Spotted

Spotted in the FL. Keys by a TCD fan.

Diddy's Ocean Ride

This is the yacht on which Poofy Dude is cruising around. More pics here. Obviously, Soulmates has 14 iPads that control her interior systems. Read below for its suite of toys.





Tenders & Toys: (and more specs)
2 7.5 m VIKAL Custom tenders
1 tender equipped as rescue boat
2 Waverunners
2 Sea Bobs
Diving Equipment
Fishing Gear
2 x Power Surfboards
Golf Clubs with tee box & biodegradable balls
Two, Tandem Kayaks
Water Trampoline
Towable Banana Boat
3 Remote Control Racing Sloops
Wakeboards, multiple sizes
Water Skis, multiple sizes
Towable Tubes

Bond Toys

The most obscure television channel in 'Merica picked up the slack on a Thanksgiving tradition gone missing. 007 was back in the Turkey mix as SyFy Network picked up the Bond Marathon over the weekend. This will crush Crash, but I gave up the standard Thanksgiving fare of Home Improvement in favor of Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan and Craig and, more importantly, their ladies. Bond's prowess with the female is rivaled only by his arsenal of gadgets and cars as well as his enemy's toys. One of the best is the yacht of villain Maximillian Largo from Never Say Never Again. The boat was called the Flying Saucer in the movie and in non-Bond real life was once owned by The Donald.





For Bond geeks, Flying Saucer is from the Italian Disco Volante, the name of bad dude Emilio Largo's yacht in the fourth Bond installment Thunderball. Never Say Never again is pretty much a remake of the 1965 original.

Boston Community Sailing Timelapse

This is a pretty feel good timelapse video that Thos. Weekends sent over. As I type, I can hear the November panic winds outside of my window reminding me that we are far from days like this. You may want to enjoy the video on mute...Other than the slight semblance to the Mr. Rogers theme at the very beginning, the xylophone starts to get irritating.

Motorboat Name Of The Day

Who Cut The Breeze?

Boat/People/Forklifts Getting Munsoned in Rough Seas

Yeah, many of you have probably already seen this video as it has been flying around the blogosphere today. For those of you who have not, this is pretty much a must sea (that's not a typo). A Pacific Sun cruise ship was sailing off of NZ when it encountered very rough seas. The video below shows a few CCTV vantage points of the aforementioned things in the title of this post going to hull in a handbasket (read munsoned). The forklift/blue toolshed box shot is pretty ridiculous. I'm glad they spared us the shots of people puking. Nice touch with the Rod Stewart song.

A Whale's Tale

From senior field analyst Thos. Reed: Ralph Mothes and Paloma Werner of the Cape Town Sailing Academy had a very close call when a whale breached right on to their yacht recently.

Paloma says:

“We had been taking some pictures and had just decided to head back when a Southern Right whale, between 11 - 14 m long, breached about 100 meters away from us. It then suddenly breached about 10 meters from us and then – right on us! We were sailing so had no engine and we could not even take any action. Scary!
The whale as it breaches. Ralph can be seen at the helm.

The images tell the story of the damage caused. The whale appeared to be unharmed and nobody on board was hurt, but the damage to the vessel was severe.

Devastation. Luckily nobody was hurt.

Legit Reuters Headline

"Tired Gay succumbs to Dix in 200 meters"



You definitely do not come across that headline everyday. But apparently Walter Dix really did edge out Tyson Gay at the Prefontaine Classic. Seriously, what is up with the names of track athletes?

Get the full run down here.

Yup, another boat name

Sent in from a friend of TCD

Andrey Melnichenko 1 - World 0

I don't even know where to start with this one. Pick up a copy of Friday's Wall Street Journal and turn to the front page of the Weekend Journal IMMEDIATELY. I'll let you have the distinct pleasure of reading this amazing article about Andrey Melnichenko's ridiculous new yacht named simply "A" - Snipes, that name didn't quite make the part deux list, did it? - but I have to include one paragraph in particular from the story here:

"The walls of one room are covered in white sting-ray hides, while another is in hand-stitched calf's hide. The main deck features two Michelle Haillard chairs made from alligator hides and Kudo horns. Known for his mischievous streak, Mr. Stark (boat's designer) outfitted "A" with risque touches like the suite dubbed the "nookie room" by the crew, with its white circular bed with padded walls and a ceiling mounted TV."

The only thing I have in common with anything having to do with this boat is that a certain "college life" publication once claimed that parties at the house I lived in my senior year were "risque...but fun." Too bad we didn't have a nookie room. Make sure you watch the video as well. Enjoy the picture below.

Fun With Boat Names Part Deux

Back in the depths of January we gave you a list of humorous boat names concocted by our staff and friends of the staff. Well, the staff, friends of the staff and Huey Lewis have been hard at work wasting time thinking of the names we would never paint (or maybe paint?) on our boats. Here is Fun With Boat Names Part Deux:

I Did it on Porpoise, Docktails, Now You Sea Me, Wet Dream, Sea Bag, Psycho Keeler, Aquaholic, My Angel is a Centerboard, Serial Keeler, Its Tiller Time!, Myott (Huey!), Wake and Sea, Oh Buoy!, Beeracuda, Aye for an Aye, Investment Anchor, Sea Cups, Yachtsea, Right Angler, Reef Burner, Fish 'n Chics, Salty Knots, Boatweiser, Drew Brees, Beam me up, Fire Sail, Chairman of the (center) Board, Take a Bow.

Yes, some of these may be pushing it but if you didn't laugh during this post I hear the Jerk Store is still having sense of humor SAIL!

As always, post some of your own!

Did the US Build a Ridiculously Fast America's Cup challenger?

Yes!

Does anybody know what I am talking about?

Probably not!

The 33rd Americas Cup will (hopefully) begin on Friday in Valencia, Spain. It's kind of ironic that the Cup is the oldest trophy in sports and will be awarded for just the 33rd time. It's also ironic that the venue for this America's Cup is Spain, especially considering that the syndicate defending the trophy is Swiss. Keeping with the theme of irony, the last two days of racing have been cancelled because of waves. To me, waves mean wind and wind means fast sailing. Am I missing something here? Seems to me that the two days of cancelled racing on account of "one meter" waves qualifies as an embarassment.

In the meantime, check out the ridiculous trimaran Larry Ellison built to bring the Cup home. This thing is a total machine. Thomas Crown style. During sea trials after the boat was first launched, crew members wore helmets and body armor because of concerns about flying bodies should the boat come to a sudden halt because of the bow plunging into a...wave. Hhhmm.

And click here to see if they're actually racing.

(Really) Rich (Russian) Dude and his Toys

Russian orphan turned oligarch Roman Abramovich is in the news today because of rumors that he is the buyer of an Alberto Giacometti bronze statue that now holds the world record price for a work of art sold at auction. The $104.3 million price tag (including fees) usurped the $104.1 mil (including fees) dropped on Picasso's "Boy With a Pipe (The Young Apprenctice) last year. For those interested, TCD author Phil has what looks like a mini replica of Giacometti's "Walking Man I" glued to the dash of his (hopefully) reoperationalized vehicle that cost him a mere percentage of Abramovich's newest acquistion.

Of greater importance than the rumors that Abramovich is behind this record setting bid is the toys this dude already has in his stable. In addition to owning Chelsea FC, counting Yeltzin and Putin as close friends and having a private 40 person army (Note: the latter two "assets" are likely not mutually exclusive), Romy's toy chest includes:

200-acre ranch in Aspen Colorado
$1.2 billion, 557 foot yacht Eclipse
377' yacht Pelorus
370' expedition yacht Le Grand Bleu
282' small boat Ectasea
163' dinghy Sussurro, whose name recalls Phil Collins and Psesudio
Boeing 767-33a/ER registered in Aruba, obviously, named "Bandit" and ordered directly from the manufacturer.
Three Eurocopter helicopters
EC-145 and EC-155B choppers (whatever those are)
Not one but two bomb-and-bullet proof Maybach 62 limos
One of 30 Ferrari FXX made. Price tag $2.2 million
One each: Bugatti Veyron, Maseratti MC12 Corsa, Ferrari 360, Porsche Carrera GT, Porsche 911 GT1, Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

Personal favorite? Marat Safin's ex-gf Daria Zhukova. I am sure she's not attractive.

Fun With Boat Names

Growing up on the coast of Maine allowed me to spend a fair amount of time on the ocean. My buddies and I ripped many a Summer afternoon on a boat in Casco Bay enjoying a few cold bevis and sharing lots of laughs. One constant was poking fun at boat names. Most were fairly generic but there were always a few (see image) that got us going on creating our own tacky boat names.

Here are a few: Sloop Dreams, Seas the day, Channel Surfer, Nautical Smile, Knot for Sail, Sails Trip, Sea-Section, Tidal Fight, Scared Skiff, The Off-Shore Driller, Bay Dreamer, Sea Czar, Liquid Asset, Seas the Bay, Dock Hollywood, Special Vessel, Port Authority, Jib 'n Tonic, Jack the Skipper, Mast Appeal, Mast Transit, Sweet Emocean, A Current Affair, Hull of a Sail, License to Keel, Keeling me Softly and Fantasea.

If you have any tacky names, be sure to post below. Thanks sweet dudes from the 04105 for the help on this post.

*Note, I would never give my own boat any of these disgusting names.