OzOne wrote:
On 25 Sep 2006 17:57:21 -0700, "Peter"
scribbled thusly:


Maxprop wrote:
What can you tell me about Larry Ellison's boat Sayonnara? I'm told he
raced it in the Hobart the year so many died. Any knowledge about that?

I was looking it over rather thoroughly today. It's in storage in a
building in Holland, MI, waiting for who knows what. Sure is a big *******.

I saw it when it got into Hobart in 1998. Yep it's a big *******. IIRC
he took line honours & swore he'd never do that race again.

PDW

My understanding is that he was totally disabled by seasickness and
fear after the storm hit, and yes, he did say that he would never do
that race again despite surviving and taking line honours.

I don't hold that in any way against the man, I know of a dozen or
more who gave up distance ocean racing after their experiences in '98.

I don't hold it against him either. Said that myself more than once. So
far I forget soon enough to keep going back tho. 174 km/h off of
Matsuyker Is last week. Guess where I'm going next week...... straight
down 147E.

Had a close up look at the surviving fleet in 98. My objection to them
was & is the same. Structural integrity & seakindliness has been
sacrificed for speed. Fine provided nothing goes wrong, but when it
does, those yachts are dangerous.

One, a yachtsman of world renown has not sailed outside Sydney Heads
since if my memory serves me well.

Don't recall Ellison ever coming back here.

No loss. Oracle is the Microsoft of dbms. In quality & ethics. I ported
our ship logging system off of Oracle soon after I took over here and
we've never regretted it.

PDW