US Ambassador Fertitta Lists His 77m Feadship for EUR 149m
A Five-Year-Old Flagship Returns to Market
Feadship delivered Boardwalk V in 2021 from its Aalsmeer yard, built in steel and aluminium to naval architecture and exterior styling by De Voogt, with interiors by Amy Halffman Designs. She measures 76.5 metres on a 12.3-metre beam at 1,848 GT, with a top speed of 18.4 knots and a 15-knot cruise. She sleeps 14 guests across seven cabins, including a principal suite with private balconies on both sides and his-and-hers bathrooms, and carries a crew of 22 across a forward tender garage, a spa with treatment room and sauna, a gym, six bars and a beach club opening on three sides.
She joined the market for the first time since delivery in September 2025 and was renamed Boardwalk V from simply Boardwalk in February 2026, once her replacement was under construction. She is now listed jointly through Gary Wright and Max Bulley at Y.CO and Christian Bakewell at Burgess, both firms marketing her at once rather than one broker holding the exclusive - a sign of how seriously the sale is being pushed. Both brokerages describe her as having been used only privately since 2021 and presented in immaculate condition, with no charter wear to account for. Fertitta first teased the project on social media in December 2019, before delivery, and had previously owned smaller motor yachts from Westport - this Feadship was his first true superyacht-class build.
The Price Cut Nobody Announced
BOAT International reported on 6 August 2026 that the asking price had dropped EUR 16,000,000, from an original EUR 165,000,000 to the current EUR 149,000,000 - a figure independently confirmed on both the Y.CO and Burgess listings. On her 1,848 GT, that is a move from roughly EUR 89,300 to EUR 80,600 per gross tonne, a 9.7 percent cut. Neither brokerage has said publicly why, and BOAT International's report does not quote a reason either.
The context matters. SuperYachtReview's 2026 ownership-cost guide finds that yachts from Feadship, Lurssen, Royal Huisman, Vitters and Baltic Yachts typically lose only single-digit percentages of value annually after their fifth year, a function of build quality and how well-documented their maintenance history is. A near-10-percent cut on a five-year-old Feadship this early in a sale is therefore more likely a negotiating opener than a sign of distress - but it is also the first real, public data point on what buyers are actually prepared to pay for a yacht in this exact bracket.
Why the Ambassador Is Trading Up
Her replacement, also named Boardwalk, launched at Lurssen's Lemwerder facility in December 2025 and is due for delivery later in 2026. She measures 117 metres at 5,350 GT across six decks, with two helipads, two pools including a sundeck pool with an adjoining spa pool, and her own beach club - a near-threefold jump in volume over the Feadship she succeeds. Neither Lurssen nor Fertitta's office has named the interior designer or exterior stylist, unusual for a superyacht this size this close to delivery. Trade press expects her to rank inside the top 50 of the YB100, the annual ranking of the world's largest yachts by gross tonnage.
Fertitta is chief executive of Landry's Inc and owner of the NBA's Houston Rockets. President Trump nominated him for the ambassadorship on 21 December 2024, and the US Senate confirmed him as Ambassador to Italy and San Marino on 29 April 2025 by an 83-14 vote; he presented his credentials to Italian president Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinale Palace on 5 May 2025, formally beginning the post. Whether that appointment changes where either yacht is based, or how often Fertitta uses them personally, has not been addressed by his office or by either shipyard.
What It Actually Costs to Keep Her Running
No running-cost figure specific to Boardwalk V has ever been published. As a planning benchmark, SuperYachtReview's 2026 guide - built on 2026 data from Burgess, Fraser, MYBA and the YPI Crew Salary Guide - puts annual running costs for a full-time-crewed yacht over 40 metres at 12 to 15 percent of current market value, with crew wages and provisioning alone accounting for 30 to 40 percent of that total. Applied to a EUR 149,000,000 asking price, that works out to roughly EUR 18,000,000 to 22,000,000 a year before any refit or repositioning costs, a figure no broker attaches to the listing itself.
Yacht Charter Fleet's own listing shows Boardwalk V is not currently offered for charter, so a buyer inherits none of the revenue history that offsets running costs on some comparable resales. One compliance detail is easy to miss: under her foreign registry, she is not available for sale or charter to US residents while she is in US waters, a restriction any American buyer needs a broker to walk through before falling for the layout.
What A Buyer Should Still Check
Several numbers around this sale remain unpublished. Feadship has never disclosed what Boardwalk V cost to build in 2021, so there is no way to independently size the EUR 149,000,000 ask against her original price. The interior designer and exterior stylist of the new 117-metre Lurssen have not been named publicly, unusual this close to a 2026 handover. And nobody has said whether Fertitta's diplomatic post changes how either yacht will actually be used or flagged going forward.
For a buyer, the sale poses two separate questions rather than one. The first is whether EUR 149,000,000, after a 9.7 percent cut, is a fair price for this specific yacht's condition, pedigree and single-owner history. The second is whether a five-year-old, design-award-calibre Feadship still makes more sense than a new-build slot, given SYBAss reports leading yards are already committed through 2028 to 2029. Fertitta has effectively already answered that question for himself - not with a second Feadship, but with a Lurssen nearly three times the size.
What owners and crew report
No independent account exists from Fertitta on either yacht
Fertitta has not spoken publicly about selling Boardwalk V or about specifying her 117-metre Lurssen replacement; every fact here comes from brokers, the shipyards and trade press, not from him directly.
Yotters desk research
What is good, and what to watch
Strong points
- A five-year-old design pedigree from a top-tier yardThe Feadship and De Voogt combination sits in a class SuperYachtReview finds typically loses only single-digit percentages of value annually after year five, and she carries no charter wear.
- One owner, immaculate condition, on the recordBoth listing brokerages describe her as used only privately since her 2021 launch, and Y.CO and Burgess are marketing her jointly at once, a sign of a serious push rather than a quiet test of demand.
- A rare, hard price-per-GT data pointThe confirmed EUR 16,000,000 cut gives a buyer's broker an actual recent negotiating benchmark for a comparable Feadship, something this segment of the market rarely publishes.
What to watch
- The price already moved once, before any buyerA 9.7 percent cut before finding a buyer suggests the original EUR 165,000,000 ask overshot demand, and nothing published says whether EUR 149,000,000 is a floor or just the next number in a negotiation.
- No charter income offsets the running costUnlike resales that come with a charter track record, Boardwalk V has none, so the roughly EUR 20,000,000-a-year benchmark cost is pure carry for a private buyer.
- She no longer defines the flagship tier her own former owner wantsAt 1,848 GT she is barely a third the volume of the 5,350 GT Lurssen Fertitta ordered in her place, a sign of where expectations at this budget have moved.
Practical detail
| Asking price | EUR 149,000,000, cut from an original EUR 165,000,000 ask - the reduction first reported by BOAT International on 6 August 2026. |
|---|---|
| Price per GT | EUR 80,628 per GT at the current price on 1,848 GT, down from EUR 89,286 per GT at the original ask. |
| Running-cost benchmark | No figure is published for this yacht specifically. Applying SuperYachtReview's 2026 guide (12 to 15 percent of value annually for a full-time-crewed yacht this size) implies roughly EUR 18,000,000 to 22,000,000 a year. |
| Charter status | Not currently offered for charter, per Yacht Charter Fleet's own listing - no revenue history comes with the sale. |
| Compliance | Not available for sale or charter to US residents while she is in US waters, under her foreign registry. |
| Not published | Boardwalk V's original 2021 build price, Fertitta's stated reason for selling, and whether his ambassadorial post changes how or where either Boardwalk is based. |
Questions this story answers
What happened?
Tilman Fertitta, the Houston billionaire who became US Ambassador to Italy in 2025, has put his 76.5-metre Feadship Boardwalk V on the market for EUR 149,000,000, cut down from an original EUR 165,000,000 ask. The listing comes as a much larger Lurssen carrying the same name nears her own delivery, nearly three times the volume of the Feadship she replaces. For a buyer weighing whether a well-kept flagship still commands its price after five years, this is a rare look at the real number.
What is good about it?
A five-year-old design pedigree from a top-tier yard. The Feadship and De Voogt combination sits in a class SuperYachtReview finds typically loses only single-digit percentages of value annually after year five, and she carries no charter wear.
What should an owner or buyer watch?
The price already moved once, before any buyer. A 9.7 percent cut before finding a buyer suggests the original EUR 165,000,000 ask overshot demand, and nothing published says whether EUR 149,000,000 is a floor or just the next number in a negotiation.
What do owners and crew report?
Fertitta has not spoken publicly about selling Boardwalk V or about specifying her 117-metre Lurssen replacement; every fact here comes from brokers, the shipyards and trade press, not from him directly. (Yotters desk research)
Who reported this?
BOAT International, Y.CO, Burgess, YachtBuyer, SuperYachtReview, U.S. Embassy in Italy.
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