By Steve Rubenstein From SF Gate

The 118-foot pleasure yacht Galeocerdo, home ported in George Town, Cayman Islands, takes on fuel at Port Angeles Boat Haven on Friday, July 25, 2014 in Port Angeles, Wash. According to specifications provided by the designer, Wally Yachts, the Galeocerdo has a cruising speed of 60 knots, the equivalent of 70 mph.

Image 16 of 20 One of the world’s largest private yachts, simply named “A,” appears after a 500,000 dollar fuel-up Friday, August 29, 2014, at Pier 90 in Seattle, Washington. The German-made, 394-foot mega yacht – owned by 42-year old Russian billionaire banker, Andrey Melnichenko, and his wife – stopped in the Pacific Northwest after leaving Ketchikan, Alaska, last week. (Jordan Stead, seattlepi.com)

A boat that looks like a giant Darth Vader doing the backstroke has stealthily slunk into San Francisco Bay.

The sleek, dark gray boat, believed to be the 118-foot-long Galeocerdo, was seen anchored over the weekend off Sausalito. It can zip around at 60 knots, or nearly 70 mph, which means it could cross the bay in about a minute or so, if it wanted to. It is said to be worth $33 million.

Where it came from and where it’s going were not immediately known. People who own $33 million boats often do not answer questions about them. The Galeocerdo, which means “tiger shark” in Italian, was also spotted in Richardson Bay and off Treasure Island.

Bill Hughes, an assistant harbormaster at the Schoonmaker Point Marina in Sausalito, said he remembered the Galeocerdo’s last visit to these waters in July. The vessel berthed for three nights at the marina, at a cost of $400 per night, a sum that was not of any particular concern to its skipper, Hughes recalled.

He described the skipper as a friendly fellow who appreciated the marina’s hospitality, and said the man had invited Hughes aboard for a quick visit.

“It was stealthy and futuristic,” Hughes said. “Very sterile. You had to crouch down to get into the engine room. It had massive jet turbines. I wouldn’t want to own it.”

The boat travels at such high speeds, he said, that any collision with flotsam or jetsam leaves an expensive ding, and flotsam dings on boats are more pricey than parking lot dings on cars.

Another assistant harbormaster recalled that the boat had zipped up the coast from Los Angeles at 60 knots.

In Marin County, the Galeocerdo’s current visit was the talk of boat people and of people who would like to be boat people if they had $33 million.

“If you own a boat like that, you have to have an open checkbook,” said veteran Sausalito yacht broker Robert Marotta. “That thing makes a hell of a lot of noise. At that speed, it would rise up and down, and the ride would be ear-shattering and uncomfortable. This is not the kind of boat you take out for a Sunday picnic. It’s not what you call a bikini babe boat.”

A ride on it, he said, would be like a thrill ride at an amusement park, what he called “a sophisticated version of the log flume ride that you are glad to get off of after it’s over.”

Selling such a nontraditional vessel would be next to impossible and Marotta, who has sold a lot of yachts, wouldn’t want to try.

“It wouldn’t be a broker’s dream,” he said. “I’d call it a white elephant.”

The boat was also causing a stir online, where rubberneckers were alternately calling it “incredibly sexy,” “tacky” and “a representation of the (owner’s) phallus.”

The Galeocerdo was constructed in 2003 of high-tech composite material by the high-end Wally Yachts boat works of high-end Monaco. It is registered in the Cayman Islands, the Caribbean tax haven that is no stranger to people with $33 million to spare.

According to the boat builder, the vessel has three cabins and three jet engines. It holds 5,812 gallons of fuel and has a range of 1,725 miles, which means it gets 0.29 miles per gallon.

Photo: Keith Thorpe / Peninsula Daily News

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