TheYachtFella (@theyachtfella) recently shared footage of a vessel with his TikTok followers and received an unexpected response.
The 250-foot ship shown is the Boardwalk, owned by American billionaire Tilman Feritta. Feritta is the upcoming U.S. ambassador to Italy. The boat has a sports bar, which is fitting since Feritta owns the Houston Rockets basketball team.
@theyachtfella This is the $150M, 250-foot Feadship "Boardwalk" owned by the American billionaire Tilman Feritta. Fertitta modeled this boat after his 164-foot Westport, also named "Boardwalk." According to lore, he loved that boat so much that when he came to Feadship, he asked them to design the Westport, just bigger. This is akin to going to Patek Philippe and asking them to design a watch based off your favorite Tag Heuer. Eyebrows raised in Holland, but I've been aboard this boat and it turned out OK. A bit staid on the inside—as these things go—but very nice nonetheless. In particular there was a spectacular sports bar set up in the after end of the boat so Fertitta can watch the Houston Rockets play (he owns them). He probably also watches the UFC. His cousins Frank and Lorenzo co-founded the league in 2001 before cashing out a few years ago making billions in profit. The Fertittas hail from a long line of successful businessmen stemming from Galveston, Texas. This boat is named after the famous boardwalk in that city. A few generations ago the Fertittas were allegedly running a massive off-the-books gambling circuit in Texas, though that stuff is likely ancient history these days. Tilman himself was recently tabbed to be the U.S. ambassador to Italy. I am quite sure you will see this yacht off those waters sometime very soon.
♬ original sound - TheYachtFella
The Boardwalk is host to seven rooms, enough to accommodate 14 guests, according to YachtBuyer. It takes a 22-person crew to keep the ship running. It also hosts a swimming pool, jacuzzi, gym, wine cellar, and a helipad. Feritta recently put the Boardwalk up for sale for $192 million.
Besides being a tacky display of wealth, luxury travel carries a hefty environmental impact. The owners of Walmart release more from their yachts than their average employee could in 1,700 years, for example. Another study suggested it would take the average American 447 years to spew as much pollution as one yacht owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos does in a year.
That pollution traps heat in the atmosphere, exacerbating destructive weather patterns like floods, droughts, and storms. These disasters cause real property damage, accelerating housing crises and food shortages.
Luckily, some jurisdictions are seeing the damage caused by luxury travel and are working to implement limits on the world's billionaires. For example, the Italian city of Naples has banned large yachts from its ports. Along the same vein, France has banned short-haul domestic flights.
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TikTok commenters weren't impressed by the monstrous boat owned by Feritta.
"The whole concept is tacky," wrote one community member.
"Why do boats cost more than homes?" replied another.
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