Russian-owned Black Pearl in Mallorca

One of the largest and most ecological sailing yachts in the world

The Black Pearl off Palma. | G. Alomar

Humphrey Carter08/11/2024 12:32

The Russian-owned megayacht Black Pearl, one of the most spectacular in the world, is back in Palma. At 106 metres in length and 70 metre masts she is one of the largest private sailing yachts in the world. She was built in 2018 by the specialised shipyard Oceanco in the Netherlands for the Russian billionaire billionaire Oleg Burlakov, who died in 2021, and according to a cutting-edge project similar to its predecessor in this type of design, the Maltese Falcon. With room for 12 guests on board, it has a cinema, beach club, jacuzzis and a garage for dinghies.

The sails are hoisted by means of the advanced Dyna Rig which owes its origin to Wilhelm Prölss’ research in the 1960s. The DynaRig consists of freestanding rotating masts with rigid yards and acts as a square rig. Each of Black Pearl’s masts supports six yards, which, unlike a conventional square rigger, have built-in camber of 12%. The fifteen square sails are set between the yards in such a way that when deployed there are no gaps in the sail plan of each mast, enabling them to act as a single airfoil. The furling sails are stored in the mast and can be deployed along tracks on the yards in six minutes.

The sails are trimmed by rotating the masts. As there is no rigging, the masts and yards can be rotated without restriction for all points of sail, making Black Pearl a capable upwind clipper able to cross the Atlantic powered only by wind energy. In 2019 she won the Sailing Superyacht of the Year award. It stands out for its stylised lines, which combine modernity and classicism.

Burlakov was a self-made industrial tycoon with the nickname “The Cement King” who had business dealings across the chemical, aerospace, and energy industries. He was also a patriot and served in the Russian Air Force, then under the USSR moniker, through the 70’s and 80’s with a distinguished record. Upon leaving the military he invested heavily in the oil industry and eventually took control of one of Russia’s biggest national companies, Novoroscement.

He also later took the helm of oil exploration company Burneftgaz. When he sold Novoroscement in 2007 for $1.5 billion and Burneftegaz in 2014 for $1 billion, his fortune became massive. Oleg and his wife Lyudmila moved to Canada in 1995, and he was laid to rest in July 2021 in North York, a borough of Toronto.