A closer look at the 350-foot sailing yacht with annual maintenance costs like buying 10 Bugattis

Meet Black Pearl, a massive sailing yacht with three masts the size of a building.

The yacht is gigantic, striking and has outrageously high upkeep costs.

But it is at least very efficient.

READ MORE: Tech billionaire’s $75 million superyacht spotted in San Francisco Bay

Sailing yachts of this kind and size are relatively uncommon.

Part of the reason is probably the fact that – pound for pound – a sailing yacht tends to be more expensive than an equivalent ‘normal’ yacht.

And yes, a sailing yacht is more efficient, but the sort of billionaire who can afford to spend eight or nine figures on a boat probably doesn’t care much about saving money on fuel.

The world’s most famous sailing yacht is Koru, owned by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and built by Oceanco, the same shipyard that built Black Pearl.

And then there’s the world’s largest sailing yacht, simply called ‘A’, which is a 468-foot oceanic giant.

But, in a yacht beauty contest, we reckon Black Pearl would take the crown.

The interior of Black Pearl is more spacious than most equivalent yachts because the engine occupies a single room, which means the remaining available space could be used to prioritize comfort and luxury.

There’s a multi-level atrium with a glass lift, a spa pool with a hot tub, and a beach club cinema.

Measuring 106.7 meters (350 feet), the yacht has room for up to 12 guests and six crew.

In theory, Black Pearl could cross the ocean using nothing but wind power.

In practice, even with the engine in use, she is a lot more fuel efficient than traditional similar-sized yachts.

In 2023, she traveled from Montenegro to St. Barths using 32,000 liters of fuel, which is impressive when you consider most similar yachts would have consumed at least 200,000 liters of fuel.

This efficiency comes at a price, and it’s a hefty price.

Black Pearl cost around $200 million to build and has estimated annual upkeep costs in the region of $20 million.

That’s like buying 8-10 Bugattis every year.

She flies the flag of the Cayman Islands but ‘lives’ in Tivat, Montenegro, which is where these pictures and videos were taken, and where she’s currently moored according to the VesselFinder website.