From basketball to football: Inflatable games decks conquer the yachting world
Sören Gehlhaus
· 25.02.2024
When it comes to ball sports on yachts, it is worth recalling an anecdote that has been told many times before. Also in this publication. It concerns the multiple yacht owner and basketball jester Larry Ellison. The "Wall Street Journal" reported that the US entrepreneur hired a deckhand especially for "Rising Sun" to chase after the moving mother ship in the tender and fish basketballs out of the water. Fortunately, those days are now a thing of the past.
Net constructions based on rigid carbon rods and used to indulge in ball sports have been around for a while. Superyacht Inflatables from Suffolk in the UK presents an inflatable games deck that went to an equally basketball-crazy yachtie: Jonny Dodge, founder and CEO of the brokerage and management company My Ocean. Even though the court looks like one of those octagon-shaped batting cages from the outside, it brings back memories of the fenced-in football pitches of youth. The playground is set up in under half an hour and lashed to the foredeck of "Navis One" using eyelets. Unfortunately, the 47 metres went down in October 2023 after a fire. The net spanned six metres in width and length and rose 1.25 metres above the 3.55 metre high basket. The pillars are made of solid drop-stitch material, which is based on the same principle as inflatable SUP boards. When inflated, tens of thousands of polyester threads are stretched between the PVC layers, giving the entire structure the necessary rigidity.
Games Deck becomes a pop-up sports ground
When deflated, the pack size of the Games Deck shrinks to the size of a short roof box. The pop-up sports court can still be admired in its element: It forms a wedge shape above the narrow foredeck of the 84-metre Feadship "Savannah" and, unlike on "Navis One", uses the teak deck as the perfect sports floor. The new charter must-have can be ordered via the Website of Superyacht Tender and Toyswhere an online form needs to be fed with the GA plan - 20 days later the inflatable fun cage is ready.
