Steve Jobs' Apple-powered yacht makes belated first trip A custom yacht designed by Steve Jobs, dubbed Venus, has set sail just a year after the Apple founder's death. Steve Jobs yacht Venus The good ship Venus, minus the intended captain Jobs, French designer Phillipe Starck, and Apple's Jon Ive all collaborated on the ship, which is based on a minimalist design that most fans …
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It was this paragraph that suggested it, Doug:
"The design suggests this isn't really an ocean-going craft, since those hull windows would be a liability in very rough seas and the doors and windows of the superstructure aren't slanted but run at a 90 degree angle from the deck. This make the ship trickier to steer in high winds and much less resistant to wave damage."
"Ever taken a minute to consider perhaps that is exactly what he intended for it? You design things for a purpose and clearly it's no ice breaker."
Why, yes. You're absolutely right. It wasn't designed to be sea-worthy because there are no compatible docks out there that will accept it. It's also probably missing GPS navigation, relying on WiFi location instead (making navigation more than 100 meters off-shore very difficult). I just hope they don't park it in San Francisco fog. If it gets inside, it may turn all the indicators red, voiding the warranty.
Also, I wonder if its on-board audio system is mono- and why they didn't use a clickwheel for steering. Other than that, as you say - fit for purpose.
Most Apple gear is actually well designed, and the looks reflect the decent engineering inside (except when they screwed up with the iPhone 4 antenna). So it had form that followed function.
This tub has no form, and cannot function. I personally think it's bone ugly, I have seen far better yachts for the money - and those are sea worthy. Epic fail..
All IMHO, of course, but I'd name it "fugly"..
What it might have looked like if Starck had had free reign:
http://www.1designperday.com/2009/08/08/3-creative-yachts-designs-by-starck-more/
I can only assume that Starck had responsibility for some of the interior fittings and decor, though not on the bridge judging from the photos. Maybe photos of his contribution haven't been released to smack him on the wrist for disclosing his involvement earlier in the year?
I have to agree, it looks like a houseboat and was clearly designed by people who have little concept of seaworthiness. Philippe Starck is a past master at form over function as anyone who has ever tried to use his orange squeezer will know.
Perhaps in a few years Hoseasons could get it at a knocked down price and do canal holidays with it?
I'm not sure you can judge all his work by one lemon squeezer.. Though Starck is towards the 'form' end of the spectrum - the commission that made his name was interior furnishings for the French presidential palace- the bags he design for Samsonite were excellent. I especially like the shoulder straps that were on seat-belt style spools, so wouldn't catch on door handles when the bag was carried by its handle.
I wasn't keen on those mice he designed for MS, though. His Lacie HDD enclosures are alright, if you like that soft of thing.
>Philippe Starck is a past master at form over function as anyone who has ever tried to use his orange squeezer will know.
I use Juicy Salif every day - it is perfect. It gets all the juice out of the orange, straight in to my glass with no mess whatsoever.
All my friends who see it say 'It looks nice, but it doesn't work'. I don't know how they all 'know' this, as I'm the only one who actually owns one. And yet when they then have a go it seems to work perfectly for them too....
Form over function, possibly. Style over substance, not so much. It would have to have style.
Even if I was a gazillionaire, this is not a boat that would remotely interest me. The only redeeming feature is the destroyer bow, a design I might incorporate into my (imaginary) mega-yacht as a nod to my RN forbears.
FWIW, Shenandoah is much more to my taste.
I really do wonder what he might have got if he had built his own private jet? I am starting to imagine that it could be accurately represented in ASCII Art.
_
| |
_______| |_______
| _______| |_______|
| |
^| |^
=====
"Aesthetics and technology were closed books to him and, had he had his way, burnt and buried books as well." - Douglas Adams
I take it that you mean fans of Mies van der Rohe, rather than Apple fans? It certainly has the look of his pre-war buildings.
BTW, a design that extends structures beyond their functional boundaries is not minimalist, but I'd still like to party on it on a suitably calm lake.
I wonder FEA and FEM were done to know whether or not a party of 80 dancers can do "The Wave" without impairing deck strength and intact stability. (Do not grumble.. I watched a Discovery Channel video of that new building with a top floor that looks like a surf board. The engineers of it actually ran simulations of many dance songs to find out frequency response of the structure to risky songs that might imperil the building.)
from link:
"One More Thing
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Due to the hugh amount of visitors our server is currently having some troubles to serve your requests. Please come back later."
Given the design issues for overly mild sea's and the general shape; It woud appear that Mr Jobs subconsiously designed his own coffin, albiet a year late. For a pointless product it does have a lot of points and sharp edges compared with fruity releases in the past.
Still, could kit it out as a mobile iStore and in some ports/area's it would actualy make sence per square foot. Coasting up and down the country, advertising and sales all in one. WIth that in mind the design becomes more palatable and shows genius.
I'm no naval engineer, but I'm confident the people who built it know better than some commentards whether it is 'fit for purpose'. Their previous clients include Roman Abromovich, Paul Allen, a Brunei prince, the Ford family and many more, some having made repeat orders over the decades.
I don't know how someone can think for a moment that by just looking at a photo they know better than the people who make these things for a living, and have made the calculations and performed the tests.
By all means comment on its appearance, but to knock other professionals about whose trade you know little is just discourteous and makes you look a bit daft.
Those professionals sometimes would like a good keelhauling for some of their customers. One female member of the Ford family is know for walking on her semi-finished yacht, pointing to the solid walnut veneer in the master cabin, and say "paint it all blue". Making the 3 expert carpenters, who had been working 2 weeks nonstop on those panels, leave the wharf whilst crying their eyes out..
> I'm no naval engineer
No, but I am.
I am a Naval Architect and I wouldn't trust this thing on the Grand Union.
The plumb bow, the apparent aft concentration of hull volume, the high sides (and most likely an all to cock metacentric height) all mean instability. That big flat transom is an issue too.
A shipbuilder will build whatever the customer asks for. If that's something fucking stupid they will ask the customer if they are sure, ask them to sign waivers, ask if they are really really sure and then build it anyway.
>I am a Naval Architect and I wouldn't trust this thing on the Grand Union.
Bullshit. Under the International Convention on the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), "The International Load Line Convention sets standards of construction, strength and subdivision and the criteria for minimum stability and freeboard. "
There are potential criminal consequences for the owner for non-compliance, not to mention detention of the yacht.
I'm surprised that as a naval architect you don't know that.
> Bullshit. Under the International Convention on the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), "The International Load Line Convention sets standards of construction, strength and subdivision and the criteria for minimum stability and freeboard. "
I'm surprised that as a naval architect you don't know that.
Quite right of course. But then I would also know that SOLAS doesn't apply to pleasure yachts, cargo ships of less than 500 tonnes or (iirc) ships that do not venture outside of territorial waters.
I freely admit that I am speculating about the underwater form, but judging from the visible shape and from Starck's previous designs I would make an educated guess that there is fuck all below the waterline and this thing is horribly unstable in both pitch and roll.
For those wanting to see some sexy megayachts, check out Yachts International and Boat International. I used to buy both at times. Unfortunately, some of the line drawings can be rather difficult to enjoy since details can be difficult to suss out. But, side detail tables sometimes make up for that.
I would have thought that a multi billionaire, however, would go all out. $25,000,000 - $80,000,000, or whatever he spent, could buy a lot more of resale value in the appearances department.
I wonder whether BI or YI can get releases or clearances to showcase this yacht in an issue, or whether it has already been.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_(yacht):
"However, [the yacht] Hyperion is famous primarily for her owner, silicon valley entrepreneur Jim Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics and Netscape, who built the yacht with the aim of replacing all conventional ship board electronics with an array of integrated, touch screen computers.
At the time of launch, all systems aboard the yacht including engines and sailing systems, environmental systems, lighting, HVAC and entertainment were controlled by a network of 30 customized Silicon Graphics computers and 22 LCD touch screens at various locations throughout the yacht."
I do appreciate that OSX isn't IRIX, but if one billionaire can get UNIX-like navigation software together, there is no reason why another shouldn't.
A mate of mine is a sailor(engineer/bridge) and his dad actually visited Imtech, and he observed that the computers where running XP with conventional software for ships. The hardware was a macintosh machine. The photograph is probably done for show.
Can't believe it took this long for someone to cite the lyrics to The Good Ship Venus, and then mess them up!
[Chorus:]
On them Good Ship Venus
By Christ you should have seen us
The Figurehead was a whore in bed,
Sucking a dead man's penis.
The cabin boy was Kipper,
A dirty little nipper,
We stuffed his arse with broken glass
To circumcise the skipper.
The ship's dog's name was Rover
They turned the poor mutt over
And ground and ground
That faithful Hound
From Teneriffe to Dover
The boatswain's name was Lester,
He was a hymen tester.
Thru hymens thick he stuck his prick
And left it there to fester.
Louden Wainwright III does a damned good version.
(No relation to Mr Haines, I'm sure)
Apologies to anyone trying to read the lyrics, the Reg forum broke the formatting - there is supposed to be a line break after every lines, though you'd do better to search online for the full lyrics or Louden Wainwright's recording- though there are many to choose from. The Sex Pistols recorded a variant, 'Friggin in the Riggin'.
>I can't believe someone didn't get the joke.
I couldn't get your words to work with the rhythm of the melody, or rhyme. They seemed to form less of a joke and just descended into a boring read-a-thousand-times-before anti-Apple rant.
Let me guess.... This costs 3 times a comparative and possibly superior specified boat and it will be replaced by a slightly longer version with exactly the same innards in 6 months time whereby the old boat jwill be deemed uncool, none of the new key designs for doors will work and you will not be able to refuel the new boat without a special adaptor priced at a reasonable 20% of the cost of the new boat.
Dow it have a little red dot that appears invalidating any warranty if it goes anywhere near water or humidity?
Sigh..
Rant over? Feel better now? That you're totally off re. the costs and longevity of Apple products may escape your blind hatred, but that's OK, as long as you're happy. Those who actually know how to calculate total cost of ownership over equipment lifetime quite happily buy Apple gear again - that it looks better is but a happy bonus.
That's a rather silly assumption to make. Speaking as an owner of an MBP and assorted other fruity goods is my view any more valid in your eyes? I think it looks f*cking ugly. No arguement of function over form can persuade me otherwise. Drawing from an Iain M. Banks book I think it should be renamed the "Idiot Aboard".
I know the late Steve lived in his own, self-proclaimed, reality distortion field, but couldn't somebody have penetrated got through it long enough to suggest a different name.
Atalanta would seem appropriate as she was distracted by golden apples.
PS What's that cable running from the open console panel in picture 2? And is that a bit of tape bandaging it halfway along? Surely not.
>So plural's now have apostrophy's in the Reg, or is it just apples stuff?
I don't know, but in your question 'apples' requires an apostrophe since it is possessive. What that cousin of Sod's Law that dictates any post about a grammatical error must itself contain such an error?
Oh, I see, you did it deliberately. Carry on...
http://www.superyachts.com/motor-yacht-3782/skat.htm
I read about it in 2003 when i visited a bookstore in a nautical town. Many have come and been resold and renamed, but that yact is among my favorites, maybe still nbr one. If i had only enough of a budget fot that type, it would be it. But, there are some cool megayachts out there, too.
So this is the Jesus Boat?
Doesn't it all sound a little familiar to L Ron Hubbard? Didn't he set sail on a med cruise armed with the most beautiful teenagers in the 60's only to start his own religion?
If I dint know the Divine Jobs was dead, wouldn't be surprised to hear about this boat in the future in relation to the Jobsian Cult.
I'm not a naval architect. But I do restore classic runabouts for fun and am a fan of mid sized yachts. This thing is hideous. There are no signs of any naval or maratime influences visible in the shots provided. the bridge looks like a prison cell. Can you imagine being at the helm and having to sit at those pole seats? I pity the captain and crew.
The deck looks like a 50s rambler. The bow ? What the hell is going on there? This thing is in such bad taste I can't even put it to words. It will end up in the scrap heap before too long. Or should be anyways...
Even an OND in Nautical Science is enough for me to be able to see what is wrong with this. The bows with their vertical sides will offer almost no resistance to any pitching motion, so in any sort of choppy weather the silly thing is going to pitch like crazy. The deck has no sheer, so the bows are going to dig in when that pitching starts, resulting in tons of water on deck. The decks have no camber, so the water will not flow off as quickly as you might wish. It will probably still be there when the next wave arrives. There's about 10,000 horsepower of engines, so any attempt to do the 60 knots it's supposedly capable of will most likely cause a very good impression of a submarine.
Still, if you like things that look like that and are a billionaire who thinks alternative medicine will save you...
...since you can't see what's going on below the waterline, I'd suggest your OND in Nautical Science ISN'T enough. And if you bother to look, it doesn't actually have completely vertical sides.
Yacht design is going through a bit of a revolution at the moment and the identikit gin palaces of the last 20 years are giving way to more radical designs thanks to big strides in hydrodynamic modelling. Boats don't have to look like a destroyers in order to work. Go to Boat International, take a look at their top 100 superyachts list and you'll see a lot of change in the last few years, including vertical-sides, Phillipe Starke design, upright glasshouses etc. and amazingly, none of them have sunk yet.
I think the millions of dollars spent on a ship that's not fit for ocean voyages is a befitting tribute to Jobs lack of designing ability. He may have been the face of Apple, but He was not the actual designer of its products.
Jobs best sales pitch was in selling himself as an expert.
I bet his wife is somewhat relieved. Imagine His critique of Her lovemaking...."You're doing it wrong!"
Sorry for that borderline tasteless joke, but I couldn't resist.
Best wishes,
Just had a look at that top 100 list well first 20 or so anyway and they all seem to have a more apparent look of seaworthiness than that thing.
I always think form often follows function in the design of ships by the look of that thing I don't find myself convinced.
However not being a naval architect I will accept I could be wrong, I'm interested in seeing what some of my sailing friends think though, they have been boat builders and I have a feeling they wont be overly impressed with it.
Alu for lightness, teak for... Oh, I remember as a lad, playing with little gliders made of super-light teak. Then there was that old British twin-engined fast teak bomber thingy? By 'eck, it glode (glided/glid) like a feather and no mistake. No rivets see, just elephant poo holding it together.
I hope that's teak from carefully-managed fast-growing Nordic Teak Forests where teak is grown for (scratchy) diaper fibre pulp and replaced with heroic little teak saplings. Yangon, that's near Oslo, right? ;)
Lots of Interesting coments. What is obvious is techies know little about Super Yachts. I speak as someone who works on vessels very similar to this one.
What makes this vessle non Ocean Going?
Most super yachts spend there summers in the Med and Winters in the Caribbean , to do that they have to get across the Atlantic. Feadship, the yard that bult her, would have built her with the capacity to make that voyage. Yachts are always pushing the boundries on Ship design, its amazing waht can be achived these days.
Also SOLAS, Yes pleasure yachts are exempt, but this one is over 500GT, so it isnt. Every yacht ive been on has been built to class and solas requirements. No one will insure your boat if you dont.
Why would it pitch and role? All yachts have stabalizers, and some even work at zero speed. We cant have owners spilling there G and Ts
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