Hey Tom,

As nat noted, I see ISOBEL is already for sale... Damn, that guy goes through multi-million dollar custom builds quicker than George Clooney goes through girlfriends... (grin)

I'm glad there are such patrons around to support the industry, of course, and I've benefited from clients who continually turned over their boats on a much smaller scale... To each his own, of course, but I guess I'll just never get the appeal of enjoying collecting Ferraris more than actually driving them, or the commissioning and building of 70' Weekenders more than sailing them...

A guy like Charlie Dana of Newport Shipyard could afford to have any boat out there, yet he's still happy with his magnificent ST ROQUE, built 20 years ago... I've seen that boat numerous times between Maine and the Bahamas, it's obviously part of his family, and strikes me as the sort of love affair with sailing and a boat that I admire the most...

http://features.boats.com/boat-content/2000/08/st-roque/

I once shared the anchorage off Harbour Island, Eleuthera with ST ROQUE... that boat goes places, not every day you see boats drawing over 7' going in there... Here she is, anchored in Maine out around Hell's Half Acre...

best regards,

Jon