Launched in 2004 by Neptunus – Millennium, a Dutch shipyard part-owned by Staluppi, the 42 metre The World Is Not Enough can achieve around 67 knots. “Sportfishing boats had started doing 42 knots, 44 knots, and some of the smaller boats did 80km/h [50mph],” says Staluppi. “We would go by those boats, I would have a cocktail in my hand and give the people a ‘how you doing?’ Nobody could believe it.”
When Staluppi heard that the Aga Khan was planning to build a yacht capable of 65 knots, he commissioned Norship to build him a lightning-fast 36.6m model. The Aga Khan’s boat achieved a respectable 57 knots but Staluppi’s new toy Moonraker, which hit the water in 1992, reached 66.7 knots. She was the second boat in Staluppi’s long-term relationship with Mulder Design.
Having got a taste for speed, Staluppi dialled it up with 40.25m Octopussy, launched in 1988 by Heesen. He asked Frans Heesen for the fastest yacht in the world. He recalls that he told the yard owner: “The boat has to do over 50 knots. If it does under 50 knots I don’t have to take the boat. If the boat does 51 knots or more, for every knot over 51 knots we would pay a $200,000 [£262,000] bonus.” It did 53 knots.
John Staluppi’s first superyacht, now Blue Oceans, was a 36 metre launched in 1985 by US yard Denison. He wanted something racier than the yachts he had seen while cruising in his earlier, smaller fishing boats. “I wanted to build the first boat over 100ft [30.5m] that would go over 30 knots,” he said. “The Bond name came because the concept seemed to match the crazy gadgets, planes, boats and cars of the films.”
Staluppi has moved away from speed for speed’s sake, but he is still very keen on getting the most out of his machines. “She’s done 21.5 knots, which is pretty impressive for a yacht of her size,” he says about the 2018 launched 69 metre Spectre. The yacht is the newest addition to the growing family of boats bearing a James Bond name and John and Jeanette Staluppi’s special touch.