It looks like a giant marine vintage sports car. The photos reveal a stunning new £300m (€350m/$376m) catamaran called ‘Decadence’ which “embodies the spirit of the 1920s, drawing inspiration from the era’s extraordinary automotive and aeronautical advances”. One of the cars that inspired London-based designer Andy Waugh was an Auburn Boattail Speedster, a US model from the 1920s and 1930s.

Four giant teardrop fins, known as ‘sponsons’ in boat design, give Decadence the appearance of having ‘wheels’, with the crew able to deploy huge inflatable fins from them to enhance performance and help reduce energy consumption “from around 30 percent”.

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And the stability of the 80-metre-long, 30-metre-wide catamaran is provided by submerged cylindrical hulls, which give it “a reduction in pitch and roll motion of around 70 per cent compared to a conventional monohull”.

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In addition, crew quarters and technical equipment can be housed in the sponsons and submerged hulls – the latter making the Decadence a SWATH or “small hydroplane-area twin-hull” vessel – meaning more room for guest features.

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Waugh, who runs Andy Waugh Yacht Design, said: “Her SWATH configuration opens up a wealth of new possibilities for creative interior layouts and spaces, for example the owner’s suite could be 20m wide, 30m long and they have a ceiling height of three meters (10 feet).

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The design also allows space for two smaller 14m (46ft) yachts from Skyline Yachts – one with an open deck and one with a fully enclosed cabin.

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The designer says of the offerings: “They can be used as luxury buses to the coast with improved capacity and comfort over conventional limousines.”

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‘Decadence’ is just a concept at the moment, although Waugh notes that it is possible to go ahead with construction if a prospective buyer has the budget – between £214m (€250m/$268m) and £300m ( 350 million euros).