Well, now we know how Mark Zuckerberg was spending his August vacation, aboard his yacht off the coast of Alaska. And apparently his vessel refused to respond to a call for assistance from a disabled skiff that had run out of fuel last week.
The incident happened last Monday night, as the Alaska Beacon was first to report, and news of the Zuckerberg yacht situation blew up after a passenger on a small cruise ship — which actually responded to the call — posted about it on Bluesky.
Apparently, two women with a child and a dog ventured out too far in a small skiff with too little fuel between Petersburg and Juneau, and became stranded. They put out a call for assistance through the US Coast Guard, and a small cruise ship in the area, the UnCruise Wilderness Legacy, came to the skiff's rescue — but only after the captain informed passengers on the Wilderness Legacy ship that Mark Zuckerberg's yacht was in the area and was radio'd first because they were closer, and no one aboard responded.
"There was near unanimous booing when the captain announced this," said NY-based software engineer Michael Love, in his Bluesky post.
Zuckerberg's custom-built, $300 million, 387-foot yacht named Launchpad, which hit the water in the summer of 2024, is known to "go dark" by turning off its AIS (Automatic Identification System) transponders, for privacy. The boat sleeps up to 24 guests and always travels with a 220-foot support vessel called Wingman that has its own helipad, and deck space for carrying various equipment, like luxury tenders and water scooters.
But clearly the Wilderness Legacy captain knew the boat was in the area, as did the Coast Guard. Per the Alaska Beacon, the Coast Guard clarified that there was never any distress call, only a general request for assistance after it was determined the skiff was not in distress.
After it was reported that the Launchpad ignored the call — and after the Associated Press picked up the story — a spokesperson for Zuckerberg issued a statement claiming that the Launchpad crew was operating on a "different radio channel" and had not heard the initial call, and Mark Zuckerberg himsel was not on board.
"Mark and his family were not on board at the time of the incident," the spoksperson said. "As the Coast Guard noted, the boat was not in distress, and by the time the crew reviewed the Coast Guard contact on a different radio channel from the one they were operating on, the assist was already underway. We’re grateful all parties are safe."
Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan have three daughters, ages 3, 8, and 10, the older two of whom reportedly attend a private, home-based school at the family's compound in Palo Alto that they launched during the pandemic with friends. The Zuckerberg-Chans also have homes in Tahoe and on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, as well as a new home on the private island of Indian Creek in Miami.
Top image: Chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc. Marc Zuckerberg's yacht "The Launchpad" is seen on December 19, 2024 in Raiatea, French Polynesia. (Photo by Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images)
