"Roughing It" at Sea....

Greetings from the Caribbean!

For those my buds in the know, John and I left yesterday for our boat trip to as a guest of our good friends Sheridan and John Eddie on their amazing yacht, the Lady Sheridan. She is a commanding aerodynamic beauty....and the yacht is pretty spectacular too!


As I have been rattling non-stop I was apprehensive, not because I did not want to be with them (to say they are incredible, gracious, down-to-earth and so damn much fun is truly an understatement) ---- bottom line, I did not want to leave my precious angel, Sinclair (this is my first time ever away from her in 17 months). I cried and the tears flowed - my heart ached and I called home (and emailed)....literally twelve times and that was before our plane ever took off.


We arrived at the FBO and had to wait a little for our takeoff slot since so many people are utilizing their plane time over this busy season to fly to St. Maarten. It seemed like everywhere I turned there was a little blond haired cherub that reminded me of Sinclair. Naturally, seeing this made me cry all over again. Then the phone calls and texts started all over at a even more rapid pace. My Mother assured me she was fine, which means Sinclair was obviously taking the separation better than me.


The pilots finally get us air bound and the bird zipped us to St. Maarten in no time. John nor I had ever been to this part of the Caribbean. I read an article in the New York paper the day prior and the pilots mentioned that St. Maarten and Aspen were the two most popular destination spots for the crazy week between Christmas and New Years. The are actually giving landing spots similar to a lottery. If you miss your 15 minute window you are screwed and cannot land. Keep in mind, St Maarten is a small island in a cluster close to St. Barth's were all the mega-yachts (anything over 103') go to nest and show off their heavy "Big Boy toys".


Well, I have to be honest and come clean with my second serious apprehension number that has been playing in the back of my mind. For those in the free world that do not know (I think there are three of you) I grew up on a shipyard in Texas. Freeport is a small (predominately shrimp and fishing) town along the Gulf Coast. The majority of those that live there all provide some type of oil service whether it be a net business for fishing, repair yards, supplies, crewboats, utility supply vessels (my family is Texas marine pioneers and have done every aspect of it all) Crewboats standby the huge offshore rigs (in case of emergency or to provide the rigs with needs) and there are a few diving companies, etc. My family has made a living in some aspect of the marine business (my Dad was a shipbuilder and had yards from Columbia back all along the Gulf Coast) since the 50's. You have to understand when I was born my family was one of the largest "players" in the fishing industry (think Bubba Gump on an international scale). My Dad started when he left school in the 6th grade and sold shrimp for a penny a pound with the heads on. So, in my math world it would easily take him more than a year to buy one of my coveted Birkin bags.


All fine and dandy, now flash forward.....my Brother, John Roger and I had different jobs and all helped out in some way. 90 percent of the time I got in trouble, but the other few times I came in useful my job was to purchase boat groceries for a 5-10 man crew to go offshore for a few weeks at a time. After I spent the day purchasing my dozen plus grocery carts someone from our yard would either put them on another crewboat or a helicopter to traffic them out to the rig.


My fondest memories the real fun came when it was crew change time -- watching my Dad or brother, John -- hell occasionally my Mom, JoJo grabbing these drunk deckhands and captains out of seedy little waterfront bars sobering them up and preparing them to head offshore (anywhere from midnight to 4 AM) for a few weeks to tend to our vessels to stand by the rigs for the big oil giants Chevron, Mobil, etc --now which the rigs have been replaced by the large independents.


Now that I have given you the Cliff Notes of the Reader's Digest Version of my boat history, I never knew anyone growing up that WOULD EVER DREAM of "yachting." WTF?? Yachting (I always thought) was for silly people that had more money than sense and that did not know any better. A boat is a hole in the water that you constantly sink money into-- EVERYONE with a half a brain knows this. The only difference in the offshore marine business is it is required to make a living. No one ever made a living sailing around a floating palace -- granted, you can rent them but you cannot cover your expenses actually owning it. As I ventured into the world, the older I got and I would hear of people talking about taking their yacht to the Caribbean or Mediterranean. I would secretly wonder "if you made THAT much money to afford a boat....why piss it away on something so extravagant" Now I am not referring to Bass Boats or ski boats you take out on the weekend for pleasure (still silly) I am referring to a whole other scale of boats that only about 3% of America can only fathom or see in magazines. The MEGAYACHT set.....technically a Megayacht is anything over 103' and generally these require a full time crew to maintain it throughout the year. Unfathomable to me. Trust me, I am VERY frivolous about a lot of things -- but I just never understood what people that worked so hard to make millions, make that billions in a few of our friends cases would waste money on something they were only going to use four to eight weeks a year.


We had been invited on one other occasion by a friend that had one of the largest megayachts in existence at that time -- obviously there is a big market for this since there is a bigger and better one coming off German and Italian shipyards daily. I immediately said "No, we have no interest - TOTALLY not our deal" John and our friend, another boat owner, Dennis looked shocked and then I explained my theory (see aforementioned) of how I was raised and it just seemed ridiculous to float around for pleasure on something so excessive. (Yes, you can quote me on that) Well, John and I spent the next few years heating the debate it and if we ever got invited back we should reconsider the invitation.


Fast forward to last month.....Sheridan and John Eddie have just taken ownership of their absolutely gorgeous German built, Don Starkey designed (He's the Dr Denton Cooley of U.K. boat designers - even I knew that) 200' yacht. After pondering for a few days, we agreed to spend a week on board.


To tell you a little about our hosts, they are some of the most down to earth people I have ever encountered. Sheridan is MOVIE STAR classic gorgeous (she is a more beautiful hybrid of Christie Brinkley and Jaclyn Smith) and is so feminine and graceful I love to just watch her talk and move....not to mention she is a brilliantly talented interior designer and did the interiors of the incredible floating palace. John Eddie is one of the most legendary attorneys the South has ever produced. My husband adores John Eddie, they talk college football and hunting. Actually, John Eddie reminds me a lot of my husband -- also, they both are one would call "just good ol' boys"


What I love about them both our hosts is ZERO pretension and they both worked their way to the top of their talents with hard work, no one handed them a thing. They are madly in love and are enjoying life to the fullest ... as they want their friends to do in their presence. When you are their guests it is like nothing I have ever experienced and I do not mean just materially - they truly care about each and every one of their friends genuinely and it makes everyone feel universally warm and fuzzy.


Now that I have you up to speed, we have been here less than a day. Please take note, I am a blond Pollack (married to an Aggie) but I TOTALLY get it now. Hell, if my Dad were alive he would be all about it too! How could you not embrace this five star ambiance at sea as a lifestyle. In fact, I jokingly told John Eddie that he may need to file a restraining order to get me off this floating palace. The craftsmanship is like nothing I have truly ever witnessed. The inlays of the multitudes of woods is indescribable. There is so many inlays of marble, granite and onyx in every stateroom I have lost count. Each guestroom is worthy of a presidential suite at the Four Seasons. I am most jealous of their A/V system (unlike ours at home) their Creston is easy to operate! In fact, I feel asleep scrolling through the over 2000 movies - available to every separate television for each guest in their stateroom.


Today, as we drifted to our anchor in the bay of St Bart's admiring all of the other bobbing works of art. A few hundred yards to our right is the famed Octopus, a "Giga-Yacht" (a new term for those rare few yachts over 400 feet) that is owned my Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen. The Octopus measures a little more than 414 feet. To put it in perspective Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ measures 433 feet wall to wall, If the Octopus were placed inside the field from end to end, she would fit with just nine and a half feet of clearance fore and aft. Holy Mother of Pearl, if you cover her deck with turf, there is enough room for Paul Allen's Seattle Seahawks to play a football game on board. The vessel is actually 54 feet longer than the Seahawks playing surface at Qwest Stadium. Rumor Octopus cost Allen over $400 million and has permanent crew of 70, including several former Navy Seals. It has two helicopters, seven boats, a 10 man yellow submarine and a remote controlled vehicle for crawling on the Ocean floor. The submarine has the capacity to sleep eight for up to two weeks underwater.

On average, owners must spend a minimum of 10 percent of the purchase price every year to keep these yachts in good working condition and cover crew salaries. Therefore the “O<>ctopus” which cost Allen US$400 million requires a US$40 million annual budget.Since we are "yachting neighbors" their Captain sent our Captain an email requesting our presence for a soiree for New Year's. The stipulation was they needed all of our personal information (identification, Social Security numbers, etc) I am not so sure I would personally make the cut, so I am holding out on mine! (kidding.....since I know Paul would totally dig me).Actually, we are pulling out of harbor tonight and will miss Paul's invite (he just did not know how close we came to being "new best friends") Our hosts have decided to take the boat to Jost van Dyke BVI we will ring in the "Old Year" at Foxy's Bar. This jaunt should take us eight or nine hours and weather is predictably pretty choppy with 8-10 foot seas. No problem for the Lady Sheridan.....we will wake tomorrow with a new exciting view.Late this afternoon as we were all lounging post lunch and Sea-Doo skirting....the only yacht to currently out-rival the Octopus into a lingering position flanking the other side of us....this title belongs to Oracle software founder Larry Ellison and his 478 foot Rising Sun. Ellison and his crew of 75 can cruise at speeds of 28 knots. He can fill this baby up with lost of BFF's considering it has 82 rooms and is six storeys tall. This Gigayacht falls somewhere close to a half billion dollar price tag. Then again the saying goes...."if you have to ask, you cannot afford it"

I am not in favor that much of the Rising Sun's looks at all. Infact, in all honestly, I did not think it was attractive at all. She has a dark hull, a really wide beam, a lot of glass and looks like a cross between a Navy warship and a greenhouse on massive steroids.

Typical of these very big "cruise ship" boats Rising Sun has every whoofer andtweeter one could wish for and more including custom mahogany tenders built in New Zealand and a landing craft especially designed to carry a small off road car to shore. Naturally, there is the standard cinema and gym and jacuzzis, etc. but also something slightly out of the norm, a competition size basketball court. This doubles as a dual helipad when required. The entire vessel is lit up at night with green fibre-optic cables, Ellison's favourite color. Hmmmmm.... the color of money. Makes sense.

Larry Ellison's Rising Sun....glowing in the Harbor at night