Tom Perkins has finally sold Maltese Falcon, his 88m unique Perini Navi sailing yacht. One of the founders of the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, he reportedly spent at least US$150 million on building the yacht. Henry Craven-Smith, the broker at Burgess who arranged the sale is not saying how much she went for or to whom but rumour says she will soon be sailing in Greek waters.
In our article for SuperYacht World Maltese Falcon was voted by yacht designers into the number 5 slot in our list of 50 Most Beautiful Yachts.
The designer Ken Freivoch, spoke to us about the yacht “She was designed without any attempt to be ostentatious or to conform to a set style – it was very much a case of “form follows function”, albeit with very careful attention to essential design principles, balanced proportions and uncluttered and purposeful shapes totally derived from the function they are designed to perform. The yacht is significant in her innovative sailing system, and our studio took this as a clue to develop the design around such technology, with every effort to develop beautiful and unique solutions aimed at highlighting her unique rig.”
In the book Mines Bigger by David A Kaplan published in 2007, detailing the build process of Maltese Falcon Perkins admitted, “I just wanted the biggest boat. Do I have an ego? Yes. Is it big? Yes.” In the book it is also made clear that Perkins is both a perfectionist and a project junkie who loves the design and creation process building. He lived for solving problems and the challenge of building the three mast, 88-metre square rigged sailboat.
Other yachting projects that have benefitted from Perkins zeal include the construction of two smaller Perini Navi sailing yachts both named Andromeda de Ray, the rebuilding of the classic Motor Yacht Atlantide originally built in 1930 and the 41 metre Nat Herreshoff schooner Mariette built in 1915.
What comes next for Perkins? In a comment he gave to the Wall Street Journal he stated, “My pleasure comes from the technical and aesthetic challenges of new yacht projects more than from cruising aboard the finished boat. I would now like to indulge my interest in ’sports’ submarines and maybe to build a specialized boat to use as a sub carrier.”
Maltese Falcon carried a small American built two man submarine, a recent addition, which was not sold with the yacht. Is there a larger version somewhere under construction?