As if the Holy Grail and a saint’s arm weren’t enough for one trip, in Alicante we are treated to a visit from one of the world’s elite yachts. The super wealthy (i.e., the sultans who own their own country and computer geeks) compete for bragging rights of who has the biggest yacht on the high seas (usually the Mediterranean or Caribbean). One of the largest, the Al Said, is docked in Alicante.
The Al Said is the second longest super (mega, giga, luxury, etc.) yacht at 155m. Costing in excess of $500 million dollars, you can almost hear Tim “the Toolman” Taylor (ABC’s Home Improvement) grunt his approval. Owned by Sultan Qaboos (Sultan Qābūs ibn Saˤīd ibn Taymūr Āl Bū Saˤīdī, for short) of Oman, only the Sheikh of Dubai has a bigger toy at 160m in length.
However, a more accurate measure of a yacht’s size is its gross tonnage, or its volume. Historically, the taxation on a ship’s cargo was based on tuns (casks) of wine, and such a measure was later used in reference to the weight of a ship’s cargo. However, not to be confused with displacement (i.e., the actual weight of a vessel), gross “tonnage” specifically refers to the volume of a ship. Further, we can quickly get wrapped up in messy calculations such as gross register tonnage, net register tonnage, and Panama Canal/Universal Measurement System (or PC UMS net ton). Clearly, such calculations are difficult to manage after a few beers and, thus, make them ill-suited for the gentlemanly bar argument of who has the biggest yacht.
