Bad stuff happens to everyone – even if that "someone" is one of the world's most secretive, high-tech, eco-friendly, and supposedly super-luxurious superyachts to be delivered in recent years. Or, better said, that superyacht's captain.
Superyacht Viva, delivered to American billionaire and UFC owner Frank Fertitta III in 2021, is the superyacht mentioned above. It's not the biggest private leisure craft in the world – landing at the 85th spot for size, it's not even close to the top 10 biggest. But it's among the most eco-friendly for its size category, and that's an even more admirable claim to fame.
The other day, Viva, dubbed by trade publications as one of the most tech-packed superyachts out there, became so uncoolly stuck against a bridge in Florida, U.S. Footage of the incident, which most likely resulted in cosmetic but still expensive damage to the hull, first popped up on social media, where it spread like wildfire.
As of this writing, there's no official explanation for what happened from Viva's management, but as you can see in the video below, there is even more footage from different angles. The consensus seems to be that Viva experienced some kind of mechanical failure or even a human error to end up pinned against the 17th Street Bridge in Fort Lauderdale.
Photo: Instagram/headhunterspearfish
In the first video to come out, a tugboat is already approaching to lend Viva a helping hand – or several. However, according to The Yacht Report, the superyacht was finally able to distance itself from the bridge under its own power, either with no kind or with minimal assistance from the tugboats.
The first video also mentions that Viva became stuck in the mud, which is unlikely. But it does seem that the tide was going out, which, paired with a supposed mechanical failure, would have pushed it against the bridge and left it there stranded for a short while.
Strangely, there's no video of the moment when Viva was able to pull itself free or, for that matter, of the kind of damage it sustained. We're talking about a superyacht valued at anything between $175 million and $250 million, depending on which source you read and choose to believe, so even the smallest scratch will cost a pretty penny to fix.
Photo: Feadship
Codenamed Project 817 while still under construction, Viva is 308-foot (94-meter) long and boasts an exterior design by Studio De Voogt and interiors by Peter Marino. It can accommodate as many as 14 guests and 18 crew, and is said to include the laundry list of luxury amenities. That last part is only hearsay, for the time being, since its interiors were never shown to the public.
Feadship built it on commission for Fertitta, but some reports online are saying he sold it another American billionaire, Ken Griffin. Fertitta wanted a highly efficient vessel with minimized environmental impact, so Viva has hybrid propulsion.
On its twin 3,916-hp MTU engines, it can reach top speeds of 20 knots (23 mph/37 kph), but it's also capable of cruising at an impressive 12 knots (14 mph/22.2 kph) on purely electric power. Obviously, neither propulsion method was of any help on this particular occasion.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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