You'll Never Experience Stress Like Towing Lawrence Stroll's Enormous Yacht Through Tiny Dutch Canals

BY OWEN BELLWOOD APRIL 2, 2025 11:25 AM EST


Dutch Yachting via YouTube

It's often claimed that being an air traffic controller is the most stressful job in the world, but I reckon a day directing planes would be a walk in the park compared to the job of navigating a multi-million-dollar megayacht along tiny Dutch canals. ... If you want to experience the stress of piloting an enormous yacht through the tiny canals that litter the Netherlands, then you should check out this clip showing the journey taken by a brand new megayacht before it reaches the ocean.

To raise the stakes a little, let me tell you that this giant yacht is the new toy of Lawrence Stroll, the billionaire owner of the Aston Martin F1 team who is part Bond villain and part unhappy panda. His new yacht is currently under construction in the Netherlands, and was recently moved out of the shipyard where its superstructure was completed to begin sea trials.

More than 50,000 miles of canals


Dutch Yachting via YouTube

In order to complete this journey, the 259-foot long yacht, which is code named Project 714, was carefully hauled out of the Feadship yard on the outskirts of Amsterdam. It was then towed to Rotterdam in the south of the country, where it was free to enter the open ocean to begin sea trials, reports GP Fans.

In order to get from one Dutch city to another, the $200 million yacht wasn't taken along the coast or hoisted out the water to travel by road. Instead, it was squeezed along some of the 55,000 miles of canal that you'll find in the Netherlands. To make the journey, the ship had a tug boat at each end so as not to use its high-tech hybrid power. ... The journey was captured by YouTube channel Dutch Yachting and while it's a pretty slow watch, there are some real edge-of-your-seat moments in the roughly 44-mile trip.

Larger than my house


{snip}