The boss of my partner domestique has a 49-foot yacht, and to reward his workers for creating special effects for a Korean tsunami movie, he invited them for a Saturday cruise.
The boat is berthed on the northeast side of Tiburon, so we were able to cruise by homes belonging to the other 1% of the population...
...who are grotesquely wealthy...
...from the other end of the telescope.
The day was too exquisitely beautiful to spend much time seething with class resentment, though...
...and for every ostentatious yacht in the Sausalito harbor...
...there was a decaying sailboat covered in junk nearby.
My favorite Sausalito harbor story involves Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison and his 192-foot triple decker yacht which was called Izanami after a Shinto deity since Mr. Ellison, though Jewish, fancies himself something of a Japanese warrior. Somebody then took a picture and it was published mirror image in a boating magazine where the name backwards spelled "imanazi." The boat was subsequently renamed "Ronin."
FDR's old yacht, the Potomac, was also hanging out in Sausalito for the afternoon rather than its usual Jack London Square berth.
We continued past the Sausalito sewage treatment plant that's been dumping thousands of gallons of raw sewage into the bay over the last couple of years, possibly because rich people's waste doesn't stink.
Finally, our captain gunned the engine and gave us a thrill ride under the Golden Gate Bridge. It was too cool.
Got a good chuckle out of your comment about the sewage treatment plant... Great set of photos!
ReplyDeleteWhat a grand adventure! I really enjoyed these pics.
ReplyDeleteI love the Ellison story. I wonder if he noticed the "Imanazi" spelled backwards, and was only embarrassed by it when he was outed.
ReplyDeleteOf all the high tech billionaires, I've hear more stories about the massive jerkitude of Ellison than any other, even more reviled than Bill Gates.
Isn't it funny how we get all bogged down with our struggles about this and that then once in a while poke our heads up, look around, and notice we live in one of the most glorious places ever invented in the universe and have glorious wacky quirky brilliant friends and at least indirectly access to about everything interesting and gorgeous? We probably have more fun than the super rich, really. Big kisses, E
ReplyDeleteThanks, everyone.
ReplyDeleteDear Matty: I worked for a month for Electronic Arts in Redwood City and on the shuttle bus to Caltrain at the end of the day, people who had once worked at Oracle nearby would shiver when we drove by their headquarters. Mr. Ellison has supposedly taken "jerkitude" to new lows, and no, I don't think he noticed "imanazi" until it was pointed out. It was probably cluelessness rather than arrogance.
Dear Ellen: Yeah, I'm feeling pretty broke, busted and disgusted myself these days. Documenting the beautiful world around us helps to keep me sane. And I don't envy the super-rich so much as look at them as dangerous parasites on the public body who are way too hungry.
Ellen: So true! And Mike, what a great set of images! I cracked up at "imanazi"!
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