A yacht fit for Hollywood

If ever proof were needed to support F. Scott Fitzgerald's assertion that the rich are different, here it is. In a dusty shed among a jumble of Victorian buildings on the banks of Southampton's River Itchen, some of England's finest craftsmen are creating the world's most expensive plaything.

It is a boat, but a boat unlike anything ever built or, indeed, ever conceived. Mirabella V, shown for the first time in its near-completed state, is the biggest yacht of its type. Its single mast, supporting enough sail to cover the dome of St Paul's, is nearly 300 feet tall and its tip is expected to disappear into low cloud - except Mirabella V is destined to ply waters where clouds are rarely found.

The yacht is being built at an estimated cost of £33 million by an exceptionally rich individual for other exceptionally rich individuals. They are to be offered what is billed as the ultimate holiday, as well it might be. A week on board will cost around £200,000. How, it might be thought, can anyone justify charging such an amount for what is, after all, only a sailing holiday?

Joe Vittoria, a former head of the Avis car empire and Mirabella's owner, makes a persuasive case. He calculates that there are 497 people in the world with fortunes of more than one billion dollars (£600 million). For them, he says, the cost is small change. "We only need 20 of these people a year to make the project pay," said Mr Vittoria, 67, a veteran sailor based in Florida, who plans to use the yacht himself when she is not on charter. The hull is 250ft long, constructed of space-age plastics and fibres to cocoon an interior designed to make billionaires feel at home. Twelve guests can be accommodated, in six suites panelled in fine wood and fabrics.

There is a sea view, a music and video library and, in the stern, a hangar full of sea-toys, including a 30ft launch for ferrying guests ashore (a seaplane will be used for longer trips), sailing dinghies, high-speed water bikes, windsurfing boards and diving gear. On the foredeck there is a whirlpool bath for 20 people and an exercise pool in which you can swim without going anywhere because the water moves.

In the lounge area aft, there is an open-air cinema, a bar and barbecue. The pampering is on a Babylonian scale, but Mr Vittoria says his clients will not spend the price of a London pied-â¡-terre merely to be spoiled.

The main attraction, he says, is a sensation that is thrilling beyond belief. "Anyone who has sailed knows that incomparable feeling of flying over the waves, borne on the wind with nature's elemental forces feeding back into your hands through the helm. Now imagine that sensation on a scale no one has experienced before. Mirabella V will power into the wind at 20 knots - faster than a cross-channel ferry - but in virtual silence. "There are people out there - wealthy people - who will be quite happy to pay to experience a thrill like that. They will enjoy sailing into the world's most exclusive anchorages where, whatever other yachts are there, Mirabella V will stand out."

Several celebrities are said to have expressed an interest - Tom Hanks has been mentioned - and although Mr Vittoria's people are impeccably discreet, they do not deny the Mirabella V will be very Hollywoodfriendly.

To provide the thrill of thundering into the wind at a rate of knots approaching the urban speed limit, it was necessary to re-think many existing concepts of yacht building - a task entrusted to Vosper Thornycroft, a south coast firm with experience building hi-tech warships. The vessel's launch, due this summer, may evoke a touch of sadness at the VT shipyard. It is expected to be the last boat launched in Britain on a traditional slipway greased with tallow. VT is moving to a modern facility at Portsmouth's naval dockyard and, like other shipbuilders, will no longer build on slipways.

So when Mirabella V slides into the water it will be the end of an era. Or, as Joe Vittoria and his team might say, the beginning of a new one.