It is no coincidence that water parks are popular all over the world, and waterslides have beсome ‘must-haves’ for the best superyachts’ water toys collections
Moreover, manufacturers have gone even further, and today along with ‘box’ options, there is a wide range of customization opportunities: one can choose a size, a colour, a logo, matching accessories, and even how extreme you want it to be.
American slide
American FreeStyle Slides company claims that it is them who created the first sealed-air inflatable slide for a yacht back in 2008, and the 51-metre Lazy Z (now Joy) from Oceanco became the lucky first owner of this attraction.
Some water fun chroniclers don’t agree, but nobody challenges the fact that the same Lady Z was the first to present a marvelous combo (a slide + a climbing wall + a platform for a ‘leap of faith’) at the Cannes Yacht Festival 2015. By the way, today the same ‘trio’ can be found on the three-deck Sirocco (47 m, 2006) from Heesen Yachts.
13 metres above the sea
The 73-metre Titania built by German Lürssen is one of the world’s most successful superyachts. In high season she makes €630 thousand a week. What is the secret of this yacht, which also featured in Netflix “Crown”? On top of everything else, it might well be the fact that she’s got a whole park of various water toys, and there is definitely a slide that is 13 meters tall (which is almost like a 4-storeyed building).
Not everyone will have the nerve to go for such a ride, but surely everyone will remember it. By the way, in addition to the gigantic slide Titania also has a climbing wall, a floating island, some smaller slides and lots of other toys.
More adrenalin!
For those who want even more fun and adrenalin another American manufacturer of accessories for superyachts, FunAir, offered an unusual, curved slide. There is one like this on the 59.1-metre Helios (now Treehouse) from Oceanco.
To make the “flight” safer, they added extra high side rails and netting. Thanks to this shape the slide “returns” the riders closer to the bathing platform so that they don’t fly too far and can repeat the ride fast. Or try another toy and climb back up a climbing wall.
The combination of a slide and a climbing wall is a ‘golden’ set for charter boats that is great kind of active leisure for the whole family. Besides, this slide shape is great for popular anchorages, where there’s not much space to fly straight out to sea.
Lower slides
The 37.7-metre Aurelia from Dutch Heesen Yachts features a classical non-leg support slide, or NLS. This kind of slides can be 5-13 metres high, and they are more suitable for low-slung yachts.
When packed, these slides are quite compact (e.g. a 6-metre slide packs down to 110 cm x 90 cm x 80 cm), and they can be inflated and deployed in about 20 minutes thanks to patented technologies that don’t require any special crew training. So, there is no need for a lot of storage space, but there will surely be a lot of squeals, splashes and fun.
Higher slides
The 78.4-metre Amaryllis from Abeking & Rasmussen has a leg-support slide, or LSS, which is more often chosen for higher yachts and higher slides (14-17 metres). There is a similar model on the 60-metre Dream (Abeking & Rasmussen), the 62-metre Roma (Viareggio SuperYachts) and a number of other popular charter boats. By the way, a 15-metre slide of this type was hung off the third floor of the Yacht Club de Monaco building to close the 2014 race season.
Technologies keep developing, and today one can even find a ‘self-lifting’ slide. So, it looks like the only things you have to keep in mind when ordering a slide for your yacht is your budget… and physics laws: no matter how high or low or curved you ‘flight’ is, sooner or later there has to be a splash anyway.
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