yacht launched in 2005 by Vitters Shipyard.

Vitters Shipyard is a well established and respected custom yacht builder situated in Zwartsluis, The Netherlands. The facility opened in 1990 and has delivered an impressive list of yachts, working with top designers, up to 75 meter in length.

Ghost measures 37.20 metres in length, with a max draft of 4.80 metres and a beam of 7.45 metres.

Ghost has a GRP hull with a GRP superstructure.

Her exterior design, naval architecture and interior design is by Luca Brenta & Co.

Accommodation

Ghost accommodates up to 6 guests in 4 cabins. She also houses room for up to 6 crew members.

Other Specifications

Ghost has a hull NB of 3050.

• Yacht Builder Vitters Shipyard No profile available
• Naval Architect Luca Brenta & Co No profile available
• Exterior Designer Luca Brenta & Co No profile available
• Interior Designer Luca Brenta & Co No profile available

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Australian coroner ends mystery of 'ghost ship'

When the yacht Kaz II was found off Australia's Great Barrier Reef , drifting and no one on board, there were many theories about what could have happened to its three middle-aged crew members.

There were suggestions the skipper, Des Batten, and brothers Peter and John Tunstead staged their own disappearance for insurance purposes or suffered at the hands of drug smugglers or pirates.

One of the wilder theories was that some kind of paranormal event had happened aboard their catamaran and inevitably, comparisons were made to the lost crew of another "ghost" ship, the Mary Celeste.

But yesterday a coroner in Townsville, Queensland, ended the speculation that has been buzzing around the bars of Australian yachting clubs for months by ruling that the three friends drowned in a freak accident during what was supposed to have been a trip of a lifetime, even though their bodies have never been found.

The trio, described as "typical Aussie blokes", vanished after setting sail on April 15 last year on a planned two-month trip, bound for Western Australia where they all lived. Three days later, the white-painted vessel which Mr Batten had only recently bought for £60,000 was found adrift and with a ripped sail about 100 miles north-east of Townsville, near the Whitsunday islands.

The engine was idling, a half-empty cup of coffee and a laptop computer were sitting on a table, a newspaper was lying open with some pages strewn on the floor and clothing had been piled on a bench.

The men went to sea with a large supply of food, three cases of beer, a .44 calibre rifle and 100 rounds of ammunition, the inquest was told.

Coroner Michael Barnes said evidence put before him during a four day inquest led him to conclude that "an unfortunate series of events," befell the trio, who were all relatively inexperienced sailors, only a few hours after they set sail.

In the scenario he laid out, the coroner said one of the brothers attempted to free a fishing line that had become wrapped around the yacht's propeller when he fell overboard. The other brother fell in while trying to rescue him.

Mr Batten tried to drop the sails so he could turn around and go back for his two friends but a change in the wind's direction caused the yacht's boom to swing and knock him overboard.

"Once the three men were in the water there was very little chance they could get back on the boat," he said. "It would be beyond their reach in seconds. From that point, the end would have been swift.

"None of them was a good swimmer, the seas were choppy, they would have quickly become exhausted and sunk beneath the waves. Although I can't exclude the possibility of a shark attacking them, drowning is a far more likely cause of death."

Rescue officer Corrie Benson told the inquest earlier this week that he found an "eerie" scene when he was winched down from a helicopter to search the stricken vessel.

He saw the discarded coffee cup and newspapers and found knives strewn on the floor. "My biggest fear was being attacked by somebody who did not want me on the boat. I was 160km out to sea with no back-up," he told the court earlier this week.

"I didn't know if someone was going to burst through a cupboard and go at me with a knife. I saw all the knives on the ground, but no blood, and thought 'what the ... ?'"

Graeme Douglas, the boat's previous owner, also gave evidence saying he had warned the men not to leave the Whitsunday area because they did not seem to have enough experience. The 56-year-old skipper, he said, was the only one of the trio who had sailed a large vessel before while the Tunstead brothers, aged 69 and 63, had minimal boating experience.

Mr Douglas said the men appeared nervous about the trip but anxious to get under way, since their original start date had been postponed because of bad weather and the fact that they had trouble understanding the vessel's global positioning system. "I said if you're not ready, don't go," he said.

A video, shot the morning the men headed out to sea, was also shown to the court. Mr Batten, a semi-retired carpet layer was holding the camera and Jim Tunstead can be seen fishing while he and Mr Batten are heard mocking Peter Tunstead, a non-swimmer, who was sitting fishing at the back with the safety rail down. He was not wearing a lifejacket. In the film, the men talk about "threatening skies" ahead.

The coroner said there was no evidence of any third party involvement in the disappearance of the sailors and noted that there had been no suspicious transactions in their finances.

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Sailors stumble on ‘ghost ship’ drifting in Atlantic Ocean hundreds of miles from land

The boat was discovered some 800 miles away from bermuda, article bookmarked.

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Matt Rutherford and a colleague from the Ocean Research Project were sailing in the Atlantic Ocean in 2013 when they made a startling discovery : an abandoned ship floating some 800 miles beyond Bermuda.

Earlier this week, the Ocean Research Project released a video showing what happened when Mr Rutherford and his colleague spotted the boat and moved closer to investigate the situation.

“This is one awfully abandoned sailboat,” Mr Rutherford is heard saying in the footage.

Mr Rutherford decided to to go and see if there was anybody on the boat, saying he hoped he wouldn’t “find any dead bodies or anything.”

He did not find anyone on the boat dead or alive, and instead was left to wonder how an upscale boat that presumably cost hundreds of thousands of dollars new came to be completely abandoned and left floating in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

“This is absolutely crazy by the way,” Mr Rutherford says in the video. “800 miles from Bermuda, 1,500 miles from the US, standing on a very nice Swan 48, in the middle of the ocean.”

The boat appeared to have been abandoned quickly. When Mr Rutherford and his colleague came aboard and began looking around, they found clothes and other personal belongings were strewn about the main cabin. Mr Rutherford and his colleague initially tried to tow the boat with them, but only made it 50 miles before realising they needed to cut the other boat loose.

The Daily Mail reported that certain online aficionados believe that Mr Rutherford’s colleague on the journey was Alan McGettigan of the Royal Irish Yacht Club, though that detail is as of now unconfirmed.

Nearly a decade after the discovery of the boat, little remains known about how or why it came to be abandoned in the middle of the ocean.

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GHOST II YACHT CHARTER

37.31m  /  122'5   gulf craft   2016.

• Previous Yacht

Cabin Configuration

Special Features:

• Built specifically for Australian waters
• All staterooms complete with en suite facilities
• Features a spacious fly bridge
• Communal spaces spanning two decks

Designed with the modern charterer firmly in mind, Ghost II is undoubtedly one of the most advanced superyachts in Australia

The 37.3m/122'5" 'Ghost II' motor yacht built by the Emirati shipyard Gulf Craft is available for charter for up to 12 guests in 5 cabins. This yacht features interior styling by Emirati designer Gulf Craft.

Boasting an array of sumptuous living areas laid out invitingly to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere onboard, motor yacht Ghost II is the perfect luxury charter yacht for friends and family.

Guest Accommodation

Families will particularly love Ghost II thanks to her child-friendly setup. Built in 2016, She offers guest accommodation for up to 12 guests with a layout comprising a master suite, two double cabins and two twin cabins. There are 7 beds in total, including 1 queen, 2 doubles, 2 singles and 2 pullmans. She is also capable of carrying up to 6 crew onboard to ensure a relaxed luxury yacht charter experience.

Onboard Comfort & Entertainment

Ghost II benefits from some excellent features to improve your charter including the underwater lights, adding spectacle and style after dark. Take advantage of the on board Wi-Fi and stay connected at all times or guests will experience complete comfort while chartering thanks to air conditioning.

Performance & Range

Built with a GRP hull and GRP superstructure, she benefits from a semi-displacement hull to provide exceptional seakeeping and impressive speeds. Powered by twin Caterpillar engines, she comfortably cruises at 12 knots, reaches a maximum speed of 23 knots. An advanced stabilisation system on board reduces the side-to-side roll of the yacht and promises guests exceptional comfort levels at anchor or when underway.

Onboard Ghost II has a range of toys and accessories to keep you and your guests entertained on the water throughout your stay. Take to the sea on a Jet Ski offering you power and control on the water. In addition there are two waterskis that are hugely entertaining whether you are a beginner or a seasoned pro. Also there are two SEABOBs, that allow you to skim along the surface or steer under the crystal water and experience life swimming with the fish. If that isn't enough Ghost II also features kayaks, kneeboards, paddleboards and snorkelling equipment. Ghost II also sports a 4.88m/16' Castoldi Tender to transport you with ease.

Based in the magical waters of the South Pacific all year round Ghost II is ready for your next luxury yacht charter. Let Ghost II Discover the magical places, food and experiences of the the South Pacific.

A charter on motor yacht Ghost II will offer you a week of unforgettable family memories

TESTIMONIALS

There are currently no testimonials for Ghost II, please provide .

Ghost II Photos

Amenities & Entertainment

For your relaxation and entertainment Ghost II has the following facilities, for more details please speak to your yacht charter broker.

Ghost II is reported to be available to Charter with the following recreation facilities:

• 1 x 4.88m  /  16' Castoldi Tender

For a full list of all available amenities & entertainment facilities, or price to hire additional equipment please contact your broker.

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For a full list of all available amenities & entertainment facilities, or price to hire additional equipment please contact your broker.

'Ghost II' Charter Rates & Destinations

Summer Season

May - September

A$109,100 p/week + expenses Approx $70,000

High Season

A$100,000 p/week + expenses Approx $64,000

Cruising Regions

South Pacific Australia

HOT SPOTS:   Sydney, Whitsundays

Winter Season

October - April

A$175,000 p/week + expenses Approx $112,500

Charter Ghost II

To charter this luxury yacht contact your charter broker , or we can help you.

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2002 Island Packet 42' (12.80 m)

Saint augustine, florida, united states, better-than-new island packet 420.

Flag of Registry: United States

• Fiberglass Hull

HIN/IMO: TLD42061H102

• TEXT MESSAGE BROKER

Description

This Island Packet 420 (hull # 61) is the nicest, cleanest and BEST equipped on the market. With new standing rigging in 2020,  a watermaker, solar array and generator, a reinforced custom arch, a bow thruster, in-mast furling, and so many other highlights, she's a special lady! Not only is she well-equipped, she is cosmetically beautiful with fresh varnish and shiny gelcoat. She will make you a proud member of the Island Packet family! With all her systems updated and her condition, she is better than new at a fraction of the price.

The second generation of Island Packets was when the company took quality to the next level...the convenient sugar-scoop stern solved the problem of being able to board by dinghy. The chainplates were built with a better steel alloy (316L) so did not have the issues that the plates on prior models had. She will not disappoint you.

The equivalent current generation of Island Packets comes at a base price of about $629,000 before anything is added (according to the factory's website). This Second Generation 420 is one of the best of the line, is arguably prettier than the new ones, and has a price tag that's merely a fraction of the new price. And you can go today. She's ready. 

Meticulous owners have cared for her while living aboard. Their attention to detail shows, right down to easy-to-read labels on all the thru-hulls and fittings.

A few things that make her special are (but be sure to refer to the full equipment list):

• 2020 Rigging
• Bow thruster  with new motor
• Yanmar with  all hoses, gaskets, thermostat, starting solenoid, and oil heat exchanger replaced in 2021, and shaft, stuffing box, cutlass bearing, and stern tube all replaced in 2016
• Clearly labeled thru-hulls and fittings under the waterline
• A spotless bilge
• Curated instructions for nearly every system
• A beautiful Dickenson Marine “Newport” diesel heater with tile setting (gravity fed by a 2-gallon tank which is plumbed to the main diesel tank for refilling
• Raritan Marine Elegance Electric Toilets (2 - fore and aft) plumbed for fresh water flush
• Purasan waste cleaning systems (2 - fore and aft) YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH PUMPOUTS OR SMELLY HOLDING TANKS!
• Extra sturdy stainless rails around cockpit
• Wireless NMEA 2000 Transmitter

So much more!

Specifications

LOA: 47' 7'' (14.50 Meters)

Type: Sail- Used

Beam: 14' 3''

Draft Max: 4' 10''

Single Berths: 2

Queen Berths: 2

Head Room: 6' 5''

Fuel Type: Diesel

Hull Material: Fiberglass

Fuel Tank: 160 Gallons (605.67 Liters)

Fresh Water: 250 Gallons (946.35 Liters)

Displacement: 28400

Designer: Bob Johnson

Builder: Island Packet

Photos click to view all

• Engine Make: Yanmar
• Engine Model: 75 HP
• Engine Year: 2002
• Drive Type: Direct
• Power HP: 75.00
• Power KW: 55.93
• Hours: 3700.00

Generator 1

• Generator Make: NexGen
• Generator KW: 5.50

Full Details

Equipment list.

• Standing rigging – new in 2020.
• Dinghy – 2017 Walker Bay Genesis 310 RID, 10’2”, 20HP Honda outboard with electric tilt, wheel steering console, Hummingbird fish finder.
• Generator - 5.5 kW Nextgen (30A, 120V, Deisel)
• Watermaker (Spectra Ventura-200T, 12V, 8.3GPH)
• Liferaft – Winslow 4-person Ultra-Light Offshore
• Bow Thruster (new Sleipner SE80 motor and drive 2021)
• Windlass – Lighthouse 1501 with dual capstan and chain stoppers.
• Anchors (3) – 65Lb Mantus M1 (Scoop type), 55Lb Bruce (Claw type), Fortress FX-55 (Fluke type)
• Anchor Rode (3) – 2 X 300’ (each of these is 150’ chain spliced to 150’ rope), 1 x 200’ rope
• 500 Watt Solar Power system3 Rigid Kyocera panels
• Separate BlueSky controllers for each panel, all linked to a BlueSky Pro Remote status display at Nav station.
• 42 amp total output (12V) in full sun
• Reinforced arch system over cockpit provides platform for solar panels and dinghy davits. Integrated winch on arch for raising dinghy.
• Fireplace – Dickenson Marine “Newport” diesel heater (gravity fed by a 2-gallon tank which is plumbed to the main diesel tank for refilling)
• Air conditioning and heating (16,000BTU) - Webasto FCF1600 with new seawater pump and condensate capture system.
• Purasan waste cleaning systems (2 - fore and aft)
• Fridg and Freezer - 2 Independent 12V Frigoboat Keelcooler systems with separate sealed compartments and separate lids.
• Remodeled Microwave cabinet in galley to accommodate standard sized Microwave oven.
• Fuel Polisher - KTI Systems “FilterBoss Commander” FC-60 integrated into engine compartment
• Isolation Transformer - Victron 3600W 32A/120V or 16A/240V installed in-line with shore power inlet
• Inverter – 2000W ProSine True sine wave inverter
• House Battery’s – 5 x Odyssey Extreme 100A/12V Thin Plate Pure Lead (TPPL) AGM.
• Battery Charger (50A) – Mastervolt Chargemaster 12-50-3, Mastervolt USB computer interface cable, remote relay main battery switch.
• Separate engine starting battery
• Rigid Boom Vang – Garhauer
• Force 10 three burner gimbaled Stove with broiler
• Magma Barbecue Grill with its own dedicated 10lb. propane tank
• Rigid Railings enclosing cockpit.
• All original lifelines replaced. Front entry gates added for boarding when docked bow-in.
• “Brownie” 12V portable dive compressor with 50’ of hose and regulator. Custom 12V outlet (specific for the Brownie) installed in cockpit.
• Dock water inlet added to bow for when docked bow-in.
• Boarding ladder mounted on swim platform deployable from the water.
• Removable captain’s chair for helm seat.
• Arid Bilge - dry bilge system
• Two Additional 12V Breaker Panels
• 24’ LCD TV on swivel arm wired to ZVOX Accuvoice soundbar
• Cell signal amplifier (with arch mounted marine cell antenna)
• Wifi Booster – Rogue Wave 5-mile Wifi antenna mounted on arch
• Electronic fuel and water tank gauges
• Deck washdown pump (seawater)
• Anchor light on arch
• Electronics Package (all on a boat-wide NMEA2000 network)Chart Plotters – (2 Garmin GPSmap741 plotters (Helm and Nav station)
• Ultrasonic water speed/depth sensor - (Airmar UDST800)
• AIS transceiver - (Garmin AIS 600)
• Autopilot - (Garmin GHP Reactor, Garmin GHC20 head unit, Robertson drive motor linked to rudder post)
• Instrument displays – (4 Garmin GMI10 units – 3 in cockpit, 1 at Nav station)
• Wireless NMEA200 transmitter (Garmin GNT10)
• GPS Antenna - (Garmin GPX19X)
• Sirius/XM Antenna - (Garmin GXM51)
• HD Radar – (Garmin GMR18 HD)
• Video Camera in engine compartment - (Garmin GC10)
• Ultrasonic Anemometer – (Maretron WSO100)
• VHF Radio – (ICOM IC-M506, Antenna on top of mast and spare antenna on arch, remote “Commander” mike wired at helm))
• SSB Radio – (ICOM IC-M802, 48’ removable rope antenna hoisted via spare halyard, ground plate counterpoise)
• Automatic shower pump/sump for forward head
• Teak hatch screens on all hatches
• Yanmar 75HP with 3700 hours – all hoses, gaskets, thermostat, starting solenoid, and oil heat exchanger replaced in 2021.
• Shaft, stuffing box, cutlass bearing, and stern tube all replaced in 2016.
• Prop reconditioned in 2016.
• Upper and lower bearings on steering system replaced in 2019.
• 100A Balmar alternator retrofitted with serpentine belt and pully’s.
• High profile dodger frame and windshield for greater forward visibility from the helm.
• Telescoping side boarding ladder (removable - mounting brackets on port side)
• Mantus anchor bridle
• 48’ SSB rope antenna
• SOS Danbuoy 33 – self inflating man-overboard marker
• All LED lighting.

Lots of spare parts - ask for list!

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Melanie Neale

Yacht broker.

Melanie earned her US Coast Guard 100 Ton Master Captains’ License before she got her drivers’ license. She grew up living aboard her family’s 47’ GulfStar Sailmaster, cruising up and down the East Coast and through the Bahamas for nearly twenty years. Melanie captained and crewed on various boats while working her way through college, then bought and lived aboard her first sailboat, Short Story, a 1969 Columbia 28, while attending graduate school in North Miami. She’s owned many boats since then. She is also an author (her books include memoirs Boat Girl and Boat Kid), contributor to Cruising World (her Short Story column ran in the magazine from 2006 to 2009) and BoatUS magazines, a freelance editor, and has worked over the years as everything from boat detailer to college professor to educational administrator. Her father, maritime author Tom Neale, instilled in her a love of sailing, writing, perusing boat listings, hard work, and repairing marine diesel engines. Melanie currently cruises the local waters of St. Augustine, FL, on various boats with her daughter, Maryann. She is a solo sailor and full-time single parent. As Employing Broker for Sunshine Cruising Yachts LLC, Melanie is dedicated to building a strong team that embodies integrity and passion for matching people with the right boats.

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Matt Burgess

A Ghost Ship’s Doomed Journey Through the Gate of Tears

The ballistic missile hit the Rubymar on the evening of February 18. For months, the cargo ship had been shuttling around the Arabian Sea, uneventfully calling at local ports. But now, taking on water in the bottleneck of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, its two dozen crew issued an urgent call for help and prepared to abandon ship.

Over the next two weeks—while the crew were ashore—the “ ghost ship ” took on a life of its own. Carried by currents and pushed along by the wind, the 171-meter-long, 27-meter-wide Rubymar drifted approximately 30 nautical miles north, where it finally sank—becoming the most high-profile wreckage during a months-long barrage of missiles and drones launched by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The attacks have upended global shipping .

But the Rubymar wasn’t the only casualty. During its final journey, three internet cables laid on the seafloor in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait were damaged. The drop in connectivity impacted millions of people, from nearby East Africa to thousands of miles away in Vietnam. It’s believed the ship’s trailing anchor may have broken the cables while it drifted. The Rubymar also took 21,000 metric tons of fertilizer to its watery grave—a potential environmental disaster in waiting.

An analysis from WIRED—based on satellite imagery, interviews with maritime experts, and new internet connectivity data showing the cables went offline within minutes of each other —tracks the last movements of the doomed ship. While our analysis cannot definitively show that the anchor caused the damage to the crucial internet cables—that can only be determined by an upcoming repair mission—multiple experts conclude it is the most likely scenario.

The damage to the internet cables comes when the security of subsea infrastructure—including internet cables and energy pipelines—has catapulted up countries’ priorities . Politicians have become increasingly concerned about the critical infrastructure since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022 and a subsequent string of potential sabotage , including the Nord Stream pipeline explosions . As Houthi weapons keep hitting ships in the Red Sea region, there are worries the Rubymar may not be the last shipwreck.

The Rubymar ’s official trail goes cold on February 18. At 8 pm local time, reports emerged that a ship in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, which is also known as the Gate of Tears or the Gate of Grief, had been attacked . Two anti-ship ballistic missiles were fired from “Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen,” US Central Command said . Ninety minutes after the warnings arrived, at around 9:30 pm, the Rubymar broadcast its final location using the automatic identification system (AIS), a GPS-like positioning system used to track ships.

As water started pouring into the hull, engine room, and machinery room, the crew’s distress call was answered by the Lobivia —a nearby container ship—and a US-led coalition warship. By 1:57 am on February 19, the crew was reported safe . That afternoon, the 11 Syrians, six Egyptians, three Indians, and four Filipinos who were on board arrived at the Port of Djibouti. “We do not know the coordinates of Rubymar ,” Djibouti’s port authority posted on X.

Satellite images picked up the Rubymar , its path illuminated by an oil slick, two days later, on February 20. Although the crew dropped the ship’s anchor during the rescue, the ship drifted north, further up the strait in the direction of the Red Sea.

Amit Katwala

Andy Greenberg

Caroline Haskins

For three days, satellite photos show, the vessel largely stayed in place thanks to low winds and weak currents. Then, on February 22, satellite images show peculiar circular wave patterns hitting the ship, as seen in the image below. One former naval intelligence analyst familiar with the images, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, says this could be a sign the anchor may have come loose. One image, they say, appears to show an unidentified object, which could be a small boat, nearby.

Both the wind and currents picked up on February 23, when the ship began drifting for a second time, says Robert Parkington , an intelligence analyst with geospatial analysis firm Geollect. “As wind increases, as current increases, that chance for movement gets so much higher,” says Parkington, who monitored the Rubymar ’s movements with data from satellite technology firm Spire Global. “Even a small breeze can have an impact on where the vessel’s moving.”

More than 550 internet cables run along the ocean floors and connect the world. They link continents and economies, beaming everything from Zoom calls to financial transactions every millisecond. Twelve of the cables run through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, says Alan Mauldin , research director at telecom research firm TeleGeography. “These cables vary massively in their age, also in their capacities,” Mauldin explains. The region is a crucial, but vulnerable, choke point .

While the Rubymar was drifting, three cables were damaged: the Seacom/Tata cable , a 15,000-kilometer-long wire running the length of East Africa and also connecting it to India; the Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1), which snakes 25,000 kilometers and links Europe to East Asia; and the Europe India Gateway (EIG), made of 15,000 kilometers of cable and joining India with the United Kingdom.

The Seacom cable went down at 9:46 am on February 24, according to new analysis shared exclusively with WIRED by Doug Madory , director of internet analysis at the web monitoring firm Kentik. Five minutes later, at around 9:51 am, the AAE-1 cable dropped offline. Madory says the third damaged cable, EIG, was already mostly offline following a separate fault elsewhere. A telecom industry notice seen by WIRED confirms the three faults and says this was the EIG’s second. The notice says the damage is located around 30 kilometers away from where the cables land in Djibouti and are at depths of around 150 meters.

To determine when the cables lost connectivity, Madory examined internet traffic and routing data from multiple networks. For instance, a network linked to Equity Bank Tanzania, the analysis shows, lost connectivity from the Seacom cable; moments later, it was impacted by the AAE-1 damage. The two clusters of outages impacted countries in East Africa, including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Mozambique, Madory says. But they also had an impact thousands of miles away in Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore. “The loss of these submarine cables disrupted internet service for millions of people,” he says. “While service providers in the affected countries have shifted to using the remaining cables, there exists a loss of overall capacity.” The analysis matches when the Seacom cable went offline, says Prenesh Padayachee , the company’s chief digital officer. Both AAE and EIG cables are owned by consortiums of companies, which did not respond to requests for comment.

The telecom industry builds backups into its systems to account for disruptions—and the approach mostly works. When one cable goes offline, traffic is sent via other routes. “Connectivity just went away,” says Thomas King , the chief technology officer of German-based internet exchange DE-CIX, which used the AAE-1 cables. “The issue was detected automatically. Rerouting happens also automatically,” King says. Other firms sent data on different paths around the world .

In the days after damage to the cables first emerged, one unconfirmed press report claimed Houthi rebels could have sabotaged the cables. There has been no public evidence to support this. Farzin Nadimi , a senior fellow at the Washington Institute think tank who has been monitoring the region, says it is most likely that the Rubymar damaged the cables, but Houthi sabotage should not be entirely ruled out, as “highly trained” divers could reach the cables’ depths. Telecom firms have reported fears about Houthi damage to cables, while Houthi spokespeople have repeatedly denied responsibility for the disruptions.

“We don’t even know if the cable is fully broken yet,” Padayachee says. “All we know is that the cable is damaged to a level where we’ve lost comms.” It could have been cut, or even dragged along the seabed and bent so light signals cannot pass through the cable, he says.

Many in the marine and cable industry have turned toward the Rubymar ’s drift as the likely cause for the outage. Padayachee says it is the most “plausible” scenario given the ship’s predicted drifting speed. “If you work out the distance between the two cables that roughly relates to the same sort of timeframe as to when one cable will be affected to when the other cable will be affected,” the timing makes sense, he says, adding that the cables are 700 to 1,000 meters apart.

Anchor damage, alongside earthquakes and landslides, is one of the most common ways subsea internet cables are disrupted. For instance, multiple cables in the Red Sea region were damaged by a ship dragging its anchor in 2012 . There are also several types of anchor, explain William Coombs and Michael Brown , professors at Durham University and the University of Dundee, respectively, who are researching the dynamics of anchors and how they can damage underwater cables. Some anchors sit on the seabed while others dig into the ground, they say. “If the soil type is not right, and the cable has quite shallow burial or it is on the seabed, you are going to catch it if your anchor starts to drag,” Brown says.

“Considering the timings of when outages were reported, considering the rough location of where those cables are known to be, and considering where we believe to be the location of the Rubymar , I would say that there is a likely possibility that the anchor did cause the damage,” says Parkington of Geollect.

The Rubymar finally sank on March 2. Videos reportedly taken inside the ship , gathered by Saudi state-owned news organization Al Arabiya English, show water gushing into the ship after the missile strike. As the Rubymar took on more water and partially submerged, experts say, its drifting likely slowed and eventually brought it to a complete stop.

While the ship has finished its journey, the three internet cables will remain offline for some time. Padayachee, from Seacom, says that the Yemeni government is likely to approve permits for the company’s repair plans in the next couple of weeks, with repairs to all three damaged cables possibly starting later in April.

Padayachee says that additional security measures are being put in place for the operation, but the repair work itself should be relatively straightforward. The repairs are taking place in water only a couple of hundred meters deep—shallow compared to other cases where cables are more than a mile deep. When the cables are pulled out of the water by the repair crew, it should be possible to say whether the cuts were caused by the anchor or deliberately.

The Rubymar presents one potential final challenge: Padayachee says the location of the cable damage is believed to be around one or two miles away from where the ship sank. “It doesn’t look like it will affect anything in the repair operation,” he says. “It could change by the time they get there: The vessel may have moved or, in fact, the vessel may have broken up and parts of it moved around.” The US Central Command has said the Rubymar also presents a “subsurface impact risk to other ships.”

The Houthi’s missile launches, meanwhile, don’t look like they will stop any time soon . Other ships have been damaged; lives have been lost , and those factors will impact repairs. “It's not something you usually see: trying to have a cable ship into those waters, recover the cable, make a repair, and then be able to return to port. It's a long process. It’s risky,” says Mauldin, from TeleGeography. The risk, for other internet cables, is a repeat of the Rubymar . “It is not out of the question,” Madory concludes in his analysis , “that we could have another vessel, struck by a missile, inadvertently cut another submarine cable.”

Correction 4/1/2024, 9:49 am: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the length of the Rubymar, which is 171 meters, not 17 meters.

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These 3 lesser-known cruise lines offer amazing voyages on sail-powered ships

There is nothing quite as magical — or romantic — as a cruise on a sailing ship.

To stand on the deck of a vessel topped with dozens of billowing sails, propelled through the waves by the power of the wind alone, is to go back in time to an earlier age of travel, when crossing the world's oceans was as adventurous as it was challenging.

It's an experience that's all about the feeling of the wind in your hair, the lean of the vessel (known as the heel) as it's pushed by the wind and the sway from the waves (which is actually smoother than what you get on a motor ship).

For more cruise guides, news and tips, sign up for TPG's cruise newsletter .

In contrast to what you'll find on so many motor-powered ships, cruising on a masted ship is about the simple thrill of traveling across the sea and not about all the many attractions you'll find on board.

Only a handful of small cruise brands — so small that you might never have heard of them — offer trips on sailing ships. Here, we look at the three biggest players in this niche subset of the cruise industry.

Sea Cloud Cruises

If it's an authentic, old-style sailing experience you want, then Sea Cloud Cruises is the line for you. The Germany-based company operates three large sailing ships where the sails are unfurled by hand, just as they were on sailing ships centuries ago.

On the biggest of these three vessels, the 136-passenger Sea Cloud Spirit , 18 deckhands scurry high into the rigging on sea days to manually untie and prepare the sails, an amazing sight. Unveiled in 2021 , it's a full-rigged, three-masted sailing ship of the sort that hasn't been common on the world's oceans for more than a century.

Related: Why Sea Cloud Spirit is a sailing vessel you'll want to try

Sea Cloud Cruises' two other vessels — Sea Cloud 2 and Sea Cloud — are smaller but offer a similar show as the sails are set by hand the old-fashioned way. The former is a 23-year-old, three-masted barque propelled by 23 sails (five fewer than Sea Cloud Spirit); the latter is a 93-year-old, four-masted barque with 30 sails and a storied past.

Now configured to carry 64 paying passengers, Sea Cloud was originally the private yacht of Postum Cereals heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and her husband, the famed financier E. F. Hutton. At the time, the vessel was the largest private yacht in the world. It later served the U.S. Navy as a weather ship during World War II, after which it became the presidential yacht for the Dominican Republic. It only began sailing as a cruise vessel in the 1980s.

If you have money to spare, you can still book Post's opulent private quarters on Sea Cloud, now its owner's suite. It'll set you back around $5,000 per day per couple. Her husband's slightly smaller quarters are also available to book at a similar rate.

Post, the wealthiest woman in the U.S. during her lifetime, notably also built Mar-a-Lago, the massive estate in Florida that is now the official residence of Donald Trump.

Sea Cloud Cruises is the most all-inclusive and upscale of the three brands listed in this story, with pricing to match. Expect to pay nearly $1,000 per person per day or more for many sailings.

Sea Cloud Cruises' three vessels offer a diverse array of sailings in the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, the Canary Islands and Morocco, the Caribbean or along the west coast of Central America.

Related: Cruising Costa Rica, Panama with Sea Cloud Cruises

Windstar Cruises

Founded in the 1980s, Windstar Cruises got its start as a sailing ship line. While it now operates traditional motor-powered ships, too, voyages on sailing ships are still a big part of its business.

Three of the Seattle-based brand's six vessels — Wind Spirit, Wind Star and Wind Surf — are sailing vessels, and they all offer a similar yacht-like, small-ship experience.

Two of the three vessels (Wind Spirit and Wind Star) are particularly intimate, measuring 5,407 tons and carrying just 148 passengers with every berth full.

Related: The 2 types of Windstar ships, explained

The line's third sailing vessel, Wind Surf, is nearly three times the size at 14,745 tons. It's one of the biggest sailing ships in the world (only a sister vessel that sails for Club Med is bigger). Wind Surf carries 342 people, an enormous number for a sailing ship.

Unlike on the vessels operated by Sea Cloud, the sails on Windstar's sailing ships aren't unfurled by hand in the old-fashioned way but by the push of a button from the bridge. It's a fully automated system that is much more modern, if less dramatic.

Still, the experience of slicing through the waves by the power of the wind alone on Windstar ships is as glorious and romantic as it is on the Sea Cloud ships.

Windstar Cruises is less all-inclusive and pricey than Sea Cloud but still offers a relatively upscale experience. Its dining program is done in partnership with the food-focused James Beard Foundation, which also brings James Beard Award-winning chefs to the ships regularly for food-themed itineraries.

For an extra $89 per person per day, passengers can also make the experience more all-inclusive with included Wi-Fi, unlimited beer, wine and cocktails, and gratuities (three things that aren't included in regular fares).

The line's three vessels typically spend nearly all of their time sailing in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean or along the west coast of Central America.

Related: Read more about Windstar's itineraries

Star Clippers

Like Sea Cloud and Windstar, Star Clippers operates three sailing vessels that are among the biggest and most elegant sailing vessels in the world.

The belle of the ball at the line is Royal Clipper, a stunning five-masted ship that is billed as the largest square-rigged ship in the world. Its enormous array of 42 sails has a sail area of 56,000 square feet — significantly more than the sails atop any of the Sea Cloud or Windstar vessels. (Only Sea Cloud Spirit comes relatively close with a sail area of 44,100 square feet spread across 28 sails.)

Built to resemble Preussen, a legendary tall ship of the 19th century, the 24-year-old Royal Clipper shares the spotlight at Star Clippers with two smaller sister vessels, Star Flyer and Star Clipper.

Carrying 166 passengers apiece, the smaller vessels were designed to resemble the speedy clipper ships of the 19th century, which were known for their narrow profile and large sail area. Each vessel has a sail area of 36,000 square feet spread across 16 sails, a large amount for the size.

When it comes to the setting of sails, Star Clippers vessels offer a level of old-style authenticity that is in between the ships of Sea Cloud and Windstar. Like on Sea Cloud vessels, the sails are pulled into position by a team of deckhands using hand power and winches to tighten the "sheets," or ropes.

Unlike on Sea Cloud vessels, the deck hands don't climb high into the rigging to untie and prepare the sails for winching. That part is done automatically at the push of a button from the bridge, as it is on Windstar vessels.

In one key difference, though, Star Clippers lets passengers harness up and climb into the crow's nest of its vessels — a thrilling experience. Just be prepared for your knees to go a bit wobbly as you get to the top; it's way up there.

Star Clippers sailings are the most affordable option among the three sailing brands, in part because the onboard experience is less all-inclusive and upscale.

The three Star Clippers vessels mostly operate sailings in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands, the Caribbean and along the west coast of Central America.

Bottom line

It's still possible to get a taste of what traveling the world's oceans was like in the days before motor power. Three small cruise companies — Sea Cloud Cruises, Windstar Cruises and Star Clippers — offer voyages on large sailing ships that are as majestic as anything that has sailed the seas in centuries past.

Planning a cruise? Start with these stories:

• The 5 most desirable cabin locations on any cruise ship
• A beginners guide to picking a cruise line
• The 8 worst cabin locations on any cruise ship
• The ultimate guide to what to pack for a cruise
• A quick guide to the most popular cruise lines
• 21 tips and tricks that will make your cruise go smoothly
• Top ways cruisers waste money
• The ultimate guide to choosing a cruise ship cabin

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

7 Reasons to Attend the Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show

Are you itching to get on the water? Jumpstart the boating season with the Annapolis Sailboat Show this  April 26-28, 2024 . Set in the bayside capital of Annapolis, it displays catamarans, monohulls, racing boats, and inflatables - with over 100 new and brokerage yachts. If you've been wondering what a sailboat show is about and why you should attend, this list is for you!

1.) Premier Boat Showcase

Explore a diverse range of sailboats, from sleek racing vessels to luxurious cruisers, all gathered in one picturesque waterfront location. Spend the day touring the boats and your evenings settled in a waterfront restaurant , enjoying the views!

2.) Exclusive Deals and Discounts

Take advantage of special show-only offers from top manufacturers and vendors, making it the perfect opportunity to upgrade your sailing gear or invest in your dream boat. Visit the Annapolis Boat Shows website to search for sailboats on display and find out where they will be docked during the show.

3.) Historic Charm of Annapolis

Immerse yourself in the rich maritime history and charming atmosphere of Annapolis, known as "America's Sailing Capital," adding an extra layer of excitement to your boat show experience. Walk the docks, stroll the streets admiring the 18th-century architecture, or stop at a museum. Everything is within easy walking distance of the Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show.

4.) Interactive Demonstrations

Get hands-on experience with the latest sailing equipment and technologies through live demonstrations, allowing you to test and compare products before making a purchase.

Plan Your Adventure

Downtown Annapolis Lodging

Walkable Downtown Annapolis

Downtown Annapolis Restaurants

Downtown Annapolis Shopping

5.) family-friendly activities .

Enjoy a fun-filled day for the whole family with activities such as kids' sailing lectures, boat tours, and deck tours of the Pride of Baltimore tall ship .  After the show, take the family for ice cream and enjoy it in beautiful downtown Annapolis!

6.) Get out of the Water

As America's Sailing Capital, there is no shortage of watersports and boating excursions to enjoy. Book a sailing cruise at the Schooner Woodwinds located at the boat show, or book a private excursion aboard one of the many sailing and powerboat charter companies in Annapolis. There are also options for kayaking as well.

7.) Scenic Waterfront Setting

Delight in the Annapolis waterfront's breathtaking views and serene splendor, offering a perfect backdrop for the sailboat show. Venture over the bridge to Eastport to explore the various dining and shopping options across Spa Creek. Take in some live music at a local pub or restaurant, or book a walking history or ghost tour .

Brandi McKeating

Download the free 2024 visitor guide.

This handy resource includes a complete listing of accommodations, restaurants, shopping destinations, and more in Annapolis and Anne Arundel County!

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On board the award-winning Spirit 111 flagship sailing yacht Geist

BOAT International steps on board Geist , the flagship of British shipyard Spirit Yachts that combines classic beauty and green technology with beguiling grace...

When Spirit Yachts’ flagship grew from 27 to 34 metres overall before she had even left the drawing board, she was already destined for the record books. At this size she would be the largest wooden sloop-rigged yacht to be built in the UK since the famous J Class yacht Shamrock V back in 1930. Given her long, elegant lines and low freeboard, so typical of the J Class , it was an interesting comparison from the off. And there was more to come.

The decision to head from Spirit Yachts’ yard in Ipswich on the east coast of the UK to Gosport in the south for the sea trials, was intended to make it easier to get into open water. But it was also a move that provided another connection with Sir Thomas Lipton’s famous America’s Cup challenger. The Gosport base for the Spirit 111’s sea trials was the famous Camper & Nicholsons yard (now Endeavour Quay), where Shamrock and the three other British J Class yachts had been built in the 1930s.

Unlike the competitive Js, the Spirit 111, named Geist , has been designed for a more relaxed life – a cruiser with the ability to take part in the occasional regatta. And while she’s been built in a traditional material, her wood epoxy composite construction on a steel space frame takes advantage of the very latest materials and techniques.

From her carbon mast with its non-metallic rigging, to her advanced sail- handling systems, her classic looks conceal a very advanced technical specification. For example, a bank of four BMW lithium batteries and a 100kW Torqeedo propulsion system capable of regenerating power once under way lie at the heart of her operational hardware.

Another significant difference is in the intended make-up of her crew. Here, the biggest clue as to how she has been designed to be operated can be found in her layout below decks.  Aside from being beautiful, it offers an owner’s cabin and three guest doubles – far fewer than you might expect of a boat this size. Furthermore, there is no skipper or crew accommodation: this is clearly an owner/driver superyacht.

Wherever you look, the Spirit 111 is a fascinating boat and when you talk to her creators, (“builders” seems so inappropriate for something so artful and innovative) it becomes clear that the project was a voyage of discovery for them at times too.

“In the early stages we built a model and presented it to the owner who said, ‘No, it looks a bit dumpy. Can’t we pull out the bow and stern?’” explains Spirit Yachts’ managing director Nigel Stuart.

“So the boat grew, but not the freeboard – but this was just the start. As you’d expect in the accommodation, the Sipo mahogany walls were drawn to sit vertically but they ended up raked, sweeping around the accommodation with a crease. There are no door handles and American walnut was used around corners in ways you simply wouldn’t expect and many believed couldn’t be done. The saloon table has 64 individually made legs, while the seating that wraps around it took a dedicated team 2,000 working hours to build. ‘Organic’ was a word that was used endlessly throughout the project.”

Designed by Rhoades Young and Spirit Yachts, her interior is extraordinary. “The client had recently visited Antelope Canyon in Arizona and this was the catalyst for the idea of the warm, soft flowing walls creating unique focal points within the room,” says Rhoades Young partner Jonathan Rhoades. Based on a set of linked circles which sweep around in an S-shape, the bulk of the accommodation is set amidships. The saloon, galley and navigation area is one open, circular area, lit from overhead by Spirit’s trademark fan windows in the deck.

From cooker to chart plotter, every item of equipment can be hidden behind slick fitted panels where the grain provides seamless continuity. Combined with vellum panels and an ingenious lighting system that not only switches on and off automatically but also balances itself against the ambient light, the overall appearance is striking.

Devoid of any decoration or soft furnishings, it looks a little stark at first, but this is an interior to savour. Like walking into a gallery at the Tate Modern, when you stop and look you start to get drawn into the light, the lines and the subtle range of colours that sweep through her interior. It’s an intoxicating experience.

It’s difficult to do the accommodation justice in a few words, other than to say that it has to be one of the most extraordinary yacht interiors I’ve ever seen. From the minute the electric motor propels you silently from the dock, through the effortless hoisting of the in-boom furling mainsail and the roller furling headsail, it is clear how much distance there is between the 111 and a J Class. The classic yachts of the 1930s require well in excess of 20 crew to race them – we cruise around the Solent with just five on board, and really only three are necessary to handle the boat.

On the helm she’s a very different boat to a J. She’s amazingly light, direct and beautifully balanced, steering herself upwind with ease. In 12 knots of true breeze we slice uphill at nine knots. Downwind she’s just as silky smooth and while she’s clearly a very large yacht, she’s also a proper sailing boat with all the feel you’d expect of something a third of her size.

I’m privileged to have taken the helm of both Shamrock V and Endeavour and while these were both very special moments, the fact remains that Geist has a much better feel on the wheel. And so she should.

Her fin and bulb keel along with the carbon spade rudder contrast starkly with the less- efficient rudder that was hung off the trailing edge of the keel on a J Class. At 65 tonnes fully laden she’s also less than half the weight of a J Class. While neither of these characteristics are that easy to see, they are good examples of 80 years of progress.

So, while the Spirit 111 was never envisaged as a modern-day J Class or engaging in the type of sailing that the Js became famous for, she does represent a similar approach: using modern materials and techniques to push the boundaries of design and technology, while at the same time delivering elegance that will turn heads, whatever the era.

The wood works

As a boat that glorifies wood – from her hull to her interior design – it was vital that the Spirit 111’s timber was ethically sourced to fit the yacht’s green ethos. For Douglas fir the yard went to Canada, which it knew had robust regulations. “Those forests have been commercially managed for over 100 years,” says Spirit Yachts’ managing director Nigel Stuart. “They plant two trees for one [felled] and they only harvest one per cent of the timber in Canada a year.”

Taking it a step further, the father of the yard’s timber dealer went to the forest to record “exactly where those trees were felled”. Sipo wood was sourced from Forest Stewardship Council-run forests in West Africa and the teak was also responsibly sourced – although since the project began four years ago, the yard’s view on teak in general has changed. 

“There have been certain cases highlighted [within yachting] where teak was bought with the best intentions, but was later found to have actually come from Burma – with all the implications that entails. So that’s why we said that we can’t trust the paperwork.” Instead, the yard now uses Lignia, an alternative from sustainably managed softwood plantations, treated to provide a durable timber that looks and feels just like teak.

But the careful sourcing of wood was only a fraction of the work. The timber is machined into planks before being air-dried for months (a low-energy method). At the yard it is sliced into the required thickness, mostly six millimetres for the interior, revealing the grain’s beautiful flames. “Then we store it on site to let it settle for two or three months,” says Stuart. “It has a tendency to relax when we treat it like this.”

Then the joiners get to work, using only hand tools. “I think we’ve probably got the finest joinery team in the world,” says Stuart. To give an idea of the skill required for this extraordinary interior, he points to the grain on a bathroom wall. It runs all the way from the ceiling, down the wall, undulating over the sink, and down to the floor – perpendicular all the way. This was installed in three separate sections with the grains perfectly matched. That means hundreds of pieces of wood, each referring to each other. Mess up one of the three sections and you start again from scratch.

So fine was the work, they spent eight months making eight doors with flared handholds. They even invented a new method of steam bending walnut wood, which is particularly rigid. The result, however, is one of the most impressive examples of woodwork afloat.

This feature is taken from the October 2020 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.

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After 40-year wait, Athletic finally set sail on the gabarra

Rodrigo Faez details Athletic Club's Copa del Rey celebrations from a boat on the city's Nervion river.  (1:17)

BILBAO, Spain -- "We had ten commandments in the dressing room and one was: don't mention the gabarra ," Nico Williams said when at long, long last they could after winning the final of the Copa del Rey ( stream a replay on ESPN+, U.S. only ). "If you did, you had to cross yourself, confess to Jesus Christ. The gabarra was the unnamable." It was, but now they have seen it. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of them with their own eyes. A million or more, the mayor said. And it was real.

A gabarra is a barge, that's all.

But it is not all. In Bilbao, it is not just a barge. It is the barge, something almost mystical, a legend passed on through the generations, all those stories told; always there but not there at all, all their hopes and dreams contained within, and all of their fears.

The gabarra: a word immediately understood with a single mention, conjuring up countless images and emotions, the invocation of everything they are and aspire to be, their identity, their idiosyncrasy. Unique. Just say it and you knew, nostalgia clinging to every letter, longing too.

Especially longing.

Go into a bar in Bilbao, almost any bar, in the narrow streets of the old town or along Pozas, that long, straight road that is not so much a road as a portal, carrying you through the red-and-white flags to San Mames, the football ground they call the Cathedral: a place of worship but above all of community, tradition and liturgy. On the walls there, chances are you will see a picture of gabarra. In a frame or cut from the paper, mostly in black and white, they date from 1984, when Athletic Club celebrated winning the league by traveling up the estuary, along the river Nervion from Getxo to the heart of the city on a gabarra.

They are wild, chaotic pictures, unlike anything else, a barge instead of a bus. On the water either side of the gabarra there are boats everywhere -- tugboats, rowboats, dinghies, anything they could find -- and the banks of the river are packed with people, red and white everywhere, felt even in the monotone images. More than a million people were out, they said.

The barge had been built in 1960 by the Celaya shipyard. A functional means of transporting heavy loads up the estuary, essentially a floating platform, 18½ meters long and 8½ meters wide, pulled by a tug boat, it was given the functional name Gabarra No. 1. With time it came to be known as Athletic's barge.

❤️ 𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗤𝗨𝗘 𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗟𝗗 #UniqueInTheWorld 🏆 #AthleticClub 🦁 pic.twitter.com/qu2I1s6qRP — Athletic Club (@Athletic_en) April 11, 2024

The idea of celebrating success by taking it up the river had come from a director named Cecilio Guerricabeitia. This was not a tradition, not really, but the inspiration went back a long way: to 1925 and Acero Club de Olabeaga, a team from the shipyards by the river and winners of the local championship, and to a song about a barge going down the Nervion, rumba la, rumba la. When Athletic boarded the gabarra in 1984, it was actually only the second time they had ever done so, after the previous season. It was also the last.

It had only travelled twice with them on board. The tradition of the gabarra, if it could be called that, was more about popular imagination, the impact from that day, the images that survived and the stories that were told, than a ritual oft-repeated. But that became something to aspire to, to do again, an act of affirmation; and with time, in its ever increasing absence, it became even deeper, somehow more imbedded.

Athletic are a unique club, famously following a policy of playing only with Basque players. In a post-Bosman world, that is even more remarkable, like something from another era, an act of grand defiance, resistance, a refusal to let go of who they are. One of only three clubs to have spent their entire history in the first division, Athletic had won 24 cups by 1984. They did not win another until Saturday in Seville, 40 years later.

The story goes back to the 1950s when Athletic won the cup often; captain Piru Gainza once collected the trophy and said, "See you next year, then," but those were different times. Even the 1980s are, and an entire generation had gone by without them winning anything. Not one Athletic player was alive the last time they won a major trophy; even the sporting director wasn't. Many had passed, lost forever. As for the gabarra, it was removed from service in 2013, and placed in a museum near San Mames, a piece of history.

As centre-back Dani Vivian insisted, that didn't mean that nothing had been written in the meantime. Rafa Alkorta, the club's former central defender and sporting director, rightly insisted: what this generation has done is wonderful. The Basque Country accounts for less than 5% of the Spanish population: a team from a pool that small, where the depth of identification is unlike anywhere else, had reached five finals this century, which is a huge achievement. But they had not been back on the barge, and "gabarra" had come to be shorthand for everything, not being able to emulate those scenes from 1984 to which everyone clung.

WOW. Bilbao is ready for La Gabarra! @sidlowe @Athletic_en pic.twitter.com/vgWZ3Ax6Wh — The Spanish Football Podcast (@tsf_podcast) April 11, 2024

Kids listened to parents, even grandparents, talk about that day. Managers came and went, as did hundreds of players, but nothing happened. They reached final after final -- 2009, 2012, 2015, 2020, 2021 -- and it still didn't happen. The wait was, well, a weight. The pressure had built; those stories from '84 got further away and yet somehow ever closer, more present. They so wanted to have their own gabarra , but it had become almost like a ghost ship, a curse. Every time they got to the final, it came up again -- the sports paper Marca this week calculated 780 articles mentioning the gabarra -- and in most years preparations were made for it to sail again, just in case.

It became something best not mentioned, a commandment. And then in Seville, at last, Athletic beat Mallorca 4-2 on penalties following a 1-1 draw and it all came pouring out. Coach Ernesto Valverde has won 11 trophies, but he said: "Nothing compares to this: because of how hard it has been, because of the finals we lost, because of what the cup means to us, who we are." Because of the gabarra.

In the buildup to the final, one Bilbao paper had put the gabarra on the front page every day for a week: with each new edition, it came a little closer. On the morning final, the headline said simply: "To dream." Now, that night it was here. They had done it, the release intense. "At last," the front page said this time.

Everyone knew what this meant. Immediately, the gabarra was everywhere, as if winning the cup was not about winning the cup, or at least not only, but about getting the chance to sail up the Nervion. About everything that encapsulates Athletic and why it is different. About being able to honour a tradition, follow it, at the club that most honours tradition.

Nico Williams dared mentioned it now, the spell broken. "You have no idea how much this weighed on us," captain Iker Muniain admitted. Imagine the pressure of the penalties. Now they had been liberated; time to take the barge out.

"I'm looking forward to experiencing what they have told us so much about," Nico Williams said. All evening in Seville and Bilbao and everywhere, as celebrations went on, the talk was of the barge. Get the gabarra out, we're bringing it home. One message from inside the dressing room: "You've got to come and see the gabarra."

"It's been a long time, I hope it still floats," goalkeeper Unai Simón joked.

Two days later, for the first time in 11 years, a crane lifted the barge onto the river, preparing it to sail. It took eight minutes to lower it onto the water, and tests followed. There were celebrations in Bilbao, impromptu street parties -- four Athletic players even got fined for an unauthorised gathering, setting up an improvised outdoor disco -- that went on all night. But that was a prelude. To this, to this thing that had become their everything, that they had heard so much about.

Javier Clemente, the coach of the 1984 team, insisted that the current players had no idea just what was waiting for them.

The date was set: the afternoon of Thursday, April 11. This was going to be huge, built up so much that somehow you thought it could never live up to its billing, but you would be wrong. From schools and kids' football clubs, letters were sent home, classes were cancelled so that everyone could enjoy this, live it, even if just once. Forget coming into work. It might not be back in a hurry. The whole of Bilbao was off. From around the country, people arrived in the Basque Country: this was the party of a lifetime and they weren't going to miss it.

The gabarra set sail, if you can call it that, from Getxo at 4:30 p.m. It was dragged by a tugboat, and a blue portaloo had been placed at the back. The players leapt about, although none leapt into the water: there was a €60,000 fine for anyone that dared. Midfielder Unai Gómez kept crying. On board, Valverde took out his compact camera. Among the many astonishing photos of an extraordinary day, those are the ones you'll want to see.

Around 160 boats accompanied them up the river, 38 rowboats too, oars easing them through the water. One boat was captained by Iñigo Martínez , the Barcelona centre-back and a former Athletic player. They travelled 13 kilometers along the river, past factories and offices, schools and universities. From the windows of the hospital, patients watched. Every inch of the route was packed, every space taken hours in advance, the place smelling of sulphur from flares. The kalimotxo (a Spanish cocktail) came in huge quantities. People occupied bridges and trees and traffic lights. By the factories, workers came to wave, high up cranes.

Every balcony was taken: squashed, standing room only, everyone you have ever met and many you have not invited round. In every direction there were people, red-and-white stripes. If there had been a million out in 1984, there were surely more now. "We saw so, so many people. I don't think we're really aware of what we have done," Simón said. "Maybe in the future we will be." Maybe if 40 more years pass.

"We have waited a long time for this," said Dani, the captain of the 1984 side. He and his teammates travelled alongside on another boat. The club's legendary goalkeeper Iribar, 81 now, was with the current team -- there were more songs for him than anyone else. " Iribar es cojonudo, como Iribar no hay ninguno ": "Iribar is the business, there's no one like Iribar." A cup winner in 1969 and 1973, he wore a replica of a beret made for the 1958 final. "This is amazing," he said.

Time has passed, and they marked it. The Athletic players had been given red-and-white shirts -- actual shirts, not football shirts -- emulating those prepared last minute by a local tailor and worn by the team in 1984. One man wore the actual shirt from 1984: Valverde's assistant coach Jon Aspiazu was a player then and had kept it. Under his shirt, Muniain wore a T-shirt with the logo of the club's centenary on it, a quarter of a century later, although it wasn't long before he wasn't wearing any shirt at all. After the final, Iñaki Williams had worn the Athletic shirt of his childhood, a Kappa classic. History is there to be made, but also recognized.

The sun shone, everything brilliant in the light, except when it was engulfed in smoke, a day spent in glorious technicolor. Time has passed for sure: it's not just the fact that the photos are not in black-and-white now; the city looks different, is different; the whole region is, many of the shipyards and forges giving way. Nothing shone, nothing marked the passage of time like the smooth, silver sides of the Guggenheim museum. When the gabarra passed by San Mames, it paused. The players threw red-and-white flowers into the water, in memory of those who had not made it. As it went past the neighbourhood of Olabeaga, the entire side of a building had a single word written on it: "dream."

😍 Incredible images from Bizkaia bridge! #UniqueInTheWorld 🏆 #AthleticClub 🦁 pic.twitter.com/qtwktgWncd — Athletic Club (@Athletic_en) April 11, 2024

"This is the nearest thing to heaven," full-back Óscar de Marcos insisted. He and Muniain had been in all those lost finals, and they shared this with those who had been there with them but are gone now. "This is the dream of our entire lives, bloody hell: our grandparents and parents told us about this," Simón said. "I'm still pinching myself," Iñaki Williams insisted. Ander Herrera has won things before -- along with Raúl García , the only Athletic player who has -- but this, he said, was incomparable to anything. Well, almost anything: there was 1984.

"Those who thought we were exaggerating about the gabarra can see it now," said Clemente, the coach on board the barge that day.

Eventually, they clambered off and up the stairs at the side of the river and made their way through the crowd to the city hall. A barrier briefly fell to the ground, Valverde and Muniain rushing to attend, no harm done. And there, from the balcony, they sang and sang and sang, the captain who lost four finals now a champion leading the kind of crowd no one had ever seen. History makers, one and all.

See you next year, the mayor said, and some dared think he might be right, no fear naming the unnamable now as the bus pulled out and went through the streets with the Copa del Rey on board. Fans with fireworks accompanied them along the route, by road this time. "See? Told you it would be madness," one said, getting off the bus and heading into the council building, where the authorities waited. He was right, you did have to come to see the gabarra. Bars filled, no one expected home until morning, and songs were sung.

A barge went down the Nervion, rumba la, rumba la.

"This is the most fascinating club on earth," Valverde said, "and when it comes to celebrating, it is the best."

VW Campervan bought for £180 drives world record one million miles

The vehicle, named Cecil, plays a key role in Clean Ocean Sailing in Cornwall, which hails tonnes of waste plastic collected from beaches

• 10:31, 17 APR 2024
• Updated 12:47, 17 APR 2024

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A man who purchased a VW campervan for £180 believes it may hold a world record after clocking nearly one million miles. Steve Green, the proud owner of the 52-year-old multipurpose VW campervan, which he imported from Australia in 1998, has driven the vehicle, affectionately named Cecil, an impressive 1,375,630 kilometres - equivalent to 900,000 miles and 14 times around the globe - without ever needing a tow.

Cecil plays a crucial role in Clean Ocean Sailing , a Cornwall -based organisation dedicated to removing tonnes of waste plastic from our beaches. Since its inception in 2017, Clean Ocean Sailing has successfully collected over 70 tonnes of plastic, averaging around 10 tonnes per year.

Steve now believes that Cecil's mileage might be a world record. He said: "I grew up watching Herbie - I believe cars can have a spirit of their own. It is mad the things Cecil has seemed to survive. He's approaching 14 times round the clock, which is about 900,000 miles (1.4m km) which as far as I can find out, is the highest mileage one of these in the world.''

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Cecil is equipped to pick up discarded 'ghost' gear (fishing equipment left as waste in the ocean) and waste bags using a homemade crane made of scaffolding poles, as well as a winch and tow hook at the front of the van. The waste is then transported via trailer to a recycling plant in Exeter.

Steve shared: "If someone is walking their dog on a coastal path or if they spot big bit of ghost gear, we get the shout and go and get it before the next tide. That is what Cecil does."

Clean Ocean Sailing boasts a network of hundreds of volunteers across Cornwall's beaches and the Isles of Scilly who join Steve aboard his vessel Annie, a traditional 117 year old sailing boat. Cecil's engine, originally converted to diesel upon its arrival in the UK, now operates on recycled waste chip fat oil.

Reflecting on the discovery of Cecil, built in 1972, Steve said he found it "in a state and mechanically in a right mess" after it had been used as a shuttle bus for airport transfers between Canberra and Sydney. Undeterred, Steve bought Cecil for the equivalent of just £180 and dedicated six months to restoring it in a workshop during his off-hours while working as a mechanic.

When it was time to leave Australia, Steve intended to sell Cecil at a car auction in Sydney but found himself too attached to his reliable mobile abode. He recounted: "We wanted to drive him back to the UK - we even managed to get a visa for India and Russia, but sadly China said no."

"So we put him on a ship back home and haven't parted since. The boat's over 100 years old and still going, so let's see if we can keep the old van going for another 50 years."

"Our ethics of using historic transport and sailing boats - which has evolved over thousands of years - fit with our ethos. If you have the wind and the tide, you take your time and understand nature and go with the natural elements it feels completely right. We have evolved as creatures on this planet, but it's when you force the situation it feels wrong."

Contrary to expectations, Cecil has not once been towed, despite Steve consistently paying for breakdown cover each year. Steve, a former mechanic who continues the trade as needed, shared: "You have to be a DIY mechanic to drive one of these - but they are so simple to work on and simple to fix.

"He's never needed a tow and I have breakdown I've never had to use - I always have a laugh with the insurance company every year, which is actually really cheap and now covered by Footman James as a donation."

Inspired by a sailing trip to Isles of Scilly that left him heartbroken at the sight of waste littering the stunning coastlines abundant in wildlife, Steve set up Clean Ocean Sailing. He remarked: "There was so much rubbish washed up on the little tiny islands out on the west side, that no one goes to because they are wildlife sanctuaries. We're talking one metre deep of washed up trash of all sorts and I wanted to do something about it."

Determined to diminish plastic waste while keeping their carbon footprint (which is virtually zero) as minimal as possible and respecting the environment, the team puts in immense effort. "We could clear more waste, but for us it is as how about how we do it as how much we collect," Steve said.

"We don't use engines (apart from chip fat oil for Cecil), and we sail, row and paddle everywhere - so there are limits to what we can do. We could get propeller engines for example, but that would be disturbing wildlife.["

Steve from Clean Ocean Sailing explains that they work in harmony with nature, coordinating with wildlife charities to determine the best times and places for their activities, respecting breeding cycles and habitats. He further mentioned: "Some islands in Scilly people are not allowed to visit at all because they are breeding grounds for rare birds and seals.

"But in February we can access some islands, with special permission from wildlife trust, to collect as much waste as we can - whilst navigating rocks!" A Volkswagen spokesperson commented to the BBC that while there are other high mileage campervans, it's uncertain if Cecil holds a record, yet acknowledged that Cecil is "really impressive".

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