$70M Sailing Giant: The Engineering of Mirabella V | SLICE EXPERTS

As some people think, I was a bit exaggerated, but you see, ever since I was a young boy, everything I ever sailed on was a sloop, one mast. And I've always just loved sloops, so everything I built, Mirabella, Mirabella 3, Mirabella 5, are all sloops. So to make it this big, the mast had to be very high. Sometimes the cook on the biggest and most luxurious sailing boat has to do with shopping in the local supermarket. David, the chef on the Mirabella, spends his life rushing around, whether it be inside or outside the kitchen. All right, lovely. I'll grab some fresh stuff. Okay, thank you. Bye-bye. It was Sarah, the chief stewardess, and she said Mr. Vittorio's gonna have lunch on board. So now I have to sort of think about buy some bits and pieces, because he's gonna have lunch in about three hours' time. This beautiful white boat has only been in the Bay of Naples for a few days, and its presence is already front-page news. Its mast is 90 meters high. It's as long as a football field, and the Neapolitans in the port cannot believe their eyes. With its 75-meter-long hull, Mirabella looks like a pot-bellied baby. And a very hungry baby, indeed. Believe it or not, it takes 30,000 liters of fuel oil to fill up its enormous tanks. It's therefore not a very fuel-efficient sailing boat, considering its breadth. We're putting about two-thirds of our fuel on so we can go and do a charter down in Sicily, and then make our way back up to France for shipyard. So this will be the last time we'll fuel up before the boat goes to shipyard. She'll go maybe one month before she needs fuel again now, with lots of running around, so plenty of fuel capacity. In the hold, in the kitchen, the countdown has started for David. Mr. V, as the crew calls him, is arriving in less than two hours. The captain of the boat, an Australian, is proud to own this piece of art worth $60 million. He usually sails cautiously, that means often with the engine. This little luxury factory has to get around somehow. You can ease that break up, mate. I'm trying to come back a bit. You can have very little wind down here, and then up the top there, still have a lot of breeze, and you're not feeling it here and you're not sensing it, but the wind instruments tell you there's a lot of wind up there. In a lot of small ports, Bonifacio and Corsica, as an example, it's cliffs on either side, so it can be calm down here, but up the top is blowing 20 knots of wind, and you can still move the boat around and push the boat around because it's got a grip on the mast up top. I have a lifting keel, so the other thing too is when I lift the keel up, I have a lot less grip on the water when I'm in a mode where I'm shallow enough to get into these little harbours. I don't have the keel all the way down, so it makes manoeuvring a little hard again to do that. So, just have to plan it ahead, sometimes send the boat in, check out the port, talk to the port, find out what is in there waiting for me, find out what I could get into trouble, and then plan it accordingly, and have a way to stop and get back out. Mirabella 5 is starting to reveal its secrets. Its hull can hold two double-decker buses, but its latest gadget is a small speedboat hidden in its belly. It's one o'clock, and Mr. Vittoria, the American owner, is heading for his dining room. It took us so many years to build it that every time I see it, and that it's come out exactly as we expected it would, it's been a joy to approach it and see it like this. Because for me, it's a very beautiful ship. To what form of being you could compare your ship? I don't know the name of the fast birds, but probably the birds that can fly very fast would be a jaguar on the ground, something sleek, something quick. Agile is a bit exaggerated because it's a big boat and it is difficult to maneuver, but it is just a joy to be on it, to sail it, because we sail at good speeds all the time. David. Hello. I understand you've been cooking several times. Yes. When he was a child, Joe Vittoria was already a wise sailor. Later on, he ran a famous car rental company, and then one day, he became a ship owner. Some fresh calamari, and there's a nice insulata verde, and fresh bread there, and some olive oil and balsamico. It's wonderful as usual. Lovely. Bon appetit. And as you may have noticed, when it comes to building sailing boats, Mr. V has always gone to the extremes. Thank you. Most of what I enjoy today is what we're going to do in a little while, or what I'm going to do tomorrow with all my friends, is we go out for a sail for maybe three hours, four hours, then we come back, have a cocktail, have some food. I enjoy going somewhere and parking. Many of my friends say to me, you have three boats, how many times have you gone across the Atlantic? Never. There's no interest to me, for two reasons. One is, I know that it's kind of like a break for the crew. They can play their music, they can do everything. You know, they're very careful, but they're on their own. Plus, they're motoring almost all the time. Mrs. Vittoria is still in sight, so we need to be a bit more patient before we can sail off towards the island of Capri. Better push back. The owner's wife wants to inspect the decoration in the interior of the boat before the Mirabella is rented out again. She is actually the one who runs this little floating company. Sarah, this door was imposed to me by the MCA. I absolutely detest this door. One of these days, I'm going to undo it and throw it in the water, because this is a beautiful piece that I find in London. It's a good piece, it's a lovely piece. I like to see it. So if it's possible, keep this door shut until I don't throw it away. That would be a perfect gift to me. If this has to be unique outside, also has to be unique inside. And I push them to make it a home, just like we have in Palm Beach, in Greenwich, in New York, whatever. Everything has to look like home. Was it a personal choice also to have a sailing boat? Because usually we say that ladies prefer engines and so on. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. For the graceful, for the glamor of the- See, I was born near here, and one of the house down there, that was my home. I lived all my life on the water. And my brothers and my father were all big sailors. And I lived all my life on a sailing boat. I hate motors. I hate the noise. I hate the smoke. I hate the young... Yeah, they are comfortable because they go fast and they arrive fast. But with this boat, we are as fast as any motor boat that is out there, but we don't have the noise. And we have this tranquil looking... The moment of magic is coming up. The Mirabella is about to unfurl its huge sails. They measure nearly 3,000 square meters. The rigging is totally automated. Only a few crew members are needed to set the huge winches. A slight breeze is blowing on the Bay of Naples and we are already doing 12 knots. It's a miracle, considering this beautiful white bird weighs over 300 tons. What is life if you don't take some risks? I mean, I don't try to climb Mount Everest or jump out of a plane or anything like that, but I like to try and create something. So I always set a goal. And, you know, frankly, in the late 80s, my goal was to build bigger sailboats. And that's what I've done. As I said to you earlier, I've gone big enough. I'm always thinking of something else. And in fact, I'm going to put this boat actively for sale. You know, I've done it, I've created it, I've sailed in it, I've enjoyed it. Now somebody else can enjoy it. And that way, that's the agreement with my wife. If we sell this one, then I can think seriously about something else. Calling all sailors. Gather your savings because the Mirabella 5 is for sale. For just over $70 million and a few cents.