PHOCEA yacht

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aukepalmhof
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

PHOCEA yacht

Post by aukepalmhof » Fri Jul 28, 2017 9:31 pm

This stamp issued by Djibouti shows us two mystery vessel one the famous FLYING DUTCHMAN which is on more stamps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Dutchman and a yacht the Le PHOCEA which is still sailing (2017)
Built as a four masted steel hulled yacht by DCAN at Toulon for Alain Colas in 1976.
She was designed by Michel Biogin.
Launched as the CLUB MÉDITERRANÉE.
Tonnage 530 grt ton. Dim. 75.0 x 9.58 x 6.24m. (draught).
Sail area 1648 square meter.
Auxiliary engine: Pielstick diesel, 600 kW.

The PHOCEA was the World's largest sailing yacht before the 2004 launching of ATHENA by Royal Huisman. She was built at the Toulon Naval Dockyard in 1976 for renowned single-handed yachtsman Alain Colas, who named her CLUB MÉDITERRANÉE. Shortly after competing in the Observer Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race she was converted into a charter yacht.and renamed LA VIE CLARE with a new Jorg Biederbeck interior design and a new Tim Heywood exterior design.

1982 She was bought by Bernard Tapi a French business man, and she was converted to a private yacht in Marseille, he renamed her PHOCEA in honour of the Phoenicians who founded Marseille.

Refit
In July 1997, PHOCEA was purchased by Mouna Ayoub and modernized at Lürssen. Whilst retaining her unmistakable identity, she has received major interior and exterior enhancements by British naval architect Butch Dalrymple-Smith. The interiors feature wood panelling and furniture designed by David Linley. The Owner's Suite is situated on the main deck whilst the VIP guest cabin and four other double cabins, all with full ensuite facilities, are located on the lower deck. She won the 1999 ShowBoats award for best refit.
Ayoub's ex-husband Nasser Al-Rashid partly paid for the $17 million refit of the PHOCEA with the sale of "The Mouna", a 112 carat (22.4 g) record-breaking diamond.[4]

Crash
PHOCEA crashed into rocks off Sardinia in August 2005 while the Prince and Princess Michael of Kent were aboard. Three people were seriously injured. The yacht was damaged below the waterline.
As cruise yacht she has accommodation for 12 passengers and 15 crew.

SOUTH SEAS MYSTERY: Super yacht Phocea.
A tale involving a seized super yacht in Vanuatu and a mystery after-hours jet landing in Papua New Guinea is turning into an international intrigue with few clues offered to what is really going on.

Suspected of illegal activities, the 75-metre long four-masted yacht Phocea has been under arrest in Port Vila harbour since it arrived from Italy, via Panama and Tonga, on July 2012.

A Thai with a Vanuatu diplomatic passport, Vu Anh Quan Saken, reputedly owns it, but the Vanuatu Government cannot establish if it is registered anywhere.

So it sits, stateless, in Vila harbour at the height of the cyclone season.

Phocea caused political uproar in both Tonga and Vanuatu after cabinet ministers went aboard it before it had even cleared customs.

Five women from the Philippines and Serbia were flown from New Zealand to Tonga to join it and there have been unconfirmed reports of diamonds, sacks of cash and illicit drugs.

The latest twist is unfolding in Papua New Guinea where, late on Thursday night, a Boeing Business Jet – a modified 737 – landed at Jackson Airport after its offices were closed.

Quan Saken, a principal in a company known as Amazonia Of The Pacific which is attempting to market agricultural produce internationally, was aboard with another Asian, also with a Vanuatu diplomatic passport, Saken Henry. The relationship of the two men is unknown but Vanuatu police have been trying to talk to them in connection with the mysterious Phocea arrival in July.

Also at the airport was Vanuatu's Foreign Minister Alfred Carlot on an unannounced "private mission".

The PNG National paper today quoted PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill saying investigations were continuing into the unexpected landing.

"Its crew and certain individuals on board were being questioned by relevant government agencies as part of the investigation," O'Neill said.

The jet has been allowed to leave with its passengers, but its destination is unknown.

The newspaper said the jet, an International JetClub Ltd jet registered N111, had flown in from the Maldives.

Meanwhile, the going no where Phocea continues to attract tourist attention in Port Vila.

The Vanuatu Daily Post says the government there would like it to leave, but its paperwork is out of order and no one can establish where it is registered.

The newspaper says local authorities have discovered that Phocea had been registered in Luxembourg, France, Vanuatu and Malta when legally a ship must be registered in one country alone.

Phocea was built in Toulon in 1976 for yachtsman Alain Colas who called her Club Mediterranee. She competed in a Trans-Atlantic race for Colas, came second. Colas disappeared at sea the following year.

In 1982 French business man Bernard Tapie bought Phocea and had her converted to a private yacht at great expense. Tapie christened her Phocea, in honour of the Phoenicians who founded Marseilles where she was refitted.

Tapie later went to jail over corruption offences and in 1997 French Lebanese socialite Mouna Ayoub purchased the yacht – after she sold one of her diamonds, the largest yellow diamond in the world, and several other lesser jewels to pay for the $17 million refit

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-paci ... ss-Pacific

She has now an MTU auxiliary engine of 1,056 hp., speed under engine around 12 knots, under sail 12-18 knots.
2017 In service, IMO No 8942797, where she is registered I believe the Cayman Islands.

2017 In use as a charter yacht, under the name ENIGMA, See: https://www.yachtcharterfleet.com/luxur ... enigma.htm not a owner given.

Djibouti 2016 280 FD sg?, scott?
France 1994 3.70Fr. sg?, scott?
Source: Wikipedia and various internet sites,
Attachments
Phocea.jpg
2016 le phocca.jpg
1994 alain colas.jpg
Last edited by aukepalmhof on Sun Feb 21, 2021 8:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

aukepalmhof
Posts: 7771
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

Re: PHOCEA yacht

Post by aukepalmhof » Sun Feb 21, 2021 7:12 pm

The yacht ENIGMA ex PHOCEA was on fire on 18 February 2021, the following I downloaded from “Superyacht Times”

The 75.13-meter sailing yacht known as ENIGMA and PHOCEA caught fire this morning off an island near Langkawi, Malaysia. While at anchor less than one nautical mile northeast of Pulau Singa Kecil (Lion Island), the 530 GT yacht was tended to by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), who rescued seven crewmembers who are reported to be safe and uninjured. Once the fire was detected by a local patrol vessel, rescuers from the Malaysian Maritime 6 FLASH boat began fighting the flames and have been continuing to do so despite strong wind conditions. Kedah and Perlis MMEA director, Maritime First Admiral Mohd Zawawi Abdullah, said in a statement that the weather was "making the operation difficult." "No oil spill was reported and we will continue monitoring the situation," he added. The team has been tending to the fire since 08.18 local time. In a statement issued by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency states: "The Malaysian Maritime 6 FLASH Boat has been mobilized to the scene to provide proper assistance and also distribute information of the incident to the Navy at Royal Malaysia (TLDM), the Marine Police Force (PPM) Department of Fire Department and Rescue of Malaysia (JBPM), the Malaysian Sea Department and The Department of Environment for assistance. Assets from other agencies, KD Mahamiru and RHIB Boats from TLDM, PA 4 Boats from PPM, and MV SUHAIL from the Malaysian Sea Department together with the Malaysian Fire Department are also on hand to extinguish the fire."ENIGMA was built as a single-handed race yacht in 1976 to the design of Tim Heywood and interior designer Beiderbeck s. After crossing the Atlantic in 1976, she was converted to a cruise ship by her original builders, the French shipyard DCAN. In 1999/2000 her owner, a well-known individual after whom the 104.85-meter LADY MOURA was named, ordered a major interior and exterior refit at the Lürssen shipyard in Germany. The yacht was again sold in 2010 to her current owners. ENIGMA accommodates 12 guests in a master suite, one VIP, two double and two twin cabins, and sleeps up to 23 crew members.

Source: superyacht times
Attachments
phocea on fire.jpg

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