‘Yachts at the top’: power, privacy and privilege in the world of Australian superyachts

The local market for superyachts is 1% of the population, the industry estimates. It’s hard to ignore the symbolism of that figure, the 1%. People attend the recent Superyacht Soiree in Sydney. Photograph: Isabella Moore/The Guardian

Visible from the footpath at the water’s edge, the superyachts berthed at Melbourne City Marina bob gently up and down, their sleek and shiny exteriors reflecting the placid waters below.

For me, and most people on this planet, this is about as close as we are likely to get to a superyacht. In Australia, that’s a pleasurecraft longer than 24 metres. Internationally, the starting length is 30 metres. The City of Melbourne recently spent $1.97m upgrading Victoria Harbour, including its four superyacht berths, to fit vessels up to 67 metres long. But for the tiny portion of the world’s ultra wealthy for whom superyacht size is a matter of concern, 67 metres is fairly moderate. The longest privately owned superyacht in the world is the 180-metre Azzam, reportedly built for the former president of the United Arab Emirates, the late Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.