Luxury superyacht drops anchor
The Aviva
If you’ve looked out across Plymouth Sound this summer, you may have noticed an absolute giant of a vessel sitting at anchor.
Among the military vessels, the yachts and ferries, that striking metallic-hued beauty is the Aviva, a 98.4-metre (322 ft) luxury superyacht that arrived in Plymouth!
To give you an idea of her massive scale, she’s roughly the length of a professional football pitch.
A few facts
Here’s what we know about our visitor:
Hidden deep inside her sleek decks is the world's very first full-sized, indoor padel tennis court ever installed on a superyacht.
The crew and guests can play full matches entirely enclosed from the elements while out at sea!
Eco-Friendly Power: She looks futuristic because she is. Aviva uses an innovative hybrid propulsion system.
This clever engineering allows her to cruise smoothly and completely silently on electric battery power up to 11 knots without even turning on her main diesel engines.
Built by the renowned German shipyard Abeking & Rasmussen and delivered in 2017, she is valued at a staggering $250 million (just shy of £185 million) and belongs to British billionaire businessman Joe Lewis.
The man behind the ship
Joe Lewis has an incredible rags-to-riches background.
Born above a London pub, he left school at 15 to work as a waiter in his father's catering business before building a massive themed restaurant chain.
He later became a legendary currency trader, famously making over $1 billion in a single day by betting against the British pound on 'Black Wednesday' in 1992!
Today, his sprawling empire includes a major stake in Tottenham Hotspur football club and a world-renowned personal art collection.
The Aviva certainly added some extra glamour to Britain's Ocean City!
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