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'Super yacht' with Vancouver connection involved in fatal collision at sea

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A luxury superyacht rebuilt several years ago in North Vancouver for the billionaire owner of Washington Marine Group has been involved in a fatal collision at sea near to San Diego.

The collision happened off the west coast on the evening of Oct. 26, about 14 kilometres from San Diego near the United States-Mexico border.

The U.S. Coast Guard received a call from the Attessa IV about 7:45 p.m. advising the 332-foot yacht had collided with a 65-foot sports fishing charter boat, Prowler, and that “Prowler sustained some pretty significant damage to its rear starboard quarter,” said Joel Guzman, public affairs spokesman for the San Diego Coast Guard station.

The Coast Guard launched a Jayhawk helicopter, 45-foot medium response boat and the Coast Guard cutter Sea Otter to the crash site and arrived on scene about 8:45 p.m. where 17 people from the sports fishing charter boat were taken on to the coast guard vessel. Three people were injured, including one man who had critical head injuries, said Guzman.

He was airlifted by helicopter to shore and taken to hospital.

The San Diego medical examiner’s office confirmed 66-year-old Richard Neff of San Clemente later died of those injuries.

Guzman said an investigation is now underway to determine why the ships collided, which includes speaking to everyone on board both vessels at the time of the crash. The investigation could take several months, said Guzman.

There is no word on who was among the 28 people on board the yacht at the time of the collision.

Records of ships’ movements show the Attessa IV left North Vancouver July 8 and travelled down the west coast arriving in San Diego Oct. 15.

The yacht left San Diego following the crash and is now in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Attessa IV, which is registered in the Cayman Islands, is one of the largest privately owned yachts in the world. It was bought in 2007 by Dennis Washington, a U.S. billionaire whose network of companies includes Washington Marine Group and Seaspan Shipyards in North Vancouver, where Kyle Washington, Dennis Washington’s son, is executive chairman.

The mega yacht was extensively rebuilt in a three-year project by Washington Yachting Group in North Vancouver, in the same shed where the three ill-fated Pacificat fast ferries were put together by shipyard workers in the 1990s.

The luxury yacht, which has been featured in a number of yachting and lifestyle magazine articles, features its own on-board helicopter and landing pad, spa, gym and pool, and opulent guest quarters including sculptures by Henry Moore and a hanging glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly.

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Shoe shiner turned billionaire Dennis Washington’s $200 million superyacht Attessa IV is a 300 feet long art deco-styled marvel with Gucci chairs, a one-of-a-kind chandelier, a spectacular spa, and a helipad.

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'Super yacht' Attessa IV involved in fatal collision at sea

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This story has been amended since first posting.

A luxury superyacht rebuilt several years ago in North Vancouver for the billionaire owner of Washington Marine Group has been involved in a fatal collision at sea near to San Diego.

The collision happened off the west coast on the evening of Oct. 26, about 14 kilometres from San Diego near the United States-Mexico border.

The U.S. Coast Guard received a call from the Attessa IV about 7:45 p.m. advising the 332-foot yacht had collided with a 65-foot sports fishing charter boat, Prowler, and that “Prowler sustained some pretty significant damage to its rear starboard quarter,” said Joel Guzman, public affairs spokesman for the San Diego Coast Guard station.

The Coast Guard launched a Jayhawk helicopter, 45-foot medium response boat and the Coast Guard cutter Sea Otter to the crash site and arrived on scene about 8:45 p.m. where 17 people from the sports fishing charter boat were taken on to the coast guard vessel. Three people were injured, including one man who had critical head injuries, said Guzman.

He was airlifted by helicopter to shore and taken to hospital.

The San Diego medical examiner’s office confirmed 66-year-old Richard Neff of San Clemente later died of those injuries.

Guzman said an investigation is now underway to determine why the ships collided, which includes speaking to everyone on board both vessels at the time of the crash. The investigation could take several months, said Guzman.

There is no word on who was among the 28 people on board the yacht at the time of the collision.

Records of ships’ movements show the Attessa IV in North Vancouver July 8. It later travelled down the west coast arriving in San Diego Oct. 15.

The yacht left San Diego following the crash and is now in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Attessa IV, which is registered in the Cayman Islands, is one of the largest privately owned yachts in the world. It was bought in 2007 by Dennis Washington, a U.S. billionaire whose network of companies includes Washington Marine Group and Seaspan Shipyards in North Vancouver, where Kyle Washington, Dennis Washington’s son, is executive chairman.

The mega yacht was extensively rebuilt in a three-year project by Washington Yachting Group in North Vancouver, in the same shed where the three ill-fated Pacificat fast ferries were put together by shipyard workers in the 1990s.

The luxury yacht, which has been featured in a number of yachting and lifestyle magazine articles, features its own on-board helicopter and landing pad, spa, gym and pool, and opulent guest quarters including sculptures by Henry Moore and a hanging glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly.

Editor's note: This story has been amended to reflect that the Attessa IV was in North Vancouver July 8, but did not leave North Vancouver on that date.

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By SuperyachtNews 26 Jul 2010

More than just a refit, Attessa IV represents possibly the most comprehensive yacht reconfiguration ever undertaken anywhere in the world. SYD takes a look at what this 110-metre superyacht will have to offer...…

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Superyacht “Attessa IV” For Sale

• By Yachting Staff
• January 1, 2024

Merle Wood & Associates has listed the 332-foot Attessa IV for sale at an asking price of more than $164 million. It’s a yacht with a storied history as one of the most significant rebuilds ever undertaken in the global yachting community.

Until 2007, this same yacht was known as the 298-foot Evergreen , built by a commercial shipyard in Japan. American billionaire Dennis Washington—whom Forbes described as having had an early love of machinery, and who turned a $30,000 loan into companies focused on shipbuilding, railroads, demolition, mining and more—took notice when the owner wanted to sell.

But the idea wasn’t to use the yacht in anything remotely resembling its original form. Washington wanted a total rebuild from the tender garage to the foredeck, gutting everything from the main deck up, and totally reconfiguring the vessel for use as a private yacht more in keeping with what’s expected in regions such as the Mediterranean and Caribbean.

The rebuild, undertaken in Vancouver, Canada, was completed in 2010. Accommodations on Attessa IV are now for as many as 18 guests in nine staterooms. The master includes his and hers dressing rooms, a private office, a private salon, private outdoor dining and a private deck for arriving and departing by helicopter. That helipad is in addition to a second, touch-and-go helipad that is located on the yacht’s bow.

Onboard amenities include a spa with a beauty salon, massage, a steam room and a gym. The beach club abaft the gym has a hot tub and seating area, while up top on the sundeck, there’s a pool with a shallow section for children. The main deck includes a cinema, and there’s an elevator for guests to access the lower deck through the sky lounge.

The yacht also has quarters for 28 crew. And, just in case extra security is a concern, Attessa IV is built to be bulletproof. The yacht has a Kevlar-lined steel hull and superstructure, along with windows built of bulletproof glass.

Attessa IV is built to be a world cruiser, with a reported range of more than 7,000 nautical miles. Top speed is listed as 25 knots, and draft is a hair over 15 feet. The diesel power plants are by Wartsila.

Where is Attessa IV located for showings? The yacht is currently in the area of Cabo, Mexico.

Take the next step: contact sales broker Merle Wood at merlewood.com

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From the archives: Inside Attessa IV's 2010 rebuild

In this 2012 deep dive, Marilyn Mower takes a look at the enormous rebuild of the 101.2-metre Attessa IV , which is now on the market asking  €149,500,000... 

People who don’t know Dennis Washington wonder why he rebuilds yachts instead of building new custom ones. For Washington, who made his mark in heavy industry, a good hull is his version of a clean sheet of paper; on it he builds his dream along the principles of what he perceives as the best of Dutch boat building. Redoing yachts is his passion, pleasure and relaxation.

His projects combine the talents of Seattle-based designer Glade Johnson , Washington’s wife Phyllis, and his captain Ted McCumber, who joined the band as captain of the first Attessa .

Yacht broker Merle Wood set this particular rebuild of  Attessa IV in motion in the spring of 2007, by telling him that Chang Yung-fa, chairman of the Taiwanese Evergreen Group was ready to sell his 91-metre yacht Evergreen . Chang had the yacht designed by Diana and built at a commercial yard in Japan. It was a conservative yacht for a different type of cruising and culture, but Wood saw it had something in common with all the previous Attessas – good bones and a challenge. A month later Evergreen steamed into Vancouver via Hawaii.

Vancouver Shipyards has a corner devoted to Washington Yachting Group. It was here that a 30 x 90 metre floating shipyard was constructed on a barge, while engineering drawings were being made for Evergreen ’s revival. Diana was retained to survey the hull and condition of the systems against the original documentation, while Gregory K. Marshall was hired as the naval architect for the new decks and superstructure.

Washington’s concept for  Attessa IV  was ambitious: new bow, new stern, new foredeck tender garage , new spa, new superstructure shape, all new helipad, and totally new interior layout, including crew areas. The yacht originally had a large karaoke bar, 15 owner and guest cabins and room for 21 crew in rather packed conditions.

The main deck and above were gutted to the shell, the mains and generators overhauled, virtually every bolt and wire was replaced, engines re-bedded, fuel tanks moved, flume tanks removed and the space stripped, soundproofed and painted. That and reconfiguring the crew areas, extending and widening the bow section, adding the folding mast, a forward tender garage with gull-wing doors, bulwarks that slide down and aft simultaneously to allow the large tenders — an 11.5-metre Novurania Chase and a 10-metre Riva — to be launched over the side, and the huge aluminium stern door that disappears completely from view down and under the aft deck sole.

Washington, as noted, liked the yacht’s size and overall structure, but thought it looked entirely too commercial, like a cruise ship. The puzzle he worked on was how to keep such a large vessel intimate, both inside and out. To control the vastness of the space, he envisioned  Attessa IV  having a waist at the area of the central ventilation and exhaust trunks amidships, and flares to widen the side decks fore and aft.

Indeed, the space is a vast canvas with 2,322.5 square metres of interior, including 1,672.25 square metres in owner and guest areas. From day one,  Attessa IV  was going to have a grand entrance area and stunning central circulation. The stairs, spiralling through five decks, are split into pairs of semi-circles divided by a fore and aft passageway, making a landing and foyer at each deck.

The show-stopper on  Attessa IV , however, is on the deck above main, called the guest deck, where this lobby becomes an athwartships passage, as well as offering access to the walk-around side decks and side terraces. If the view itself, through the floor-to-ceiling windows and doors port and starboard, isn’t arresting enough, this lobby features three Botero sculptures.

Attessa IV' s side terraces incorporate what Washington calls ‘flare-outs’, a series of graceful curves on each deck to eliminate the slab-sidedness of the original profile and remedy the straight deck sightlines.

There are four large, elegantly decorated guest suites on the guest deck and with the dining room/library forward and a saloon aft, followed by an alfresco dining space and sun pads, it is a deck with enough varied spaces and activities for an entire day. The forward dining saloon is worthy of particular note, as it is one of the cosiest spots aboard.

The master suite aboard  Attessa IV  is one deck above. Here the stair column on port is the backdrop for Washington’s desk, which is adjacent to large windows. There are entrances port and starboard to the master stateroom, which is an homage to the glamour of Hollywood in the 1930s.

The fireplace is an ultra romantic 19th-century English piece with statuary marble. A large bath and dressing area separates the stateroom from its sitting room, which features sapele joinery, leather chairs and another fireplace, this one a 19th-century French, Louis XV-style in verde marble. The colour scheme of the sitting room is primarily green as a bridge to their private aft deck lounge was done in navy blue and green tones.

Originally, the deck above was going to be a sundeck, then the Washingtons’ son bought a Chihuly chandelier at a charity fundraiser. It is a famous piece, more than 2.2 metres tall, and was part of a Chihuly exhibition in Venice in 1996. Searching for a way to incorporate the piece in  Attessa IV , Washington and Johnson hit upon the idea of enclosing the sundeck with a composite superstructure and bumping up the centre with a dome five metres above floor level. The space and the piece seem made for each other and in fact this multi-function room, called the Chihuly Lounge, is one of Washington’s favourite spaces in the yacht.

Another favourite is the spa on the lower deck of  Attessa IV , where numerous treatment rooms and a sauna lead to a gym and out onto the swim platform. Just forward of the spa are two more guest suites with king-size beds, and a pair of twin cabins Phyllis decorated for her grandchildren. And then there is the main deck cinema with its 3D capability and lighthearted adjacent lounge and bar.

Attessa IV is now for sale with Merle Wood.  

Originally published in the January 2012 edition of BOAT International. Subscribe now and never miss an issue. 

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Attessa (ex Aviva, Lady Aviva) was custom built in 1998 by Feadship. After a fire left the yacht with significant damage, Attessa underwent a major refit project in 2005 to be reborn as a completely different vessel. Highly acclaimed for the outstanding work behind her transformation, Attessa is a 68.58 metre superyacht with distinctive style set upon a deep blue steel hull and white, striking aluminium superstructure.

Her beam of 11 metres provides ample space within, while her Glade Johnson Interior provides a rich, sophisticated surrounding with space for 10 guests. Capable of reaching a top speed of 16 knots, with a range of 5500 nautical miles, Attessa and her dedicated crew of 15 is built to create both a smooth cruising experience, and a luxurious one. 

Her helicopter landing pad ensures a stylish entrance, while her superyacht toys provide high-octane entertainment and the striking profile has the ability to turn heads wherever she may be in the world.  With pool deck, spa, open double-height atrium hallway, lateral wings that extend over the water to provide more space inside as well as a rich history following a three year refit project, this is a superyacht which represents the hard work and dedication of a passionate owner.

• Yacht Builder Feadship View profile
• Naval Architect De Voogt Naval Architects No profile available
• Interior Designer Glade Johnson Design No profile available

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Billionaire launches yacht; taxpayers support shipbuilding bid

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By all accounts, the World Superyacht Awards were presented at the kind of formal gala one might expect would be held to celebrate the best that money, lots and lots of money, can buy. Superyacht owners belong to an informal club to which mere millionaires need not apply.

The event, held in London in May, didn’t get much attention here, which, as it turns out, was an oversight. Among the winners was a Canadian footballfield-sized entry built here, a yacht that showcased a capacity for producing floating opulence on a grand scale that I suspect few in Vancouver realize we can muster in our local shipyards.

The winner in the category of Best Rebuilt Yacht was the Attessa IV, a 100-metre long floating palace with a swimming pool and two helipads on deck and untold luxury down below, all serviced by an onboard crew of 20 to 30.

The Attessa IV is registered in the Cayman Islands and owned by Arron Point Charters, a company that is part of Montana-based billionaire Dennis Washington’s empire that includes British Columbiabased Seaspan Marine, which is bidding for a lucrative federal government shipbuilding contract. The 26th largest privately owned yacht in the world was recreated in the North Vancouver shipyards that are part of the Washington Companies.

It was launched last fall after a three-and-a-half-year renovation that its skipper says was the largest yacht refit in the world. At its peak, 250 local skilled workers were employed on the project, collectively logging a staggering million hours of labour.

“We tried real hard to keep the project as quiet as possible, but of course now that it’s out it’s going to be everywhere,” Ted McCumber said in an interview from the bridge of the Attessa IV, which was anchored Tuesday off James Island, the private retreat near Sidney of Seattle billionaire Craig McCaw.

The deep blue, white and silver yacht that usually has a helicopter perched on the aft deck, was to return to Vancouver today or Friday and will be cruising local waters until the fall before heading off to the Caribbean and then the Mediterranean, the winter and summer cruising grounds for the money-is-no-object set.

The Attessa IV is the third mega-yacht to be refitted for Washington in the Vancouver shipyards by a company created to specialize in the luxury market, Washington Yachting Group, but which McCumber said has primarily worked on his boss’s own boats.

Attessa III, a mere 68 metres, had been damaged in a fire and was rebuilt in the shed that was home for the construction of the Pacificats, the ill-fated fast ferries that were supposed to revitalize the BC Ferries fleet and relaunch the shipbuilding industry in B.C. Instead, the fast ferries helped sink the NDP government and have since served as a poster boy for the folly of government intervention in private business.

In the decade that followed, the Liberal government reformed BC Ferries as a quasiprivate company and allowed it to order new ships from Germany to save money rather than supporting the local shipbuilding industry.

This week, Premier Christy Clark’s Liberal government revealed that it is prepared to invest $40 million to support Seaspan Marine’s bid for a piece of the federal government’s $35-billion shipbuilding program. It also announced that BC Ferries would chip in $20 million for the effort.

The money would be in the form of up to $35 million in training and labour credits over the 30-year span of the project, should Seaspan get one of the contracts, and another $5 million to increase productivity in the marine industry. The $20 million from BC Ferries is also aimed at increasing the capacity of the broader industry.

The province argues that the credits would be similar to the incentives given to the film industry and the oil and gas sector, subsidies that pay off through investments that would otherwise not be made, jobs that would move elsewhere.

In this case, it’s tax dollars chasing tax dollars. We prime the pump with taxes we pay to the province so that the taxes we pay to the federal government can be funnelled back here rather than to Quebec or Atlantic Canada. They are playing the same game back east, with government aid for Nova Scotia’s Irving Shipbuilding Inc. and the Davie Yards in Quebec. Two out of three are expected to get part of the business when the contracts are announced.

Maybe if we lose out, there will at least be an Attessa V.

Photo by Neil Rabinowitz

This was my column in The Vancouver Sun, July 28, 2011

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