WHAT HAPPENS ON THE BOAT STAYS ON THE BOAT
8/28/2007 10:37:02 AM by Wave Editorial Staff
Wave’s editors and foreign correspondents often find themselves in some pretty sticky situations while out at sea in search of that next great story idea. Here are a few we thought might be worth a mention.
TOO BIG
A certain international multi-millionaire who made his fortune in Internet ventures and changes his girlfriends as often as he changes his yachts found out recently that a 270-foot tri-deck yacht can indeed be too big. Especially when Mistress #1, a reality television actress, decided to stay on board longer than planned. The crew didn’t realize that she hadn’t disembarked when Mistress #2, a noted jewelry designer, arrived at the dock an hour before schedule. The ensuing catfight was reported to be highly entertaining with torn blouses and hurled objects. It was only kept out of the gossip columns by the lavish tossing around of the yacht owner’s big bucks. The yacht owner, who was ashore at the time, returned to find two extremely peeved off women waiting for him in his salon. He reportedly appeased both his loves with diamond opera necklaces.
VHF LOVIN’
A boater on Florida’s west coast was cruising home while his girlfriend waited for him at the dock. He was picking her up after work to take her on a sexy sailing weekend. The girlfriend was feeling a bit playful and called the boat on VHF Channel 16 and asked her boyfriend to switch to a more infrequently used channel. After he made the requested change, she began to start their romantic weekend early with some dirty talk. This went on for quite a while until the boater told his sweetheart that he was only five minutes away from her and would see her momentarily. A soft “damn” went out over the radios, said by a third party. It was only then that the couple realized that several boaters in the area had stumbled across their risqué conversation. Not quite sure who overheard them, the girlfriend reportedly still gets beet-red when greeting neighbors at their marina.
“SEA”-THRU
Clothing that looks great on land might not be right for yachting, as one hapless boat guest found out. The leggy blonde in question wore a wispy white designer dress that matched the chic elegance of the yacht décor. Until, that was, around five in the morning, when the guests decided to dance on the aft deck. When that filled up, other guests moved to the oversized swim platform to expand the revelry. The leggy blonde got elbowed overboard and into the night water. She was promptly rescued and hauled back aboard. It wasn’t until she was stomping through the well-lit salon in search of a towel that she realized people were staring not just because she fell overboard and was now dripping wet, but because her fashionable white dress had become transparent. She spent the rest of the party wrapped in an oversized towel bearing the yacht’s name embroidered in gold thread.
CANNES APPEAL
The recent 12-day bacchanal known as the 2007 Cannes Film Festival was highlighted by the rock orgy Kid Rock hosted on board his yacht. Luminaries aboard included Bono, who jammed with Rock, James Blunt and Mischa Barton, amongst a crowd of other A-Listers. It was, however, Jessica Simpson and Leonardo DiCaprio who made the news the following morning. It appears that Simpson went to the yacht after the Vanity Fair party at the Hotel Du Cap. She soon found that she wasn’t fitting in with fellow guests, none of which she knew. She then proceeded to follow Leonardo DiCaprio around the yacht “like a lost puppy,” reports a confidential source, who added, “He, on the other hand, seemed rather freaked out and tried to ignore her.” The treatment was so similar to her on-again/off-again relationship with John Mayer that she didn’t realize anything was amiss and continued her mild stalking. Alas, from our perspective, both celebrities kept their clothes on.
“SEA” DIDDY?
Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neil ordered his yacht crew to keep P. Diddy and Denzel Washington from boarding his yacht, says a confidential source. This is after an alleged visit from Diddy and Washington after a bender, in which they woke a sleeping O’Neil. Diddy is known for his yacht charters every summer and the resulting parties aboard. Recently, he threw a bash on a $40 million 262-foot yacht in St. Tropez. The party went from 4:30 p.m. (Diddy himself arrived more than five hours late) and went well beyond 8:30 a.m. the following day. Diddy has had a rather colorful yachting history. Back in 2005, then-girlfriend Kim Porter reportedly suffered a broken nose during a furious fight on board Christina O, the infamous Onassis yacht, which Combs chartered in St. Tropez. A top surgeon was immediately flown in from Geneva to treat Porter. Combs’ people insist that Porter merely hurt her nose in a “freak” accident. “The first night we were here, we watched the sun set,” he says. “We came inside, the boat rocked and Kim tripped on the rug and nicked her nose on the table. The rumors that we had a fight and Kim broke her nose are ridiculous.” The yacht charter reportedly ran Diddy $605,000 per week.
CRUISE CONTROL
Sometimes what happens on the boat can have several versions. Such is the case when Tom Cruise and then-wife Nicole Kidman were vacationing on a 210-foot superyacht off the Isle of Capri and allegedly came to the aid of a French family whose yacht had caught on fire. Cruise — who seems to make a habit of heroic rescues on and off screen — and Kidman were reported to have rescued the family from the boat’s life raft. The worldwide press lauded them for the heroic rescue and for welcoming the traumatized family aboard their luxury yacht until help arrived. The Capri Coast Guard, however, had a different tale to tell. The Coast Guard spokesperson reported that the Coast Guard rescued the shaken family and subsequently brought them to the safety of the Cruise/Kidman yacht. They refute that Cruise had any part at all in the actual rescue, though admit that he kindly allowed the use of his luxury vessel and followed up with a visit to the victims in the hospital.