9 Fascinating Facts About the ‘Maltese Falcon,’ One of the World’s Most Iconic Sailing Yachts
At the time of its 2006 delivery, the 289-foot Maltese Falcon held the title of the world’s largest sailing yacht—nearly stretching the length of a football field, with a 42-foot beam. The Falcon’s first-place status has been eclipsed by more recent launches, including the 348-foot Black Pearl and Jeff Bezos’s 417-foot Koru. But the Maltese Falcon remains one of the most iconic boats on the water as well as one of the largest sailing yachts for charter via Burgess.
Commissioned by the late Tom Perkins—a pioneer of Silicon Valley’s venture capital industry who was briefly married to romance novelist Danielle Steel (his own novel, Sex and the Single Zillionaire, is still available on Amazon)—and built by Perini Navi, Maltese Falcon has won 18 design awards since its launch. Naval architecture was by Gerard Dijkstra, with the original design by Ken Freivokh.
The three-mast sailing yacht last year completed an interior, exterior, and engineering refit at Lusben shipyard. The series of aesthetic and functional improvements include the hull being repainted in Perini Blue and a new extendable passerelle that takes guests down to the water. The teak deck was also replaced, and interiors refurbished with lighter woods, cream panels, and new tapestries.
Here are nine cool facts you didn’t know about the Maltese Falcon.
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