Jobs’ Boat and Mexican Billionaire’s Yacht Get Into Fender Bender

(Bloomberg) — Venus, the yacht late Apple founder Steve Jobs designed with Philippe Starck, got in a minor accident in Naples with Lady Moura, a luxury vessel owned by Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego.

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Salinas, who is vacationing in the Mediterranean off the coast of Italy, posted a video on X showing Venus slowly drifting toward his yacht while his crew frantically yelled and whistled trying to prevent the collision.

“I’d like to know what the captain and crew were doing that they didn’t see a yacht the size of mine in front of them,” Salinas wrote in a post shared on Wednesday.

He urged clients of his Grupo Elektra retail chain to purchase Apple products to help Jobs’ widow, philanthropist and entrepreneur Laurene Powell Jobs, pay for the “inconvenience.”

“It will take a lot of polish to get that scratch out,” Elektra quickly replied on X, with a link to its online shop.

The minor incident, which happened on July 22, was the result of a sudden change in the wind speed near where both yachts were staying, according to a representative of the owner of Venus. The person said Lady Moura had two times the amount of chain out that Venus did and it was Salinas’ vessel that hit Venus. Having more chain out gives a vessel more leeway to drift. Neither yacht dragged anchor, the person added.

The local coast guard in Italy confirmed that both vessels were anchored in the Naples district of Mergellina in late July when the incident took place. But captains of both yachts decided not to alert authorities, so no probe was initiated.

No member from the Powell Jobs family was aboard when the incident happened, the Venus representative added.

Salinas Pliego’s Grupo Salinas said in a statement on Thursday that Lady Moura anchored in the Bay of Naples at a depth of 40 meters with seven shackles of chain deployed, the minimum required for safe anchoring. The amount of chain was calculated using the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) standards.

“Several hours later, the Venus arrived at the anchorage and seemingly misjudged the length of the chain that the Lady Moura had in the water,” it added. “A violent squall with winds of 50-55 knots from an unexpected direction — different from the prevailing forecasts — caused the impact. Fortunately, the damages to both yachts were minimal and cosmetic. Within hours, both parties resolved the situation amicably and professionally.”

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Jobs worked for years on the Venus design while already stricken by cancer, according to a 2014 Starck interview.

–With assistance from Donato Paolo Mancini.

(Expands description of Powell Jobs in paragraph 4, adds comments from Grupo Salinas in paragraphs 9 and 10)

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