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Comment by helsinkiandrew | Hacker News Reader

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helsinkiandrew·

Basalt Fibre (bonded with recycled PET) is also being used in yacht construction inplace of glass fibre

https://www.windelo-catamaran.com/en/recycled-and-biosourced...

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So there are basalt boats floating on the not so salty Baltic.

It's the Basaltic, see?

Looking at the web page is kinda ironic. A yacht builder proclaiming how much better the materials are for the environment. We could just build less yachts, for example. Nobody needs a yacht.

There has to be an interesting commentary here regarding the necessity of productive endeavours that pay taxes and fund local governments and drive investors portfolios into the black, all funded by useless largesse.

Yachts are not just rich-kid toys. They're useful in supporting ocean research, tourism, transfer vessels, security, etc.

It's super cool to find an alternative to fiberglass.

Maybe they could be used in wind turbines as well.

Well, 'research vessels' don't need to have gold-plated luxuries, etc.

Many people live on sail yachts. They are a very economical way to live.

So technically, a yacht is any leisure vessel. ie not a working boat. In the UK, a yacht is usually a sailing boat though we also increasingly have motor yachts. In the USA though, a yacht is a large motor powered vessel. So, when an American says 'nobody needs a yacht' they generally mean one of those, rather than a sailboat. Not sure what context CrimsonCape was using.

Nobody needs Netflix either. Think of all the electricity we could save if we shut it down.

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