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 *******.

Max

There's a book about it... forget the name. Good book.

I challenged him to a race one, but he turned me down... absolute truth. :-)

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Maxprop" wrote in message
nk.net...
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
*******.

Max

I could not put the book down and actually was
reading it aloud to other people on the boat.

It's called "The Proving Ground"

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/bibli...16499552:10.98

Lots of info about that particular race.

Capt. JG wrote:
There's a book about it... forget the name. Good book.

I challenged him to a race one, but he turned me down... absolute truth. :-)

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"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 enjoyed the book 'Fatal Storm'.

Scotty

"Bart" wrote in message
oups.com..
..
I could not put the book down and actually was
reading it aloud to other people on the boat.

It's called "The Proving Ground"


http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/bibli...dcover:Sale:03
16499552:10.98

Lots of info about that particular race.

Capt. JG wrote:
There's a book about it... forget the name. Good book.

I challenged him to a race one, but he turned me down...
absolute truth. :-)

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"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
*******.

That's it! Great book. I liked the description of "apartment building size
waves" and why would any sane person pay to do this. :-)

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Bart" wrote in message
oups.com...
I could not put the book down and actually was
reading it aloud to other people on the boat.

It's called "The Proving Ground"

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/bibli...16499552:10.98

Lots of info about that particular race.

Capt. JG wrote:
There's a book about it... forget the name. Good book.

I challenged him to a race one, but he turned me down... absolute truth.
:-)

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"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
*******.

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

"Peter" wrote in message
oups.com...

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.

I read the book about that race, and I seem to recall that he did make that
comment. Perhaps that boat was built for that race only. If so, it's
probably looking for a new owner.

Max

http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_19/b3680008.htm

Larry Ellison's Brush with Death aboard Sayonara
''We certainly thought it was possible we wouldn't make it''

For Oracle Corp. Chairman Lawrence J. Ellison, competing head-to-head
with the likes of Microsoft Chairman William H. Gates III in the
roiling software industry isn't enough of a thrill. For extra kicks, he
races yachts on the high seas. But when a typhoon struck during a
sailing race off the coast of Australia in December, 1998, it was
anything but fun for Ellison or his compatriots. Six sailors from other
boats died. While the worst injuries sustained on his 78-foot Sayonara
were broken bones, Ellison was shaken by the experience. He went on to
win that race, and he has sailed competitively since. But he has rarely
talked in detail about what it was like to nearly lose everything. We
asked if the experience had changed him. Here is Ellison's answer:

It shook up all 24 of us. That crew was the same crew that was on Black
Magic, which won the America's Cup for New Zealand [in 1995]. It's an
amazingly professional crew. All those guys were shook up. I've known
for a long time that life is glorious and fragile and short. This
reemphasized it -- it didn't really change me.

It was amazing. We certainly thought it was possible we wouldn't make
it. The waves were 40-feet high. They were vertical. They were walls.
If you didn't wear a cable, you'd just be blown off the back of the
boat. There were four guys with broken bones. We were driving onto this
thing. If you didn't let go of the wheel, it would be pulled off the
pedestal. You let go and grabbed back onto the wheel.

UP AN ELEVATOR. You'd just bury yourself in the wave. It was like going
up an elevator. Normally, the dangerous part of a wave is sliding down
the back. You start surfing. You can actually turn side-on and roll the
boat. But we didn't have that problem. The back of the wave was so
steep that you'd just exit the wave and fall straight down like a ball
in an elevator shaft -- one, one thousand; two, one thousand; three,
one thousand. Crash! It was like being dropped off a four-story
building onto asphalt every 45 seconds. That happened for three hours.
It was very bad.

We thought we'd break the bow, lose a rudder. Any number of things
could have caused us to sink. We had such a huge lead in the race. We
were far off the coast. If we went into the water, the closest thing
would have been a Navy frigate 24 hours away. We would have had about
an hour of life in water that cold.

There wasn't palpable fear on the boat. You're so busy doing your job
that there's no time to think about dying. The end was incredible. No
sleep for three days. No eating for three days. You arrive in the
Derwent. It's a river on the way up to the capital of Tasmania, Hobart.
It's a short sail up there. It's a beautiful sunrise. The sky is pink
and amber and Prussian blue. It's gorgeous. There's heather on the
hills. It's a Scottish community. A small boat pulls up next to you,
and with bagpipes, greets the winner. Incredibly somber bagpipe music
is playing. Gorgeous sunrise. Beautiful.

TOUGH GUYS CRYING. It's something I'll never forget in my entire life.
The glory, the wonder of being alive. The boat coasts in. The thing
about New Zealand sailors -- most American sailors are kind of preppy,
wealthy kids, but in New Zealand there are more sailboats than there
are cars. Everyone sails. It's a blue-collar sport. These are tough
guys -- rugby players, car mechanics. They're professional sailors.
They're a little bit older: mid-30s. They were expressionless from
exhaustion.

We arrive at the dock and everyone sees their wife or girlfriend. There
was not a single dry eye among all those very tough guys. It was an
amazing moment. I'll never forget the experience. And the explanation
contained therein of what it means to be a human being. It was
incredible. But philosophically changed? Have I changed my life? Do I
do things differently? No. Not really. I sure love those guys though.

By Steve Hamm in New York