It’s yachting season, or so we’re told, and a very large vessel is currently sitting in the Hudson at around 86th Street.
The yacht is called the Aviva, according to our yacht tipster, who goes by @ursus_actos59 on Twitter. It’s 98.4 meters, just shy of the length of a football field. But the yacht’s owner is apparently more interested in padel tennis, a kind of indoor tennis played with paddles. Padel tennis courts are generally 10 by 20 meters long, according to our padel tennis sources.
“Aviva is the third yacht of her name delivered to owner Joe Lewis, British businessman and major shareholder in Tottenham Hotspur Football Club,” according to Boat International. The site says it’s the 46th longest yacht in the world.
The tennis court is located in a lower section of the boat, so you can’t watch matches from your hum-drum landlocked apartment. Sorry plebeians!
Do the Yachts’ owners need to get permission to “park” in the Hudson? Can they stay indefinitely?
They have to anchor in a designated anchorage or the water constables will issue a finger-wagging to the fullest extent of maritime law.
So, it’s not a specialized tennis court, it’s a Paddle court (not Padel in the U.S. and Canada).
WSR doesn’t post clickbait headlines much, but this is close. Just sayin’
There goes the neighborhood.
(PS: Paddle, not padel.)
In the mid 1960s, the Onasis yacht, The Christina, was “parked” in the middle of the Hudson around the mid west 70s. near the Boat basin. It was there for quite a bit.
It was said that Churchill was aboard
Churchill was already in declining health by 1963 when JFK declared him an honorary US Citizen. He’s essentially stopped traveling or leaving his home and suffered several strokes causing mental decline and physical disability. He was also mostly deaf by then. He died in 1965.
However, just as exciting, in 2016 during the presidential campaign, it was rumored that a Russian oligarch (possibly Deripaska)’s boat was anchored in the Hudson for several days. A huge black yacht with a matching helicopter on the rear deck.
this yacht was sitting north of the GWB for the last 2 weeks, …holding padel tenis tournaments ?
Ah, I was gawking at this Bond-villanesque behemoth from the Boat Basin last night. I had figured Gulf Sheikh. Thanks for the info!
how can we book the court if we want to play paddle tennis? Dinah D.
HI, that’s great picture & interesting info.
Agreed Harriet. At 322 feet, it is quite a sight. Paul Allen’s Octopus at 414 feet is a bit longer, but this definitely isn’t a lifeboat compared to the Octopus, lol.
It’s really a small vessel. For instance, Paul G. Allen’s yacht, Octopus, makes it look like a life boat.
98.4 meters is 107 yards. A football field (excluding end zones) is 100 yards. With end zones it is 120 yards. I guess he ran out of cash and couldn’t go longer than a full football field with end zones. I pity him.
Awesome that of all places in the world to park your yacht (Caribbean, Mediterranean, Canes, etc.) this owner chooses the Upper West Side! As a resident of the neighborhood for over 50 years, I do the same , , , whether it was a yacht or a row boat. Welcome to the neighborhood Aviva!
🙂
98.4m, just shy the length of a football field…I guess that’s true, if you include endzones, since 98.4m = ~322′, and a football field is 360′, but I don’ think that’s what you were going for.
It’s called “Pickleball,” not “Paddle Tennis”.
Yours truly,
Ken from the South Okanagan
Different games and courts. I found that out over the years on WSR:
Drew Nawn says:
October 19, 2017 at 12:59 pm
there is a playground across the drive. How about Paddle Tennis courts in the winter and Pickleball in the summer?
which led me to research this:
Pickleball vs. Paddleball: What’s the Difference? | GAMMA Sports
https://gammasports.com/news/pickleball-vs-paddleball-whats-difference/