And this is the point in a schlocky SF film where the 400 foot cephalopod/shark mutant comes up from the depths and tosses Allen and his boat like a child’s toy.
One can dream, right?
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“Hi, I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn!”
Hmmm. Needs a picture.
FTFA:Shifting winds reportedly changed the position, pushing the ship toward the reserve…
Who inna hell sets a large craft with only one anchor line? Depending on the seas, you set two in a Vee from the bow, or one from bow and one from stern, to prevent exactly this type of event. This is Cruising 101-level stuff.
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Bill Gates he is not
And I thought Ballmer was the only person who could come up looking worse when compared to Carnival Cruise Lines!
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And there’s your problem right there. He’s a billionaire–obviously he knows best. I believe a TP report was circulated to that effect…
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Whull yeah… 'cause billionaire. Just ask Seattle.
Whad’ya know, Al was a good looking guy when he was younger, what the hell happened to him?
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Crusing was about 6 years after Godfather 2. He held up well until his early 40’s.
I think its just being 35 years older than that picture. The man is over 75. He is allowed a bit of decrepitude.
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That might be on the low end.
This is Allen’s yacht:
It’s powered by eight Mercedes diesel engines and holds 850,000 liters of fuel. Diesel is $1.50-$2.00 per liter right now (he probably burns the lowest grade stuff) so that means it’s around $1.25 million to refuel.
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Holy crow('s feet)!
“How’d Al manage to keep his good looks for so long?” 
(That’ll teach me to check IMDB first.)
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holy crap, i had no idea. I knew the yachts were expensive, but that is one big gas bill.
it also means you are using that much fossil fuel each time, any idea how clean burning the engines would be?
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I don’t get the hysteria, 14,000 ft is smaller than a Trader Joe’s! Not great to destroy a reef anywhere, but this is small potatoes compared to what is happening all over all the time. Trawlers destroy ocean bottom by the sq mile.
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I mostly depends on what grade of fuel he buys. The cheap stuff is high in sulfur and is pretty dirty with lots of sulfur dioxide going into the air. If he buys the same stuff you buy at a local gas station (fuel meant for highway use, not agriculture), it would be quite clean. No matter what fuel you buy though, it uses a lot of it.
Those Mercedes engines are remarkably flexible as far as fuel goes though. They will work on just about anything resembling diesel.
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There’s more ocean bottom than reef.
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Depends on where he fueled up. Marine diesel on the east coast of Florida is easy to find for $2.30 a gallon right now, which works out to under $520K per fill up. (What I’m trying to say is, “There’s never been a better time to adopt the exciting lifestyle of retired billionaire ocean killing power cruising – send for your free info packet today! And of course, as a retired billionaire, you have no obligations!”)
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Worst superpower ever.
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Oooooh, the German version. That must be extra naughty…
Only if he’s insured against this or his yacht crew aren’t his employees. Also, I know it’s fun to call them lackeys, but they’re probably working-class sailors working as hard or harder than you or I for a living to support themselves and any family. Luxury yacht crew aren’t typically corporate execs.
If this was a case of the Port Authority telling his crew to drop anchor in the wrong spot, then not only is it their fault, but he or the company that provides his crew could be sued if they disobeyed the PA’s orders, even if those orders were wrong and the crew knew it. The PA could argue, well you’re map might have the reef here, but our map puts it there and that means you listen to us.
To everyone who’s decided Paul Allen is the bad guy because he’s filthy stink’ rich: don’t you care whether or not the PA gave bad directions? If they did it once, they could do it again. Which is more more important, raking Paul Allen over the coals or preventing coastal damage.
Lastly, how would you propose he pay for the damage? Should he mail a check to the West Bay PA and hope they both don’t send it back and actually use it as directed? Sorry, that’s not the way government funding operates. It’s not a charity you can just mail money to. If they sue for damages, he or the yacht crew company (or far more likely his insurance company) could settle. But he presumably doesn’t control the insurance company, and they presumably don’t want to go out of business and fire all their employees by admitting to a fault if it wasn’t theirs just because their client is a well-known billionaire.
He could donate a large sum to a charity-funded conservation project or three, and that would indeed be great PR. A decent billionaire concerned with the damage regardless would find a way to do this anyway. Except for the people who would say it was the least he could do, because they would take it as an admission of fault, even if the PA was at fault.
TL;DR ~ Donating to coastal preservation causes is a wonderful suggestion. Indulging in a little schadenfreude pie based on Cory’s incendiary headline doesn’t do anyone any good at all, but I suppose it feels invigorating.
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