If the Celebrity Solstice is the largest cruise ship, what it the largest private yacht? That would be the Maltese Falcon, a $130 million vessel that is a technological tour de force:

The description for the video puts it this way:

Tom Perkins, the venture capitalist behind such companies as Google, Genentech, Amazon, and AOL, doesn’t do things halfway. When he collected vintage cars, for instance, he had the world’s largest collection of Bugatti automobiles. And when he decided to pursue a lifelong dream and build a sailing yacht, he went the whole nine yards: He decided it would be the world’s largest yacht–big enough to fit Noah’s Ark on its deck. He wanted it to sail at a record 26 knots, under unprecedented physical forces. And, he thought, having built this marine wonder, why not use it to try to smash the 155–year–old world sailing record from New York to San Francisco around Cape Horn?

The sails are probably the most interesting part. They use the Dynarig system, which is a completely computer-controlled motorized system that handles the sails automatically. No ropes or winches at all.

For more info on this amazing yacht see:

Three Winged Falcon

[See record #48]