It's official.
Larry Ellison has bought himself a little cottage in Newport, Rhode Island for $10.5 million. Check out Astors’ Beechwood Sold to Billionaire Software Tycoon.
The Twitter is a-tweeting with speculation about why Larry wants a pad in Newport. But you heard the real scoop here first. The house in question is only about a mile from Fort Adams, home of Newport's famed Laser frostbite fleet. Clearly Mr. Ellison is tired of all the shenanigans surrounding his current sailing endeavor, something called the America's Cup I believe, and is planning to take up the simplest, purest, funnest, corinthianest form of sailing there is. Look to see him sailing against Tillerman and the rest of the crowd in Laser Fleet 413 as soon as he is done with that little piece of unfinished business in Valencia.
Whatever other possible explanation could there be?
26 comments:
Dream on. Have you seen his tender?
His tender what?
Great. Ideal RC boat for Sunday afternoon Laser racing.
It must be true. It's on Scuttlebutt.
Well Philippe at Pegasus Racing races a Finn quite seriously. Besides the double handed offshore sailing. Ellison would be well advised to follow that lead!
Defnitly would be interesting. That guy has enough money to make the weather warm in the winter. New boats for everyone on him!!! Cup coming back to newport!!!!!!
That he's gone even more sane and will be joining the SUNFISH fleet! C'mon out and have a GREAT time!
Philippe is the best. He's a big supporter of dinghy sailing. His favorite boat isn't a Force 5 or a Laser, it's....hold the fort....a Hawaiian sailing canoe. Yes Tilly, a boat with training wheels.
Larry, on the other hand, is the Shogun. He would never be caught dead in a dinghy, so you can forget the Laser or Sunfish. It ain't gong to happen.
mr ellison will never sail a laser for the simple reason it would irreversibly expose his total inability for the sport. i doubt he would be able to finish a strong wind course even with a radial sail... unless, of course, he buys laser out and changes the rules to allow him to be represented by russell or someone else proficient at the sport...
Who cares. Let him just buy us boats. Just a drop in his ocean. Right???
He is joining the Sea Dog Fleet
The real reason he got that pad, is so he can be that other other guy on the race course.
Anyone who has sailed with Larry knows he is actually a pretty good sailor. He does drive a lot and did so on the disasterous Sydney-Hobart. He also is/has been an avid rock climber, body surfer and jet fighter pilot. So he isn't a rich guy who hides behind his wealth to have fun. He does have fun with his wealth, for sure, but doesn't hide behind it as one would stereotype.
Well said reggiedog. That's the great think about Laser sailing: you get to "drive" all the time. I'm sure Larry will love it.
Jet fighter pilot? Hmmmmm......What squadron was he in? Believe me, he's no Philippe.
Oh come on Joe. Larry didn't have to join the military to fly a jet fighter. He just bought a few.
May I need to look up "corinthianist", but I don't think it applies to the Newport Frostbite fleet.
Let me help you Brian...
Corinthian (a.) of or pertaining to an amateur sailor. Carries connotations of sportsmanship, fair play, volunteerism, competence, individualism, pursuit of pleasure.
Corinthianest (a.) most corinthian.
After Oracle BMW wins the America's Cup, Larry plans to return it to its roots in Newport. This little "summer home" will become GGYC East.
Hi Lillian, I think you are the first visitor to Proper Course from Olam Ha-Ba (although Sitemeter didn't seem to identify your location correctly.) Thanks for letting us know of your son's plans for Beechwood, although I think you should know that Newport is already quite well endowed with other yacht clubs.
Tillerman, I had to look up "Credible, Reliable, Responsible" because I thought it might be the latest slogan of Murdoch's mouthpiece.
It certainly smacks of that, and Sailing Anarchy hates it, but they seem to be expert haters...
SA 01/08/10
We Report. You Decide.
Now I understand! What that slogan actually means is, We report. You decide...if it's even true
I think Scuttlebutt's "scrape" was actually done manually - it was edited. A sentence is missing. Context is everything here. Your blog is often funny and ironic, and written by a Laser enthusiast. Scuttlebutt, on the other hand evidently perceives itself as "Credible, Reliable and Responsible"
I think there's enough irony, double irony, unwitting quoting of irony, circular quoting (the slogan), blogging, tweeting and scraping for this to definitely qualify as a post-modern blog post. Wow, my head is spinning
Thanks Beachcomber. I'm pleased that at least one reader "gets" my weird sense of humor.
I must admit that I didn't spot Scuttlebutt's new tagline until SA drew attention to it. I was amused to see that it appeared over the "scrape" of this post, although I am sure that Mr. Leweck is too smart to think that this particular item was "reliable" or even "credible".
Just for the record, I have no objection to Scuttlebutt using my material (as they do from time to time) or SA readers quoting me in the forums (which happens occasionally too.) I appreciate it when they provide a link back here. For some reason I do enjoy the simple pleasure of seeing my sitemeter stats go through the roof.
Looks like you started some rumors...
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2010/01/all-wet-dreams.html
Thanks Scott. Yeah I saw that some guy calling himself "Barry Auger" had taken leave of his senses and written some wild speculation about Mr. Ellison and his Laser sailing plans. I am astonished that a reliable, credible responsible news organization like Scuttlebutt would give space to such a ridiculous fantasy. Some people have no respect for the truth.
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