It's not every day you see a gigantic superyacht in the narrow canals of the Netherlands.
Thankfully photographer Tom van Oossanen was on hand to capture the astonishing scenes as Project 817, a 94m (310 feet) vessel built by Dutch shipyard Feadship, was maneuvered from its Kaag Island facility to the North Sea at Rotterdam last week.
In a series of stunning images, the vessel, one of the largest to be launched in 2021, is guided through the water with tugboats, passing by houses and churches, as crowds look on in amazement.
According to Oossanen, around four to six superyachts are transferred along this route each year before going for sea trials, which usually take place in Amsterdam. However, few are as big as Project 817, likely to be known as Viva when it officially launches.
Kaag Island is one of two Feadship shipyards based inland (the other is in Aalsmeer, near Schiphol,) which means every yacht delivered from here has to be painstakingly pulled the same way. Some parts of the canals along the route are only a few feet wider than Project 817, which spans 44.7 feet from port to starboard, so to say the transfer required great care and attention is something of an understatement. Particulary when the gap narrows because of bridges.
So, if a client wants their superyacht to be any wider, the shipyards on Kaag Island are not for them.
On a similar theme...
Corinth Canal
Narrow, and cut into the world's deepest canal gorge, it's quite a feat manoevering a modern cruise ship through the pass.