I had to blink my eyes a couple times during my walk today. I was behind the San Diego Convention Center, where lots of visiting super yachts are docked, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
That huge ship in front of me looked like the largest sailboat on planet Earth!
As it turned out, my first impression wasn’t far from the truth!
A little searching on the internet proved that I had spotted the Mirabella V (today more commonly called M5), a sloop-rigged super yacht launched in 2003. Registered in the Isle of Man, it’s the largest single-masted yacht ever built. It’s 292 feet high! That’s almost the height of a 30-story skyscraper! It’s so tall, it won’t fit under any bridge accessible from the ocean. Not even the Golden Gate Bridge!
It’s hard to appreciate the mind-boggling immensity of this amazing vessel with these quick pics, but I thought they were worth sharing anyway.
You never know what extraordinary thing you’ll encounter during an ordinary stroll!
Here are a couple more pics I snapped on October 19…
Here’s another pic I took in March 2015…
Check out what I saw on April 12, as I was walking along!
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would love to see it in full sail!
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If I happen to see that, I’ll get some photos! I can’t imagine how much its sail weighs! All that canvas must weigh tons!
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What a sight that must be but I wonder why anyone needs such a huge ship. Maybe just for bragging rights.
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Bragging rights is probably close to the truth. Like the most expensive car or biggest house. At some point the size would just be ridiculous… It almost looks absurdly huge now!
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Reblogged this on itkindofgotawayfromyou.
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Hi Richard, thanks for the follow! I like the first picture for scale – my goodness, it’s BIG!
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There’s nothing right next to it that really puts its size in good context. But when you walk by, you really have to tip your head back!
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It’s in Cabo now. It came in a couple days ago. What a beautiful boat!
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Thanks for the update! I noticed it was gone a week or two ago. I wish I’d seen it under sail!
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I saw this the other day, way cool. Thanks for popping by my blog. I love my home city of San Diego and will follow you so I don’t miss what’s going on around here.
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Thanks! Have a great Sunday!
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How did it get under the Cornado bridge to get there?
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My mistake I looked at a map!
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No problem! I’m guessing a huge percentage of the harbors in the world are inaccessible to the M5. To think entry into the entire San Francisco Bay is blocked!
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Reblogged this on John's Navy and other Marine or Military News.
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Wow, some really nice pics there – I’ve never travelled to the States but San Diego looks amazing. Thanks for checking out Geek Blogger UK!
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Thanks, Chris. Have a great day across the pond!
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Lovely pics – Will be adding this to my ‘Things to do’ in San Diego 2016! Great post…Rav
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Thanks! Have fun next year!
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Reblogged this on charles rogers home page and commented:
My fantasy life has always included an Ocean-going sailboat and a Bush-hopping Seaplane (The Lindbergh’s?) Your San Diego photos have rekindled those fantasies. Thank you. Charles Rogers
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Thanks for the reblog! If I had the money, I might do the same!
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Only in California
Where the sun shines
And the earth is sinking
As always Sheldon
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Now that’s one big sailboat! Hard to imagine a yacht large enough for a seaplane to fit on board. Wow! Keep taking those great walks.
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It was so huge it blew my mind!
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Beautiful boat. Saw her in August in Fiji! She gets around.
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It would be fun to sail about on her!
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What a blast from the past!
I was lucky to be onboard of Mirabella C, the precursor of M5. That was in Thailand in 1992 where Pekka Koskenkylä and and Bruce Farr were building Mirabellas. Pekka himself was our host on the visit. I still remember the meticulous work of the Thai ship builders.
Yachting World wrote a story about M5 in 2003 and in that article was a note about the history: “But his first really large yacht was the 131ft (40m) Bruce Farr/Pekka Koskenkyla-designed Mirabella C launched in 1992 followed by the 134ft 6in (41m) Mirabella C III two years later. They were famously towed across a beach in Thailand by a team of elephants before being launched. Both were built in composites and both used project management and building expertise from the UK, including Paul Johnson’s knowledge.” See http://www.yachtingworld.com/mirabella-v/mirabella-v-vospers-super-sloop-39301.
Knowing how dizzying high the mast of Mirabella C was (41.4 m / 136 ft), seeing M5 in full glory (77.60 m / 255 ft) must be an exceptional experience!
Thanks for posting. 🙂
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Thanks for the great comment and info! I’ll check out the link! I like the anecdote about the elephants!
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Thanks! The M5 blew my mind when I first saw it! I got lucky to be at the right place!
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Thought I was following you, Richard, thanks for stopping by and reminding me that I was missing my virtual photo walks through my hometown. I live in Norcal now but am in SD 2-3 times a year visiting family in east county. Cheers!
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Happy Holidays to you up north!
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Currently docked in Cape Town. Massive yacht. Can not believe the size of it. Stunning
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Thanks for the update. It IS huge!
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