Shergar yacht, 1983.
I'd like to share what this boat meant for me and my family. Shergar was a fully custom, ultra fast yacht commissioned by H.H. Karim the Aga Khan IV. Back in the 70ies, H.H. built a marina resort where we lived, and hired my father as COO of the marina, while my mother was H.H. personal secretary. I grew up among boats basically, often spending days at sea with various kids whose parents were back then celebrities or ultra wealthy tycoons, it was an amazing time of my life. The Shergar was a sort of weird experiment, if I remember correctly was fitted with 3 jet aircraft type engines, and for that reason it broke down very often, but when it worked, it was a beast. It was a 45 knots boat, back then the fastest private yach on earth, H.H. was obssessed with speed. The large door you see at portside had to be opened as soon as the boat docked, because engines and engine bay needed to cool down fast. I remember the blast of hot air that basically flooded the pier. H.H. owned another yacht called Kalamoun that looked a bit different and was smaller than Shergar, so at some point after Shergar was delivered, he had the Kalamoun retrofitted in the same Shergar's style, and after that it looked like a mini Shergar, minust the jet engine. Shergar was designed by Gerard Gilgenast, a prominent boat designer of the time, that would often come to our home for dinner . I was a kid, so I have some vague memories of him. He more or less looked like Santa, and my parents told me he had a thing for quality booze and laughing the night away with friends. Shergar was named after H.H.'s favorite racing horse, who was kidnapped and killed years earlier, very few people knew the sad story behind the boat. H.H the Aga Khan was an amazing person who gave a decisive push to the tourism industry in the area. He passed away last year and all of us old time locals mourned him deeply.