Photo: Instagram/TheYachtFella (Composite)
Ice is a 90-metre (295-foot) superyacht described by Lurssen as a fully customised megayacht. Technically, her size does not qualify her as a megayacht, but some of her features and innovations, unheard of at the time, do. Ice, codenamed Rainbow and initially named Air, was the first superyacht to feature electric propulsion and low emissions, as well as a host of creature comforts that have since become standard on smaller vessels.
Over the weekend, while entering Yalikavak Marina near Bodrum, Turkey, Ice rammed a smaller yacht and did not stop, even after dragging it for a while and then turning it around. Video of the incident posted on social media quickly went viral, sparking speculation that it was a rare and obvious case of human supervision or some kind of malfunction.
Raw footage obtained from Superyachts by eSysman and available below shows both the exact moment of the collision and a possible explanation. It is a collection of footage from inside the A.Mey, the smaller yacht that was rammed, and video from one of the boats that rushed to care for its guests.
Photo: Lurssen
As previously reported, the 31.1-metre (105-foot) Numarine yacht, believed to belong to a Turkish professor, was packed with guests, including children. It was anchored outside the marina when Ice arrived, apparently unaware of everything else and unable or unwilling to stop.
As the video shows, there is a possibility that a jammed rudder could have caused the collision. A jammed rudder, which is the primary form of control over the trajectory of a vessel, regardless of its size, would also explain the apparent lack of attempt to avoid A.Mey. However, it would not explain why Ice did not stop.
Ice was delivered in 2005 to Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, who is said to be the owner of the superyacht Amadea that the US seized in the first wave of sanctions. That said, the original owner was supposed to be an Italian billionaire who changed his mind before delivery, so the superyacht was sold to the next interested party after further customization work.
According to some unconfirmed reports, Suleiman would have sold Ice in 2022 or 2023 and that the owner would be the vice president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue.
A.Mey was delivered in 2007 and is a production series unit. She is the first or among the first 102RHP series of Numarine, which was in production until 2015 and produced six units in total.
