High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Skat is a luxury yacht built by Lürssen of Bremen, Germany as project 9906, a number prominently displayed on the hull in a font matching that of military vessels. The project started in November 1999 and the yacht launched in 2001. The owner is Charles Simonyi, a former Software Engineer from Microsoft and the fifth space tourist. The yacht is the 64th-largest in the world with a length of 71 meters (233 feet). Simonyi once had a Danish girlfriend who called him "skat", literally "treasure" (or "tax"), but a common term of endearment similar to "honey" in English.