My ship has finally come in

So after spending some time sailing in the Med this August (more to come on that later) I was finally fed up with not having a boat available to me at any given time. The pull of the ocean was too great so I gave in and bought myself a little boat, The Maltese Falcon. As you all know I always go big and this was no exception. Although slightly used she looks almost brand new and was built by the famous Italian shipbuilders Perini Navi in 2006 for venture capitalist billionaire Tom Perkins (who happens to live across from us in Belvedere). As times have been tough in the financial industry Tom was forced to put her on the market and there I was ready to snap her up for a mere $190 million. Quite a bargain at the time. Last week she finally arrived here in SF for me to take delivery and as you can see she created quite a lot of attention.

As soon as she had entered Richardson Bay I had the tender come pick me up and I took her for a quick spin around the Bay. She really is quite fast.....I was able to get her to do about 18 knots going downwind with a 15 knot offshore breeze.


Finally at her new home, anchored south of our house.

As it was a little difficult to keep any eye on her from my office I asked the crew to move her 300 meters north so that I would have a clear view of her from all rooms of the house.

Alas, all good things must come to an end. Although I amortized the payments over 20 years that still works out to about $900,000 per month, however, what I really hadn't anticipated was the cost of the 14 crew members ($5 million per year). In addition, it costs me $800,000 every time we have to fill her up (go figure, I thought the fuel costs would be low because she has sails....apparently it has something to do with the generators needed to power all the electronics and winches for the sails). So she is now back on the market at a heavily discounted price....ready to sell fast. I'm asking a mere $155 Million USD or 115 Million Euros, whatever you may prefer. For more details you can visit: Yacht World