“When I was growing up I never dreamed of being able to experience the thrill of being out in the ocean like this. I’ve always thought there was an inevitability that good things would happen, but you still need to appreciate the hard work you’ve put in.”
Clearly the couple’s desire to reach new destinations – they have been known to moor up in the past at Cannes and on the Amalfi Coast – is something they wish to pursue, given that last year they were rumoured to have chartered the $2m for a week on superyacht Lana. With combined wealth of over a billion dollars, nothing is out of the question, although even for one of the world’s most successful and instantly recognisable singers, temperance still comes into it. “What I think about most when I’m taking time away is peace,” she says. “I grew up in Houston not far from the coast, and I’ve recognised that same thrill of getting away from the city, no matter where I’ve lived.
“When I was young the talk was always about going down to Galveston or perhaps Freeport. It was excitement, whereas now the thought of the sea just means a place for me to relax with my children and take in the open air.”
I actually find the yacht a very creative space too. I may be
around my beautiful children, but I do find time to relax and remove myself from the noise, and that’s become really important in recent years.
Beyonce, a huge advocate for the preservation of mental health, and someone who has raised both awareness and funds for countless mental health projects – as well as investing tens of millions of dollars of her own money – admits there are very few places where she feels total relaxed. “This is the life you sign up to, and I knew that from a very early age. Yet none of that means you shouldn’t look out for yourself and ensure you take the time out you deserve, so that’s pretty much where I am at.
“I have definitely discovered a new freedom in recent years,” she says, referencing her yacht ventures, “and with everything that has gone on in the world, I think we have all become just a little better at kicking back.”
Her husband, singer Jay-Z, goes about his pursuits with perhaps a greater sense of bravado – he can afford to, after all, given that he sits third on the list of the richest musicians of all time, behind Sir Paul McCartney and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
“For me it’s about precision and poise,” he says. “I need clean lines and everything in the right place – that’s the kind of thing that really interests me.
“I actually find the yacht a very creative space too. I may be around my beautiful children, but I do find time to relax and remove myself from the noise, and that’s become really important in recent years.”
Decibel levels certainly appear on be on the increase given our gradual return to normality, with live music, so bereft over the past two years, on its way back. “I am excited to get out there and do it again,” says Beyonce. “I will miss the time we have had to kick back, but it can’t go on forever and we all understand that.”
The couple may need to keep the money rolling in if they are to embark on yacht ownership, especially if they may soon be the ones allowing others to charter their prized possession.
“Would I rather invest in a boat rather than a car or even a house?” suggested the singer in a press interview at the end of May, and referencing in part rumours that the couple were preparing to splash out $28million on a Rolls Royce, “of course!
“It’s not the style, the size or the finish – it’s just the freedom; and that’s all a lot of us ultimately want.”
Whether Beyonce achieves her ambitions of yacht ownership, only time will tell. The couple certainly have more chance of that than they do of breaking away from the world’s paparazzi…
26 | SUMMER 2021 | ONBOARD
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