Megayacht News

Operation Cruise: Megayachts Making a Difference

December 16, 2011 by Diane M. Byrne

The next time you see the 155-foot (47.24-meter) One More Toy, she might be hosting a handful of wounded American soldiers. And she will hopefully inspire other yacht owners and crew to do the same.

That’s because One More Toy is the centerpiece of Operation Cruise, an organization founded to help heal soldiers’ physical and emotional scars, as well as those of their families.

Operation Cruise was created by Gary Markel, One More Toy’s owner. He got the initial idea for what would become Operation Cruise last December. “I was sitting around, channel surfing, when I saw a military channel program on wounded warriors in St. Thomas,” he says. The soldiers, some missing limbs, were scuba diving with a group of volunteers. Markel says a thought suddenly struck him: “I’ve got a boat; if it’s not being chartered or we’re not using it, it’s doing nothing.” Why not, he thought, provide these soldiers and their families with an experience they’ll never forget?

It wasn’t a simple matter of setting up a foundation. After all, some of the soldiers are still active personnel, so security clearances and other crucial matters need addressing. Through a few different contacts, Markel decided One More Toy could be put at the military’s disposal, similar to the volunteers in St. Thomas that he saw on the TV program.

Markel contacted a friend who founded Care Coalition at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. Care Coalition helps Special Operations Forces personnel recover and rehabilitate physically and emotionally, with the aid of licensed counselors. The soldiers are then assisted in returning to military life or re-entering civilian life. Markel’s friend put him in touch with the head of Care Coalition, and Markel offered the yacht as a counseling platform. As you can imagine, Care Coalition was thrilled to have One More Toy, especially given that she could host far more people than the 20- to 30-footers other individuals had donated for use.

One More Toy hosted her first soldiers and families cruise in February 2011, in the British Virgin Islands. A Care Coalition counselor was among the six people aboard. She told Markel after the trip that being aboard One More Toy really helped the soldiers open up to her and one another, despite being strangers. Markel was delighted. “It hit home: Maybe I could get other yacht owners to donate to the cause,” he says.

Thus, Operation Cruise was born.

On Operation Cruise trips aboard One More Toy, counselors are always present. They help the soldiers and their families alike work through the variety of issues with which they struggle. Given that some of the soldiers are double amputees, Markel’s crew and the counselors review their special needs ahead of time to ensure they’ll be able to get around the yacht. When they’re not in counseling sessions, the soldiers and families do what everyone else does aboard a yacht: play on the watertoys, snorkel, swim, catch some sun on deck, and of course enjoy the first-rate food. Interesting enough, therein lay one of the first difficulties that One More Toy’s crew encountered on an early trip. “We have a funny problem,” Markel’s captain told him. “None of the troops will let us serve them.” Markel pauses a moment, then adds, “They caught on quick.”

Overall, the healing trips have been rewarding and heartwarming in ways that not even Markel could have imagined. One More Toy’s captain officiated at the marriage of one soldier and his fiancé while aboard. The crew even decorated the yacht

Operation Cruise, which was awarded with the International Superyacht Society’s Excellence in Innovation Award this year, is in need of more yachts and other donations. Markel says two additional owners may donate their yachts for future trips, but there’s still an immediate need: “Unfortunately we have more than enough people to put on these yachts.” There are opportunities for everything from yacht donations to slip donations. Operation Cruise is also in need of monetary contributions to cover the yacht owners’ out-of-pocket costs for meals, fuel, and related items while the soldiers and families are onboard. All donations are made via the Task Force Dagger Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization that assists special ops personnel and their families. Since the Task Force Dagger Foundation specifically hosts several water-oriented trips, it was a good partner for Operation Cruise. Markel says he is in the process of setting up Operation Cruise as its own 501(c)(3) organization as well.

To get involved, contact Operation Cruise, or fill out this form.

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John Wayne’s Megayacht Now on National Register of Historic Places

August 12, 2011 by Diane M. Byrne

PHOTO: Courtesy Facebook/The Wild Goose

The 136-foot Wild Goose, the dearly cherished yacht of John Wayne, is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

In late July, the U.S. Department of the Interior approved the nomination, which had previously been certified by the California Office of Historic Preservation. Wild Goose was deemed eligible for entry into the National Register because of her association with Wayne. The documents submitted and approved cite him as “one of the most iconic actors in the history of cinema” and the yacht “as an expression of John Wayne’s personality and outsized image.”

John Wayne purchased the all-wood megayacht in 1962 and enjoyed time aboard until two months prior to his death in 1979. The yacht was actually a converted minesweeper, originally built in 1943 in Seattle as YMS-328 for the U.S. Navy. She was decommissioned from military use in 1946, her three on-deck guns removed in the process. Harold Jones, the owner of the Vancouver Tug and Barge Company, purchased the vessel in 1948 and converted her for private use, christening her La Beverie. In the late 1950s, Max Wyman, a Seattle-area lumber tycoon, acquired her, gracing her with the name Wild Goose II, which was reportedly inspired by a run-down sailboat owned by his chef.

PHOTO: Courtesy National Register of Historic Places

Wyman sold the yacht to Wayne for $116,000, a tidy sum in those days, and was thereafter known just as Wild Goose. Wayne further altered the yacht for his needs, creating a master stateroom and adding two staterooms for his children in 1965. In fact, one of the staterooms, fitted with bunk berths, still bears raised carvings reading “EW” and “AW,” made by his children Ethan and Aissa, respectively, to represent their initials. One of Wayne’s most famous additions is still aboard, too. It’s a round Koa wood table on the aft deck (above), where he hosted many a poker game. When just he and his family were aboard, it was used as a dining table.

Wayne’s children, captains, and crewmembers all have given interviews over the years attesting to how Wayne thoroughly enjoyed family time on Wild Goose. The kids waterskied off the California coast, and they took family trips up the U.S. West Coast. Wild Goose even ventured to Europe with Wayne aboard shortly after he purchased her, so that he could film Circus World. But she became particularly important to him after his lung-cancer diagnosis in 1964. Wayne moved to the coast, directly across the street from Wild Goose’s berth, in 1965.

Interesting enough, as big of a movie star as Wayne was, Wild Goose actually became a film star herself. Though she never appeared on the screen alongside Wayne, she was featured in The President’s Analyst in 1967 and Skidoo in 1968.

Wild Goose still cruises in California, hosting day trips under the operation of Hornblower Cruises & Events.

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Yacht Leander on Loan to Queen of England—Maybe

July 13, 2011 by Diane M. Byrne

Sir Donald Gosling yacht Leander

If the UK newspaper Mirror is correct, look for Sir Donald Gosling’s superyacht Leander to host Queen Elizabeth II next June.

Specifically, the Queen is celebrating her Diamond Jubilee, marking 60 years of reign. It’s quite a big deal: The only other British monarch to celebrate one was Queen Victoria in 1897. Buckingham Palace is therefore coordinating a series of events from June 2 to 5. These include the Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the 3rd. It’s a gathering of up to 1,000 boats, yachts, and superyachts along the River Thames. There, the Queen will lead the flotilla, one of the largest ever gathered.

The official illustration commissioned by the Royal Household (below) shows the Queen on a barge. However, talk arose about Leander for a few reasons. First, the Queen no longer has an official yacht, following the retirement of Britannia back in 1997. Second, a cruise ship that she has used for previous trips will not be available. Last, but not least, the Mirror quotes a friend of Gosling’s as saying, “He will always do anything he can to offer his services to Queen and country.”

ILLUSTRATION: William Dudley, courtesy the Royal Household

Indeed: Gosling hosted the Queen aboard the 75-meter (246-foot) Leander for lunch in May. Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles also made official visits to various Caribbean islands aboard Leander in early 2008. Furthermore, Gosling is a proud Brit, having served aboard a Royal Navy ship, the HMS Leander, during World War II. It is this ship that inspired him to christen his yacht Leander. (He purchased her shortly after selling his interest in National Car Parks, which he co-founded, in 1988.)

We’ll have to wait and see whether Leander and her crew of 25 are tapped for official duty. In the meantime, you can register your yacht to join the Diamond Jubilee Pageant.

UPDATE, JULY 24: It’s now official; Leander is on loan to the Queen. The Mail of Sunday newspaper quotes Gosling as saying the megayacht will be provided for free: “I wouldn’t expect a fee for something that is on behalf of the nation.” A source close to the Royal Family further adds, “The Queen is delighted. She used to love to entertain on the Royal Yacht and she will love this. Leander, we understand, is to have a bit of a facelift, but it is a style she loves – quite old-fashioned, quite chintzy.”

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