Star Clippers is to name its fourth ship Flying Clipper

Tall ship sailing specialist Star Clippers is to name its fourth ship Flying Clipper when she launches at the end of 2017.

Modelled on the largest square-rigger ever built, France II, the newbuild will be a five-masted, square-rigged barque and will largely be powered by more than 6,350sqm of sails. When she launches in the second half of 2017, the 8,770gt ship will replace her 227-passenger sister ship Royal Clipper as the largest vessel of her kind in the world. She will also join the 170-passenger Star Flyer and Star Clipper.

Currently under construction at Brodosplit shipyard in Split, Croatia, the ship will accommodate 300 passengers in 150 cabins, which include 34 suites with balconies and four owner’s cabins.

In addition, the vessel will offer three pools, including one that funnels sunlight through the ship’s atrium into the dining room; an area for massage and beauty treatments; a library; a function room; a piano bar; a glass Dive bar; a sports bar; and an alfresco Tropical Bar, which offers evening entertainment. Guests will dine in a restaurant in the atrium and they will also be able to use the a watersports platform in the stern when the ship is at anchor.

Flying Clipper will spend her first summer in the Mediterranean and relocate to the Caribbean for winter.

Star Clippers launched its first ship, Star Flyer, in 1991 and will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year.