The 1%ers’ Boats

One of the mega yacht docks in St. Maarten

Of recent there has been a lot of talk concerning the concentration of income and wealth among the top earning 1%.  Most recently President Obama promised to focus on income inequality in his State of the Union address.  For those in the 99% that seldom gets to see that wealth, I say come to St Maarten where it is proudly on display.  St. Maarten is the winter home for many of the world’s mega yachts.

The Martha Ann blocking the channel to St. Maarten

A mega yacht (also known as luxury yacht or super yacht) is defined as a very expensive, privately owned, professionally crewed sailing or motor yacht.  The minimum length to be considered a mega yacht is in the 150 to 160 foot range.  The Martha Ann pictured above is 230 feet in length and features an oversize swim spa on the sports deck.  She was delivered to her owner, Warren E. Halle, a Maryland/Virginia real estate developer in 2008.  She was the third in a series of sister ships all built in Germany by Lürssen for Mr. Halle.  After the law suits were settled, the first in the series sold for 65 million Euros ($87.6 million USD).  So much for the “Buy American” slogan.

Source: SuperYachtFan.com

Professional crew in action

One of the arguments used by the GOP to keep taxes on the wealth at the lowest rate in a generation is that the wealthy are “job creators.”  Billionaire Darwin Deason’s 205-foot yacht, Apogee is a crewed yacht, so I guess you could argue that cutting his taxes has resulted in creating jobs of the 17 crew members (of different nationalities)  and two security guards. 

Crew hanging SXM courtesy flag

After selling MTech in 1988, Mr. Deason immediately founded ACS to provide computer and processing services to clients such as E-ZPass and the federal government’s student loan program.  In relation to a spinoff company of ACS, Deason paid $3.75 million to make allegations that he was dipping into company funds go away and two top executives resigned after ACS was investigated for a backdating-options scandal.  In 2010 Deason sold ACS for $6.4 billion after successfully beating off investors suing him over the hefty premium he had negotiated for his class B shares.

Source: Forbes 5/7/2012

Apogee

The owners of most mega yachts look for ways to offset cost by making the yachts businesses. Both the Martha Ann and Apogee are available for charter.  The weekly rate for the Martha Ann is 600,000 Euros while Apogee is only asking $450,000, but that is “dry.”  Berthing, fuel and tips for the crew will run you another $200,000 per week.  From Motivator’s vantage point it does not seem like good business ventures for the billionaires.  On the three occasions when we have been on a mooring adjacent to Apogee, we have only seen the yacht move once and that was only to spin it around probably so that it does not get sun struck on one side.  There must be some tax dodge that I do not understand.

NSA if you are reading this, please forward to the IRS.

Venus

The 256 foot mega yacht Venus was designed by Philippe Starck (also the designer of A) and built by Feadship in the Netherlands for Apple Computer’s Steve Jobs.  Jobs died in October of 2011, and the yacht was launched a year later after Jobs’s estate paid off the last of the bills.  Construction cost estimates range from 100 million Euros to $250 million USD.   While visiting the local iStore, I asked the salesperson if she was ever invited over for drinks on Venus.  She said she had not, but wished they would at least stop by the store and say she was doing a good job.

Clean machine - noticeable lack of antenna array

“Apple claims to be the largest U.S. corporate taxpayer, but . . . it is also among America’s largest tax avoiders,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).  Ouch, even the Republicans are on Apple’s case about avoiding US taxes.  Apple reportedly had $102 billion in off shore accounts in 2012.  That would buy 408 more boats like Venus unless you moved the production to China where labor is much cheaper.  But then you would have those pesky rumors about workers committing suicide rather than work in Apple production facilities.

Flagged in the Cayman Islands

A common practice among the mega yacht crowd is to register (flag) their boats in the Cayman Islands, Marshal Islands, Isle of Man or the British Virgin Islands even though the yachts may never visit those countries.  The Martha Ann, Apogee and Venus are Cayman Islands flagged.  I have to admit that the morass of state boating regulations in the US is a problem, but the goal of the mega yacht owners is ultimately to again avoid US taxes.

Motivator proudly (and probably stupidly) flies the Stars and Stripes.

The Corporate Pledge of Allegiance to America

Our corporation pledges allegiance to

The United States of America. To that end:

We pledge to create more jobs in the

United States than we create outside the

United States, either directly or in our foreign

subsidiaries and subcontractors.

We further pledge that no more than

20 percent of our total labor costs will be

outsourced abroad.  If we have to lay off

American workers at a time when we’re profitable,

we will give those workers severance payments

equal to their weekly wage time the number of

months they’ve worked for us.

We pledge to keep a lid on executive

pay so no executive is paid more than fifty

times the median pay of American workers.

We define “pay” to include salary, bonuses,

health benefits, pension benefits, deferred

salary, stock options, and every other form

of compensation.

We pledge to pay at least 30 percent

of money earned in the United States in taxes

to the United States.  We won’t shift our money to

offshore tax havens, and we won’t use accounting

gimmicks to fake how much we earn.

We pledge not to use our money to

influence elections.

Source: Beyond Outrage, by Robert B. Reich     

iBoat

Gmail - Google

Initially we bought our iPads because we were tired of lugging our laptops to shore when we have to go on the hunt for Internet.  In most anchorages we can receive WiFi on the boat utilizing our WiFi extender equipment, but there are the occasional WiFi dead zones.

Garmin BlueChart Mobile

At the local Island Water World boat chandlery I notice they were selling brackets to mount your iPad in the cockpit of your boat and covers to protect them from sea spray and rain.  Evidently, others have discovered the apps that turn your iPad into a fairly descent chartplotter.  Motivator uses an iPad app from Garmin as a backup to the backup chartplotter.

 Hurricane Tracker for iPad, by EZ Apps, Inc

During this time of the year keeping track of tropical depressions that turn into tropical storms that can become hurricanes is very important.  An app called Hurricane Tracker provides good coverage and numerous products.

The Sun Rise & Fall, by Team Lundsguard

When we are making long passages, we like to start at first light.  Also a quick glance at this app helps us with our passage planning to ensure we will not be entering a strange harbor in the dark.  It uses the iPad’s GPS, so it gives very accurate times.

Moon, by CDV Concepts

A commercial captain in the Bahamas when asked about night crossings told me, “There are only two types of people out there at night, fools and drug runners.”  The crew of Motivator avoids night crossing when we can.  When the distance between islands is too great and we do need to do a night crossing it is nice to know how much illumination to expect if there are no clouds.

                                                          Tides Near Me, by Randy Meech

Tidal information can be important part of your route planning, especially if you expect a harbor entrance with “skinny water.”  Knowing the tides also gives you a heads-up about expected currents.

Sea State

While underway, this app settles a lot of arguments about the height of the waves that the hapless captain has once again got us into.  You simply rest your iPad on a steady surface (if you can find one) and touch the button.

Life would be good if this is all we ever see.

I think a Sea State readout ought to be a required accompaniment to sea stories told in dock side bars.

Drag Queen

Once you arrive at your destination, there are several anchor alarms available to warn about dragging anchor.  We liked the name of this alarm, and found it to be simple to operate.  Note: we did not drag anchor for 924,368 feet; that must be the last place we used it.

Anchor Watch HD, by Lukassen

We found we liked Anchor Watch’s Google Earth view of your location, but the activation process was a bit clumsy.  Here in Port Louis Marina the site depiction is about spot on.  Our primary chartplotters have anchor alarms, but we have found the iPad version to be more versatile and not as power hungry.

Recently, I have been searching for an app that will clean the bottom and change oil, while Pollie is in the market for one that cooks and cleans.