Say what you like about Italy and its austerity measures, when it comes to launching a super yacht, no one does it better than they do in Italy
Saturday morning saw crisp blue skies with just enough chill in the air to bring out the mink jackets and full length fur coats in Ancona, home to the CRN shipyard.There, in the morning sunshine with light reflecting off her off white hull, lay the stupendous looking, 80 metre, Chopi Chopi waiting and ready to be launched.
Nothing could dampen the spirits, not even the fact that the event was fashionably late in starting, nor that the thank you speeches saying thank you to everyone for letting them say thank you, in three different languages, went on for a lot longer than most would have liked.
But eventually the moment everyone had been waiting for, arrived, the Owner and his family mounted the dais and with a floury crashed the bottle of champagne into the super yachts bulbous bow.Moments later Nessun Dorma, the aria from the final act of Puccini’s Turandot Opera thundered from speakers all over the shipyard as the yacht began to move sedately down the slipway into the sea, and a containerfull of blue helium filled balloons flooded into the skies.
Chopi Chopi was afloat and after a few months of final fitting out will be handed over to her owners who will enjoy her before her next public appearance at the Monaco Show this September.