The 'ugliest yacht in the world' ?

Had to check this out after reading Robert Frank's Wall Street Journal feature this morning...

Russian banking billionaire Andrey Melnichenko (only six years older than I am -- damn!) just put his new "stealth yacht" in the water. The "A:" 390-feet, enclosed like a warship, with a rotating bed atop the main tower ("A" is the first letter of both his and his wife's first name).

Check out the video of a test run near Germany (turn down your speakers -- the music's awful):

Looks to me like a sharpened, deadly piece of chalk someone might fashion in prison, topped by the cabin of a fancy ferry. None of which is to say I don't think it's darn cool. Viva la difference.

Controversial in the yacht world, for obvious reasons. Apparently the interior also ditches the usual nautical conventions. It's the first yacht effort from designer Philippe Starck.

Lots of cool photos on the web site MonacoEye.com.