I saw this pass a little earlier, photo below, it’s pretty big as luxury yachts go.
Another day, another luxury yacht docks in the port of Funchal, looking for shelter, while the crew rests and refuels, before crossing the Atlantic. On land, it is managed by JFM Shipping.
The ‘Prediction’, built in 2005, in the Netherlands, is a 62 meter long ship that can reach a maximum speed of 16 nautical knots, with an autonomy that would not need to pass through Madeira were it not for the region recognized as a safe harbor. The megayacht can reach a distance of 5,800 nautical miles.
With capacity to accommodate 18 crew, the ‘Prediction’ can receive up to 11 passengers, one of them the owner and his family (wife and two children), North Americans and, of course, with a fortune of many millions.
Robert Lourie is 66 years old and has a fortune estimated at 500 million euros. In his professional career, he is a director at Renaissance Technologies, a company that was mentioned here just last week, as another mega-yacht, precisely the founder of this company, James Simons, was moored on the same pier.
The coincidences do not end here, Lourie and Simons are cousins and both yachts are registered in Bermuda, an island that these days is hardly recommended given the approach of hurricane ‘Larry’.
According to the Superyatch Fan website, “Robert and his wife Lisa are active philanthropists, donating millions to fund the Lourie Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center. to advances in diagnosis and treatment,” as well as funding the Lisa and Robert Lourie Imaging Suite, a combination of a PET scanner and MRI in the same unit – which allows two different and complementary imaging methods to be applied simultaneously – presenting an exceptional opportunity to expand the search”.
Lourie bought ‘Prediction’ second hand, as it had belonged to another millionaire. The name of the megayacht is, therefore, a “reference to his work, as he is the director of the company’s Futures Research”, dedicating himself to seeking to foresee where the technology industry will go and invest there.
Its construction cost US$50 million (€42.1 million) and the annual maintenance cost is US$5 million (€4.2 million).
Lead photo Sérgio Ferreira.