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Golden Yachts Launches 78m Superyacht O'Rea

By Heather Collier

Greek Shipyard Golden Yachts has announced the launch of its 78-metre superyacht O'Rea, previously dubbed as 'the new generation of Golden Yachts.'

Created alongside long-time collaborator Stefano Vafiadis, O'Rea offers a contemporary feel that pays homage to previous models.

Boasting a total of eight guest suites, this luxurious vessel can host up to 16 guests, with a large owner's stateroom that includes an adjoined private office area.

Additional staterooms can be found across the upper and main deck, a similar arrangement to the layout of one of the shipyard's major milestones, Project X, which made her world debut at the Monaco Yacht Show in October 2022.

Her interior designer Massari Design has used over 250 finishes, materials and precious stones to decorate the stunning, cavernous interior spaces.

Key features include two inviting, glass-bottom swimming pools with underwater lighting, a grand piano, a spa consisting of a Finnish sauna, a hammam, massage room and medical room, a beauty salon, a guest elevator, satellite communications, a spacious beach club and deck Jacuzzi, WiFi and air conditioning.

O'Rea is built with a steel hull and aluminium superstructure, with teak decks. Powered by twin diesel Caterpillar (3516E) 16-cylinder 3,433hp engines running at 1800rpm, she can comfortably cruise at 16 knots, reaching a maximum speed of 18 knots.

With her delivery expected to take place next month, O'Rea is set to join the shipyard's charter fleet alongside their associated brokerage firm, Atalanta Golden Yachts.

O'Rea is scheduled to make her global debut at the 2023 Monaco Yacht Show this September.

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Boat of the Week: This 255-Foot Superyacht Has a Glass-Bottom Swimming Pool That Doubles as a Skylight

The biggest sale in greece's yachting history, malia is a cornucopia of design, with 250 interior materials that include semi-precious stones and 15 types of marble., julia zaltzman, julia zaltzman's most recent stories.

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Malia is conceived to be a treat for the senses. Lasvit glass light fixtures, intricate wood detailing produced by Italian artisans, and a gold-covered globe in the stairwell bring a sense of theatre to the interior by Massari Design. So do the polished marble steps, backlit vertical paneling, and champagne-colored metal and glass chandeliers. Yet the overall aesthetic is less Aladdin’s Cave and more Scandi beach house.

Two very different examples: Undulating wood paneled ceilings, full-height windows, and two lateral side doors bring light into the full-beam salon. On the exterior, a large contraflow swimming pool is positioned across the main deck aft. Three skylights at the bottom of the pool filter natural light through to the wood-clad waterfront lounge below where a health bar, lounge area with a large U-shaped sofa, and a wellness center forward bring a sense of calm.

Besides providing far-reaching views, the beach club enjoys a massage room, Turkish hammam, sauna and shower. A hydraulic swim platform makes getting in and out of the water easier for guests of all ages and abilities, not to mention quick deployment of Malia ’s assortment of toys. The yacht’s tenders are launched from side hatches.

Malia sleeps 14 guests in eight cabins, with further accommodations for a crew of 28. The six lower-deck guest cabins have eight-foot-high ceilings—unusual for guest suites. The en suites have Toto Japanese toilets and, between them, employ 20 different types of materials, such as green onyx and Amazonite. Half of the cabins have custom carpets and the other half have oak flooring. Some enjoy full-size bathtubs, others have large showers.

“We tried to keep the design language throughout the yacht the same but create a point of difference with color, finishes and amenities to give guests more choice,” Dimitra Agapitou, interior design director at Golden Yachts, told Robb Report during a tour of the yacht at Monaco. “Some guests prefer bare wood underfoot while others like to sink into luxurious carpet.”

The full-beam owner’s cabin and adjacent VIP on the main deck continue the high-ceiling trend. The master has a private office, a vanity station, a walk-in closet, and super king bed.

Outdoor entertainment is reserved for the sun deck with alfresco dining, oversized sunpads, a large DJ booth, and a touch-and-go heli-deck forward. A second wellness zone comprises gym equipment, a smoothie bar, and a large Jacuzzi for relaxing post workout.

An outdoor cinema screen brings a cozy evening vibe, while a dumbwaiter directly connected to the galley makes services convenient. When high winds threaten to dampen the mood, a hardtop bimini and glass sliding doors close off the central seating area.

“The enclosed seating area was one of the most challenging aspects of the design as the glass can make it hot very quickly,” says Agapitou. “We installed light linen curtains on the inside of the glass and engineered the air conditioning in this space to maintain a comfortable temperature.”

Despite taking delivery in June and putting the yacht in charter last summer, the original owners sold the vessel with zero time on board. Now available for charter with Northrop & Johnson, perhaps Malia ’s new owners promise to break that mold.

Click here to see more photos of Malia.

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Golden Yachts was established in 1996 and is a trusted specialist in high-end large yacht construction and major refit projects, with its affiliated premises located in Greece. Golden Yachts is able to draw on its experience and knowledge of different sectors within the maritime industry.

The first and the second-generation owners of Golden Yachts are active in the Greek shipping industry and combine their commercial shipping experience and expertise to their successful charter business platform (taking into consideration the insights of owners, charter clients, Captains and crews) resulting to an overall evolving the Golden Yachts brand.

Golden Yachts is proud to have successfully delivered to date, the 56-metre O’Mathilde (refit), the 46- metre My Eden (refit), the 51-metre Jaz by Amels (refit) and the 56-metre O’Natalina by Picchiotti (refit), all forming part of the shipyards first batch of refit projects.

The company invested in its own project and engineering teams, gearing up for refit projects but also working towards bringing new yacht construction in-house. This came to fruition in 2007 with the launch of the first GY 50 series yacht, O’Ptasia (now Vertigo), O’Neiro and O’Rama.

New shipyard facilities followed in 2010, and in 2011 the award-winning semi-displacement 39.5-metre O’Pati emerged. The 2010s marked a change of pace for Golden Yachts which upped its rhythm with the construction of the 71.85-metre O’Pari3, launched in 2015, the 85-metre O’Ptasia (2018) and the 95-metre O’Pari (2020), all of which confirm the company’s push to significantly larger builds. After the delivery of the 88m PROJECT X (2022) new build projects include the 78m yacht O’REA, the 60m O’EVA and the 35m O’NEIRO.

“Therefore, it takes a really special beach club to impress the judges. And on that score, Project X did not disappoint. It is an innovative space that simultaneously showcases a museum-quality tender, serves as a launch pad for watersports, a lobby lounge for the spa, a games area and provides a lounge experience in its own right. The key element of the warm and welcoming space is a circular seating area the designer describes as a “spinning nest”.

Wooden slats rise up from the backrests and integrate with the haloed ceiling to act as an architectural backdrop. But far from being confining or static, the sofas and their backdrop rotate and split into sections to provide various views through opening hull doors or, alternatively, to allow the stunning bar to be the focus”.

Panel of Judges, Boat International Design and Innovation Awards 2023 BEST LIFESTYLE FEATURE AWARD FOR PROJECT X

We recently completed the construction of our new shipyard. This includes integrated state-of-the-art technology such as underground gas welding pipes and incorporates a special infrastructure for new building projects. What sets us apart from our competitors and attracts new clients is our experience, our enthusiastic team of specialists and our advanced infrastructure. Our location is the largest superyacht facility in Greece specifically constructed for yachts ranging in length from 40m to 140m.

PARIS DRAGNIS Founder, Golden Yachts

Luxury yachts and other myths: How Republican lawmakers echo Russian propaganda

Two senior Republican lawmakers, the chairs of the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees, say their colleagues are echoing Russian state propaganda against Ukraine.

Researchers who study disinformation say Reps. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, are merely acknowledging what has been clear for some time: Russian propaganda aimed at undermining U.S. and European support for Ukraine has steadily seeped into America’s political conversation over the past decade, taking on a life of its own.

McCaul, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Puck News he thinks “Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base.”

Turner, chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told CNN that anti-Ukraine messages from Russia are “being uttered on the House floor.”

For the past decade, since Russia’s first military incursion into Ukraine in 2014, Moscow has spread propaganda and disinformation in a bid to undercut U.S. and European military support for Ukraine, according to U.S. and Western officials.

Some of the arguments, distortions and falsehoods spread by Russia have taken root, mostly among right-wing pro-Trump outlets and Republican politicians, researchers say, including that Ukraine’s government is too corrupt to benefit from Western aid and that the Biden family has alleged corrupt ties to Ukraine.

Russia, in keeping with traditional propaganda techniques, seeks to make its case and tarnish Ukraine through a mixture of outright falsehoods, half-truths, inferences or simply amplifying and promoting arguments already being made by American or European commentators and politicians, researchers say.

The propaganda is sometimes spread covertly, through fake online accounts, or openly by Russian officials and state media. As a result, the origin of some allegations or criticisms is often opaque, especially when a certain accusation or perception has gained wide acceptance, leaving no clear fingerprints.

Early in the war, a false story boosted by Russian propaganda — that the U.S. had helped Ukraine build biological weapons labs — gained traction on right-wing social media and was touted by then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Russia also is conducting a parallel propaganda campaign in Europe. Belgium’s prime minister said Thursday that his government is investigating alleged Russian bribes to members of the European Parliament as part of Moscow’s campaign to undermine support for Ukraine. Czech law enforcement officials last month alleged that a former pro-Russian member of Ukraine’s parliament, Viktor Medvedchuk, was behind a Prague-based Russian propaganda network designed to promote opposition to aiding Ukraine.

Here are some examples of Republican lawmakers using arguments often promoted by Russian propaganda:

Buying yachts

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with members of Congress behind closed doors in December to appeal for more U.S. help for his country’s troops, some lawmakers raised questions about Ukraine allegedly buying yachts with American aid money.

Zelenskyy made clear that was not the case, according to Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a strong supporter of arming Ukraine. “I think the notion of corruption came up because some have said we can’t do it, because people will buy yachts with the money,” Tillis told CNN. “[Zelenskyy] disabused people of those notions.”

Where did the yacht rumor come from?

Pro-Russian actors and websites promoted a narrative alleging Zelenskyy bought two superyachts with U.S. aid dollars. One Russia-based propaganda site, DC Weekly , published a story last November that included photos of two luxury yachts, called Lucky Me and My Legacy , which it alleged were bought for $75 million.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a vocal opponent of military aid to Ukraine, in November retweeted a post about the alleged yacht purchase from the Strategic Culture Foundation, a Russian-based propaganda outlet directed by Russia’s intelligence services, according to the Treasury Department. The U.S. has imposed sanctions on the organization, accusing it of spreading disinformation and interfering in U.S. elections.

Another outspoken critic of aid to Ukraine, Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, also made a similar claim.

In a December interview with former President Donald Trump’s White House adviser Steve Bannon, Vance claimed that members of Congress wanted to cut Social Security benefits to provide more aid to Ukraine, and that money would allegedly be used for Zelenskyy’s ministers to “buy a bigger yacht.”

“There are people who would cut Social Security, throw our grandparents into poverty. Why? So that one of Zelenskyy’s ministers can buy a bigger yacht?” Vance said. “Kiss my ass, Steve. It’s not happening.”

The tale of Zelenskyy’s luxury yacht, however, turned out to be totally false . The yachts cited in the DC Weekly article remain up for sale , the owners told The Associated Press.

Two academics at Clemson University, disinformation researchers Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren, found that DC Weekly ran numerous stories copied from other sites that were rewritten by artificial intelligence engines. The articles had bylines with fake names along with headshots copied from other online sites. DC Weekly appeared to be a Russian effort to launder false information through a seemingly legitimate news site as part of an attempt to undermine U.S. support for Ukraine, according to the researchers .

Asked by reporters about Vance’s comments, Tillis said: “I think it’s bullshit. ...If you’re talking about giving money to Ukrainian ministers — total and unmitigated bullshit.”

Greene’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Vance’s spokesperson said the senator was making a rhetorical point about how he opposed sending U.S. assistance to what he sees as a corrupt country, but was not asserting the yacht stories online were accurate.

Vance’s office referred NBC News to an earlier response to the BBC on the same topic:

“For years, everyone in the West recognized that Ukraine was one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Somehow everyone forgot that just as we started sending them billions of dollars in foreign aid.”

Enabling ‘corruption’

Russian state media for years has painted Ukraine as deeply corrupt, and has argued that the U.S. and its allies are wasting money and military hardware by assisting such an allegedly corrupt government.

“This is absolutely a line that they have pushed, and then once it appears in the Western ecosystem, other [Russian] media picks it up and it gets recycled back,” said Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy.

This line of argument has gained traction partly because Ukraine does face a genuine corruption problem.

Russia’s effort to focus attention on corruption in Ukraine reflects a long-established propaganda method of using facts or partial truths to anchor a broader assertion or accusation, sometimes making a leap in logic, Schafer and other researchers said. Russia’s message amounts to: Ukraine is corrupt, therefore U.S. and Western aid will be stolen and wasted.

Schafer said it was ironic for Russia, a country mired in corruption and kleptocracy, to be leveling accusations about corruption.

Republican Rep. Mary Miller has said she strongly opposes more assistance for Ukraine because it amounts to sending cash to “corrupt oligarchs.”

“With Zelensky coming to DC this week to ask for more money, I will continue to vote AGAINST sending your tax $$ to corrupt oligarchs in Ukraine for a proxy war that could have ended in ‘22,” Miller wrote in a post on X in December.

The Illinois lawmaker also echoed another assertion that often appears in Russian media, that the Biden administration allegedly undermined efforts by Russia to avoid war with Ukraine.

 “A peace deal was on the table that [Ukraine] and [Russia] were both ready to sign, but Biden said NO,” she wrote.

There was in fact no proposed peace agreement that Russia and Ukraine were prepared to sign before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to U.S. and European officials. As Russian troops massed on the border of Ukraine, Western governments urged Russia not to invade and warned there would be economic and diplomatic consequences.

Reuters has reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a possible deal to avert a war that had been discussed with Kyiv by Russia’s envoy to Ukraine. The Kremlin said the report was inaccurate and has said Russia tried for years to arrive at an understanding with Ukraine.

As for corruption in Ukraine, Zelenskyy has vowed to tackle the problem, sacking senior officials in some recent cases. But some civil society groups have criticized his approach and Ukrainians say corruption is the country’s second-most serious problem, after the Russian invasion, according to a poll conducted last year.

In an annual survey, Transparency International said Ukraine made progress toward addressing the issue and now ranks 104th out of 180 countries on its Corruption Perceptions Index , climbing 12 places up from its previous ranking.

Ukraine is not alone among countries that receive U.S. and other foreign aid but struggle with corruption. Supporters of assisting Ukraine argue it would undermine America’s influence in the world and its humanitarian efforts if Washington withheld foreign aid from every country where there were reports of corruption.

Miller’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The Biden family and Ukraine

Republicans have repeatedly alleged that President Joe Biden and his son Hunter have corrupt ties to Ukraine, and that they sought $5 million in bribes from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma to protect the firm from an investigation by Ukraine’s prosecutor general.

There is no credible evidence for the allegations. A key source for the accusations against the Bidens is a former FBI informant, Alexander Smirnov, who was arrested in February on federal charges of fabricating the bribery claims. Smirnov says he was fed information by Russian intelligence.

Republicans had heavily promoted Smirnov’s allegations against the Bidens, seeing them as crucial to a planned impeachment effort against the president that has since fizzled .

“In my estimation, that is probably the clearest example of Russian propaganda working its way into the American political system,” said Emerson Brooking, a resident senior fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council.

GOP Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona cited the false bribery allegations in expressing his opposition to providing assistance to Ukraine.

“In exchange for … bribe money from Ukraine, Joe Biden has dished out over $100 billion in taxpayer money to fund the war in Ukraine. I will not assist this corruption by sending more money to the authoritarian Ukrainian regime,” Gosar said in a statement in October.

Gosar’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Dan De Luce is a reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit. 

Syedah Asghar is a Capitol Hill researcher for NBC News and is based in Washington, D.C.