[imagesource: Scott Hampton / Heesen / SWNS]

One never really thinks about the journey a superyacht must take from the shipyard, where it gets lovingly and laboriously built, to the sea.

I suppose that’s because we don’t all have a superyacht, but perhaps we don’t really want to think about that right now.

Rather, think about how this 80-metre, all-aluminium superyacht had to squeeze through incredibly tight spaces, often doing so within a few inches of its life, throughout its journey on the narrow canals of the Netherlands.

The Galactica, described as the longest and fastest all-aluminium yacht in the world, had to be moved with painful precision from the Heesen shipyard in the southern Netherlands town of Oss to the North Sea port of Harlingen:

Image: Heesen/SWNS

Per CNN, the delicate operation took four to five days, with expert tugboats pushing and pulling the massive Galactica through narrow locks and under at least six bridges.

The timing was of the utmost importance:

Heesen had to wait for a “calm day with no wind” before attempting get the vessel through a tight lock in Macharen with only 15 centimetres of clearance on each side.

At another stage, the water levels were too high to allow Galactica to pass under a bridge along the River Maas, which led to a short pause as the crew waited for the levels to drop low enough for it to squeeze underneath.

Eish:

Image: Dick Holthuis/Hessen/SWNS

An operation like this also requires at least three to four months of preparation with permits and certificates needed every step of the way.

But with 40 years of experience, that is no problem for Heesen.

Although, the shipyard has never seen one of its babies so celebrated before:

“We have been touched by the number of people who gathered on the riverbanks, on the bridges applauding when she passed by, and the crowd that gathered to welcome her in Harlingen,” [Heesen posted on Facebook].

Check out all the obstacles that the Galactica faced with this video:

Watch this superyacht narrowly squeeze under a bridge en route to sea https://t.co/CCnWFSYCe0 pic.twitter.com/62GlC6wobV

— CNN (@CNN) January 23, 2022

Fitted with a beach club, as well as a helideck that transforms into a cinema, the Galactica reached Harlingen safely on January 12.

[source:cnn]