OF PIGEONS AND MEGA-YACHTS

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Last night down at Clover Point, I was watching, with great amusement, boats 'pulling out' to pass one another. It always amazes me to see this ... there's miles of ocean all around, but they just have to pass within a few feet!



While I was being entertained by these boats, this dude landed on the hood of my van, and would not leave!

But the most interesting thing that happened was that we (Michael was with me, for a change!) saw the pilot boat returning from 'way out in the Strait, and finally we could see a huge yacht emerging from the mist behind it. (As an aside, a friend who worked for Customs for 30 years once told me that when famous people are coming in to the harbour, and especially if they have an entourage, the Customs folks are 'ferried' out to their boats to clear everyone so they don't have to go through that once they tie up. (I guess a little thing like clearing Customs is an inconvenience that only us 'little people' have to deal with!)

So we left Clover Point and drove along the Dallas Road waterfront to follow this yacht in to the harbour. We lost sight of it just inside the Ogden Point breakwater momentarily, and this emerged instead...

This 'tender' to the yacht must have been lowered into the water in the few moments we lost sight of it -- it's about a quarter-million dollar boat itself!

Then the 'Big Eagle' came into view...

The Big Eagle is best known for being part of the fleet of Bernie Little, owner of the Miss Budweiser Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Team. (In 1995, Bernie Little became the first owner to win five straight World Championships. Along the way, Little also pushed through the 100-victory barrier, and was the first person to pilot a race boat to break the 170-mph barrier. On the last day of the 2002 season, Little clinched his 22nd title to claim the World Championship trophy that is now named after him.)

If this interests you, you can watch a video of these boats here…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6kvInEAtiA

The Big Eagle was launched in 1980, is 172’ long, and one of America’s 100 biggest private yachts. Big Eagle was featured in the movie Striptease as ‘Big Sugar’.

The yacht has two main suites and four cabins, all with their own marble baths, and sleeps twelve comfortably while overseen by a captain and crew (including a chef) of ten. Celebrities know it, especially from Cannes where its been tied up during the Film Festival. Over the years Sharon Stone has been on board, as well as Alicia Keys, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgewick, Kevin Spacey, Sean Penn and Robin Wright, Roberto Cavalli, Cuba Gooding Jr., Sofia Coppola, Zoey Cassavetes, Benjamin Bratt, Harvey Weinstein, David Carradine,and Quentin Tarrantino.Joan Rivers, among others, loves this boat and has chartered it for her own use (and a host of friends) both in the US and in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean at Christmastime.

Long based in Fort Lauderdale, the Big Eagle was sold after Little’s death (for about $8 million) to two businessmen from Texas.

So I have no idea who's aboard here in Victoria, but I'd sure love to know! lol