SAILING You Can Do It – Find Out How
⇑⇓ WHO OWNS THE 'OOTFOESYWLCL' TITLE? I could swear that the Wanderer wrote a funny piece in last month's issue about the 'battle' between boatowners to have the sailboat fleet with the longest cumulative length. But when I tried to show the article to friends, I couldn't find it. What gives? Simon Walker Santa Rosa Simon — You couldn't find it in the last issue because it appeared in the March 14 'Lectronic Latitude. There wasn't enough room in the print edition. But since a lot of people liked it, we'll squeeze it in here, albeit with a few corrections and updates. "The battle for Owner of the Fleet of Epic Sailing Yachts with the Longest Cumulative Length (OOTFOESYWLCL) is, to the best of Latitude's knowledge, between two men who soared from rags — or at least moderate circumstances — to vast riches thanks to enterprises founded in the Bay Area. One did it in various tech enterprises, the other in software. Neither is named Larry Ellison. The first is Jim Clark, 71, the serial tech entrepreneur behind the likes of Silicon Graphics, Netscape, myCFO and Healtheon. Ages ago we were aboard his Baltic 55 in Puerto Vallarta, but he subsequently really moved up in the sailing world. His first spectacular yacht was the Frers 156 Hyperion built by Royal Huisman, and reported to be adorned with some of the most famous artwork in the world. He then took a big leap up with Athena, the 292-ft clipper-bowed luxury cruising yacht that is arguably the second-largest private sailing yacht in the world — if you ignore the hideous 468-footer that's being completed for Andrey Melnichenko. Then Clark had Huisman build his third large yacht, the 135-ft J Class Hanuman. Clark is known for being a mercurial guy, so a few years ago, not long after announcing that he didn't really like sailing in the Caribbean or the Med, and putting his two current yachts up for sale, he did an about-face. He spent a reported $25 to $40 million on the wild 100-ft, all-carbon, all high-tech, VLVP-designed Comanche. Having gotten the complete tour of the boat a couple of weeks ago in Antigua, we can confirm that no dollar was left unspent, or crew deprivation ignored, in the pursuit of every last hundredth of a knot of speed. Latitude puts Clark's OOTFOESYWLCL number at 292+135+100 = 527. As required by OOTFOESYWLCL standards, all three of his yachts are in spectacular condition. The second contender for OOTFOESYWLCL honors is Tom Siebel, 63, who made most of his for- Jim and Kristy Clark's all-carbon, hightune from Siebel Systems, tech speedster 'Comanche'. which he sold to Larry Ellison's Oracle, the company where he worked for six years. Like Clark, Siebel has lower-extremity problems. One of his feet was almost completely bitten off and a thigh gored by an elephant in Africa. You can Google it. To the best of our knowledge, Tom's serious sailing fleet started with an ultra-high-tech 45-ft catamaran that he keeps in the Marina Riviera Nayarit in Mexico. He then went 'all in' on multihulls with the purchase of the MOD70 Orion, which he has sailed across the Bay at close to 45 knots. A very nice guy, Tom was gracious enough to take the Wanderer and Doña de Mallorca for a 34-knot blast across Banderas Bay two winters
CARLO BORLENGHI
Gateway to Sailing
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• May, 2016