New Megayacht for Ellison

Larry Ellison, whose 100-ft trimaran USA won the America’s Cup, and who is bringing the ‘Auld Mug’ to San Francisco, has a new 288-ft motoryacht. He’s actually downsizing.

As most readers remember, a few years ago Ellison commissioned the 452-ft Rising Sun. It turns out that there is such a thing as too big a yacht. The 82-stateroom Rising Sun reportedly had all the charm of a empty shopping mall, and, in any event, was so big that she had to be docked next to oil tankers or anchored way offshore. There is no way the yacht, for example, could fit into glamorous harbors such as Antibes. And what fun was it being out of the spotlight?

So a couple of years ago, Ellison sold 50% interest to David Geffen, a similarly brilliant businessman, but one who started by managing the likes of folk singer Joni Mitchell. Geffen, according to reliable sources, bought the rest of Ellison’s ownership a few months ago.

Ellison’s new yacht, named Musashi, is the largest Feadship has ever built, and presumably the most expensive. It was launched late last year. The name Musashi comes from 16th century samurai Miyamoto Musashi, who wrote poems and was a celebrated warrior. Ellision says he considers himself to be a ‘new age samurai’. Like him or not, he certainly has been successful.

Ellison owns a $40 million Japanese-built, Zen-like home in Atherton, and last year purchased Beechwood — not Bushwood — the old Vanderbilt estate in Newport, Rhode Island, for something in the range of $10.5 million. It helped generate speculation that the America’s Cup might go to Newport rather than San Francisco.