Nothing you know about yachts quite prepares you for the ?Maltese Falcon?. Driving in from the airport on Sardinia, you drive over the crest of a hill, and there, sitting in the bay outside of Porto Rotondo, is a majestic 3 mast yacht that sits at anchor. It catches your eye and the more you look, the more you cannot believe the serenity and balanced design of this sailing vessel.
The yacht almost appears as an illusion, a science fiction, something that must be an apparition. Perhaps more a creation you would expect in a James Bond movie, with Ernst Blofeld on deck (holding the white cat ? of course) and seeking world domination, the yacht is actually the property of Thomas Perkins. Mr Perkins, a well known yachting and boat enthusiast, Silicon Valley innovator, and philanthropist is about as far removed from a villain as you can get. The Maltese Falcon is the result of Thomas Perkins collaboration with Fabio Perini (owner and founder of the Perini Navi boatyards) in a near obsessive pursuit to create the ultimate sailing vessel.
Under sail, the Maltese Falcon is a majestic sight. The sails unfurl on the masts by an automated winch and pulley system. The most advanced of its kind ever created. The masts rotate so that the yacht can continue to ?catch the wind?. Despite its size, the yacht is swift because of the hull design and the surface area of the sails.
The sheer scale of the yacht is breath-taking. A picture of the bow of the yacht (location of the telecommunications tower) illustrates how large the Maltese Falcon actually is:
But the most fascinating aspect of the yacht is the attention to detail. Every element, from the smallest part up to the completed whole has been thought through, manufactured to an exacting standard, finished (polishing where necessary), and fitted. To bring such attention to detail on an 89 metre yacht is testimony to the dedication, engineering prowess, and passion of the boat designers and builders at the Perini Navi boat yard. So much of the yacht uses experimental technology that had never been tried before the Maltese Falcon was built.
Richard Mille relaxed and ?all smiles? on the fore deck of the Maltese Falcon: