Large Boats
- Thread starter NORO LIM
- Start date
Some of the yachts have the armored Rolls Royce limo and a couple of special Suburbans for the body guards and contingent. Others have the "Shadow" vessel, which has the cars. SUV's all water toys, fuel etc--and can also be used as independent research vessels...One carries a 40'+ sailboat--mast up and rigged on one side and a 40'+ sport fisher on davits on the other side.
There has been a man in the Los Angeles area who has owned two identical hulls in excess of 200 feet in length for many years. One vessel is for he and his wife and the other is for friends and business associates. I knew little about the owner or the vessels, until my 50th high school reunion. It turned out that my best friend in high school was employed as an architect for the owner, and had gone on a number of lengthy voyages on these ships. Many of these are 100% written off as business expenses at one time or another. Of course there is the "Charter" business--at hundred of thousands of dollars a week for the super yachts...
The biggest I have been aboard was about a 140 footer in 1984. The owner was German and owned a number of Television stations. His guests were several of the news and sports commentators from Germany. He had 6 crew, his pilot (Bell Jet Ranger and Lear Jet) and personal valet, plus his wife's personal assistant. He had vehicles stored in the ports he most frequently visited. He had come over to our boat to talk about sailboats...He said he had a boat like ours (turned out it was over 30 feet longer) with a crew of 4 he kept in the Caribbean... He invited us over for cocktails and dinner. It was a most enjoyable evening--but we were glad to get back to the relative simplicity of our boat. We had been invited on several smaller boats, including one 120 footer where the owner was constantly looking for crew. The owner bought and sold diamond and gold mines (several large satellite dishes). His wife would go around behind each crew member and criticize what they had done. It had gotten to the point where the Ft. Lauderdale agencies refused to send any more crew members to him. The average lasted less than a month.
My impression was that many of the crew members of the large boats had rather demanding and difficult jobs. The "captain" was more of a business and HR manager, rather than actually "driving" the boat. When the owners, or important guests were aboard the tension levels were often high.
A few of the owners really like the sea; most have the boat brought from one port to another where the vessel has far more luxuries than the best hotel or condo. For many it is bragging rights. I'll take C Dorys any day of the week!
thataway":3dw51s7n said:
My thoughts, exactly. (In reorganizing my Photo Album, I see I have apparently cut the link to the pictures in the original post. If you missed those pictures, and you want to see the boats that prompted this thread, look here: http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?...ame=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php
We sat in a small cafe a few feet from the dock where an endless stream of very bored-looking people dressed in tuxedos and gowns were being ferried from their water hotels to their land hotels in 30 foot luxury launches and Mercedes limos. Many of them were speaking Russian. None of them were smiling.
Marco Flamingo
Active member
Years ago, I was flying in and out of Friday Harbor on a regular basis. The float plane would often stop at Allen's property on Lopez Is., then under construction. Construction workers would board, but they were under a confidentiality agreement where the could not discuss why they were there and what they were doing. Some of them did talk about what they did for a living. One guy built on-site custom doors, specializing in massive entrance ways. Gosh, I wonder why he was there.
I remember that the dock had a fair number of identical "little" boats like the CD 16. A friend in Friday Harbor told me that the locals were getting upset because Allen was cornering the market on the most desirable model fishing boat for his guests. I recall it was some type of Ranger that was out of production. It seems that he had at least some of his priorities straight.
Mark
I remember that the dock had a fair number of identical "little" boats like the CD 16. A friend in Friday Harbor told me that the locals were getting upset because Allen was cornering the market on the most desirable model fishing boat for his guests. I recall it was some type of Ranger that was out of production. It seems that he had at least some of his priorities straight.
Mark
