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Autopsies reveal cause of death of US lawyer and wife onboard Mike Lynch’s superyacht
Seven lives were lost when the the yacht bayesian, belonging to british tech tycoon mike lynch, capsized off the coast of sicily, article bookmarked.
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Louise Thomas
Autopsies have been carried out on a couple who drowned on Mike Lynch’s superyacht when it sank off the coast of Sicily last month.
Seven lives were lost when the British-flagged boat, called the Bayesian, went down in a freak storm while anchored near the Sicilian capital of Palermo on 19 August.
British technology tycoon Mike Lynch and his 19-year-old daughter Hannah Lynch were among those who died, while his wife, Angela Bacares, survived with 14 others.
On Monday, Italian authorities said the first post-mortem examinations on the victims had been carried out on US lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda . The results confirmed that the pair had drowned.
Morvillo was a partner at Clifford Chance, a white-collar law firm. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor who investigated the September 11 terror attacks, according to the New York Post .
Post-mortem examinations are planned on Wednesday on the bodies of Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley’s London-based investment banking subsidiary, and his wife Judy.
They are also due to take place for the remaining three victims, Mr Lynch, who had organised the yacht trip to celebrate a recent legal victory, his daughter Hannah and the yacht’s cook, Recaldo Thomas.
Mr Morvillo was one of Mr Lynch’s US lawyers in a fraud case involving the sale in 2011 of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in an £8.3 billion deal that quickly turned sour over allegations Mr Lynch had cooked the books to overvalue Autonomy. He was acquitted in June.
What we know so far
The British-flagged vessel was carrying 12 passengers and 10 members of crew when it sank at around 5am local time near Palermo.
The 56-metre (184ft) luxury yacht sank during what appears to have been a sudden downburst. These are powerful winds that descend from a thunderstorm and spread out quickly once they hit the ground. The wreckage now sitting at a depth of 50m below the surface of the sea.
Of the 22 passengers and crew on board, 15 people including Mr Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares were rescued after escaping on a lifeboat.
Tributes were paid to those who died , with Hannah’s sister calling her “the most amazing, supportive and joyful sister and best friend to me”. She had been due to start studying English at Oxford University in October.
Mr Lynch founded the software giant Autonomy in 1996 and sat on the board of a number of prestigious institutions .
His close friend and colleague Andrew Kanter said: “Mike was the most brilliant mind and caring person I have ever known. Over nearly a quarter century I had the privilege of working beside someone unrivalled in their understanding of technology and business.
“There is simply no other UK technology entrepreneur of our generation who has had such an impact on so many people.”
What happens now?
Prosecutors are investigating the captain , New Zealander James Cutfield, and two crew members for possible responsibility in connection with the sinking.
Mr Cutfield is under investigation for possible manslaughter and culpable shipwreck charges. Tim Parker Eaton — the engineer who was in charge of securing the yacht’s engine room — and sailor Matthew Griffith — who was on watch duty on the night of the disaster — are now under investigation for the same possible charges, their lawyer said.
Chief prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio, who is heading the investigation, has said his team will consider each possible element of responsibility including those of the captain, the crew, individuals in charge of supervision and the yacht’s manufacturer.
Investigators are focusing on how a sailing vessel deemed “unsinkable” by its manufacturer, Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed. They added raising the Bayesian and examining the yacht for evidence would provide key elements to the investigation.
Maritime director of western Sicily, Rear Admiral Raffaele Macauda of the coastguard, could not confirm how long it would take to retrieve the shipwreck of the sunken yacht, adding recovering the fuel tanks was a “priority for us because it has environmental knock-on effects”.
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Italy luxury yacht victims died of 'dry drowning,' first autopsies show.
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Initial autopsies of four of the seven victims who died when a superyacht sank in a storm in Italy last month show they died of “dry drowning,” according to authorities.
The phenomenon, also known as “atypical drowning,” means they had no water in their lungs, tracheas or stomachs, said a spokesperson for the lawyer of the captain of the Bayesian, which went down off the coast of the Sicilian port of Porticello on Aug. 19.
The cause of death of the first four victims suggests that they had found an air bubble in the cabin in which five of the victims’ bodies were discovered, and had consumed all the oxygen before the air pocket turned toxic due to carbon dioxide, according to local media reports.
The autopsies of American lawyer Chris Morvillo, his wife Neda Morvillo, Morgan Stanley banker Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Anne Elizabeth Judith Bloomer were carried out on Wednesday at the Forensic Medicine Institute of the Palermo Polyclinic hospital, officials said.
Autopsies on British tech titan Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter are expected to be carried out on Friday.
No date has been set yet for the autopsy of Recaldo Thomas, the ship’s onboard chef – due to the difficulty reaching his family in Antigua.
All seven victims were scanned for injuries last Saturday, which found none had suffered broken bones or other physical injuries that might have contributed to their deaths.
The prosecutor investigating the case first suggested earlier in August the idea that the victims had been searching for an air pocket.
The autopsies are part of the criminal investigation into the ship’s captain James Cutfield, the ship’s machine engineer Tim Parker Eaton and sailor Matthew Griffith, who was on watch the night of the accident. None of the men is in Italy.
They are being investigated for “multiple manslaughter” and for causing a shipwreck, but authorities say this doesn’t mean they will be charged with any crimes. They were allowed to leave the country by the prosecutor in charge of the investigation.
The 184-foot yacht sank within 16 minutes of being struck by a downburst or tornado on the early morning of Aug. 19. The ship will have to be raised for the investigation and to ensure that the 18,000 liters of fuel onboard do not leak into the sea around the port of Porticello near Palermo.
Bids have been sent out for the salvage, which will be paid for by the company of Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares, which owns the yacht.
Toxicology results on the seven victims are expected in the coming days. No alcohol or drug tests were carried out on any of the crew members, the prosecutor said in a press conference after all the victims’ bodies had been recovered.
Lynch and his business partner Sushovan Hussain, who died after being struck by a car in London the day the Bayesian sank, had been acquitted of fraud charges in a U.S. court in June 2024. The charges were related to the sale of their company Autonomy to Hewlett Packard, which has said it will not drop its civil lawsuit for $4 billion in damages now being heard in a U.K. court.
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Home / World / Europe / Tragic sinking of Bayesian superyacht: Autopsy reveals victims died of ‘dry drowning’
Tragic sinking of Bayesian superyacht: Autopsy reveals victims died of ‘dry drowning’
Shocking Findings After Superyacht Disaster Off Sicily
In the tragic aftermath of the Bayesian superyacht sinking off the coast of Sicily , autopsies have revealed that four of the seven victims died from “dry drowning” after being trapped alive inside the ship’s cabins.
New York City lawyer Chris Morvillo, his wife Neda, and Morgan Stanley Bank International chair Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, were among the victims who lost their lives due to asphyxiation, according to autopsies conducted over the past two days. The findings were reported by the Italian news outlet la Repubblica .
‘Dry drowning’ confirmed: No water in lungs
The autopsy results revealed that no water was found in the lungs, trachea, or stomachs of the four passengers aboard the 185-foot sailboat, indicating that they did not drown in seawater. Instead, they perished due to a lack of oxygen in their cabins after the yacht sank during a storm on August 19.
Pathologists from the Palermo Institute of Forensic Medicine concluded that the victims died from asphyxiation after the oxygen in their cabins was depleted and the air bubble turned toxic due to carbon dioxide accumulation. The cause of death was labeled as “death by confinement” by an Italian publication.
The bodies of the Morvillos, the Bloomers, and yacht owner Mike Lynch were found in a similar cabin room on the left side of the hull. The superyacht had sunk and rested on the ocean floor with a tilt to its right side, suggesting that the victims, likely awake, sought air pockets in the cabins. Unfortunately, these air pockets turned toxic as they breathed out carbon dioxide.
Survivors’ attempts to warn others
Local reports indicate that survivors, including Lynch’s wife and Hannah’s mother, Angela Bacares, tried to warn those below deck but were injured and unable to reach the cabins.
Additional tests will be conducted to confirm that the four victims died by “dry drowning,” la Repubblica reported. Autopsies for Lynch, Hannah, and Thomas are scheduled for Friday, September 6.
Officials have yet to determine the exact cause of the ship’s capsize, although stormy weather is believed to have been a contributing factor.
This tragic event has left a profound impact on the families of the victims and the broader community, raising questions about safety measures and emergency preparedness on luxury yachts.
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Husband and Wife Drowned Together as Yacht Sank in Sicily, Autopsy Reportedly Finds
Seven people died after the luxury yacht Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily, on Monday, Aug. 19
Gabrielle Rockson is a staff writer-reporter for PEOPLE. She joined PEOPLE in 2023 and covers entertainment and human interest stories. She's interviewed David Beckham, Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet and many others. Her previous work can be found in OK! Magazine, MyLondon, GRM Daily, and more.
Patrick McMullan/Patrick McMullan via Getty
The cause of death of two of the victims on the yacht that sank in Sicily has been determined.
British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah Lynch, Christopher Morvillo and his wife, Neda , Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy , and yacht chef Recaldo Thomas have been identified as the seven people who died after the luxury yacht Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily on Monday, Aug. 19.
On Monday, Sept. 2, the Associated Press and Italian news agency ANSA reported that the autopsies of Christopher and his wife Neda ruled their cause of death as drowning.
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According to ANSA, the initial results — which were done by Professor Antonella Argo of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the Palermo Policlinico — showed there were no signs of trauma.
The couple are reported to have died from suffocation due to drowning. While additional laboratory tests have been carried out to confirm the cause of death, there are currently no other causes.
ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty
The autopsies for Jonathan and his wife, Judy, are set to be carried out on Wednesday. However, the autopsies for Mike and his daughter Hannah, as well as Thomas', haven’t been assigned as of yet.
The Italian Coast Guard previously said in a statement that the 183-foot British-flagged vessel sank during a "violent storm" last month.
Guests were on the yacht celebrating Mike's acquittal on all counts of a series of fraud and conspiracy charges he faced in the U.S. after a legal battle that dated back to 2018.
His wife, Angela Bacares, was also present on the yacht, but she was rescued along with 14 others on board.
ALESSANDRO FUCARINI/AFP via Getty
Meanwhile, Christopher represented Mike in the case, while Jonathan, 70, was a close friend of Mike's.
Speaking at a press conference on Aug. 24, Girolamo Bentivoglio Fiandra, head of the Palermo Fire Brigade, said, "It was quite clear that people were trying to hide in the cabins."
“In the left-hand side, we found the first 5 bodies in the left-hand side cabins, and the final body on the right-hand side,” Fiandra said. “We found them on the highest part of the ship, which was closer to the surface. The vessel had three cabins on each side.”
The five victims, who "took refuge" on the luxury yacht’s left side, had been "searching for air pockets" in a final attempt at survival," he added.
Ambrogio Cartosio, the chief prosecutor of Termini Imerese, also announced on Aug. 24 that a manslaughter investigation had been launched, "hypothesizing the crimes of negligent shipwreck."
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Bayesian superyacht victims were trapped alive when ship went down, died of ‘dry drowning’: report.
Four of the seven victims killed in the Bayesian superyacht wreck were trapped alive inside the ship’s cabins as the vessel went down off the coast of Sicily last month, according to their autopsies.
New York City lawyer Chris Morvillo, his wife, Neda, along with Morgan Stanley Bank International chair Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy, all died of “dry drowning,” according to tests conducted over the past two days, Italian outlet la Repubblica reported .
None of the four passengers aboard the 185-foot sailboat had water in their lungs, trachea or stomach — revealing that they did not drown in the seawater after the ship began sinking during an Aug. 19 storm.
Pathologists with the Palermo Institute of Forensic Medicine determined the four victims died of asphyxiation when the air bubble they huddled in ran out of oxygen and became toxic with carbon dioxide.
They said the victims’ cause of death was “death by confinement,” according to the Italian publication.
The bodies of the Morvillos and the Bloomers — and that of British tech billionaire and the yacht owner Mike Lynch — were found inside the same cabin room on the left side of the $40 million yacht.
The body of Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah was discovered in the next room , also on the left side of the hull.
The ship sank to the ocean floor and sat tilted on its right side — which means the victims were likely awake as they headed inside the cabins that filled with water last in hopes of finding air pockets.
But the air pockets quickly became toxic as the victims breathed in the last of its oxygen and breathed out carbon dioxide.
Lynch’s wife and Hannah’s mother, Angela Bacares — who survived the shipwreck — reportedly tried to warn those below the ship’s deck but was injured when she stepped on broken glass and wasn’t able to reach the cabins as they quickly filled with water, the local outlet reported.
Bacares was among 15 passengers and crew members on the yacht to survive.
One crew member, the ship’s cook, Recaldo Thomas, was also killed. His body was found floating next to the downed yacht.
Additional tests are needed to confirm that the four victims died by “dry drowning,” la Repubblica reported.
Autopsies on the bodies of Lynch, Hannah and Thomas are scheduled for Friday.
The cause of the ship’s sinking has not yet been determined, though the stormy weather is believed to be a contributing factor.
Three Bayesian crew members, including Captain James Cutfield, are being investigated for suspected negligent manslaughter and causing the shipwreck.
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The Darcars family drama: Passed over at auto business, a daughter sues
I n 1987, Tammy Darvish was on top of the world. At 23, she had a thriving career in the family car business, working alongside her father, a man she adored. She was an enthusiastic big sister to her three half-siblings. And, after four years of dating, the love of her life had finally proposed.
“Oh my God,” she recalls. “I was so excited.”
A few months into the engagement, her dad asked her to dinner — just the two of them, a rare chance for time alone in an otherwise relentless schedule. He took her to Raindancer, a seafood restaurant on Rockville Pike. She was upbeat and a little nervous: Did he want to talk about her job? The wedding? Maybe he wanted her fiance to join the company? She had no idea.
“I want you to give the ring back,” she says he told her. “Tell him we’re not interested.”
Tammy remembers being stunned as her father calmly continued: It wasn’t the right time. They had a business to grow. Marriage now would be a distraction.
She was devastated, but “I didn’t argue,” she says now, “because I would have never argued.” She promised to break the engagement.
It was the first of many sacrifices she would make over the next three decades as she put her father’s happiness ahead of her own, she says. John Darvish Sr. had two local dealerships when she started working for him in 1984; he now owns 22, worth an estimated $400 million. Working 12-hour days, Tammy became the public face of Darcars Automotive Group, one of the largest car dealers in the country, and a top female executive in an industry dominated by men. Her father, she says, promised that one day she and his two sons would inherit the company and run it together.
Then, a year ago, she was blindsided again. Her father handed the company over to his sons, John Jr., 42, and Jamie, 39. Tammy kept her title as senior vice president but says she was asked to clean out her office and stay away from the dealerships.
Nothing personal, said her father: “This is business.”
“I think they knew I would be very hurt, very mad, but do what I always do,” she says. “Turn the other cheek.”
But for the first time in her 51 years, Tammy says, she fought back.
She sued them.
There are so many questions, and Tammy will be the first to tell you that she doesn’t have many answers.
She doesn’t know, for instance, whether her dad willingly chose to cut her out or whether he was pressured. She has no idea why or when things went sour with her brothers. Was it last year, when her father started formalizing plans to transfer stock to all three of them? Or sometime before that, when she thought they were all on the same team? Although she was more experienced and more involved with day-to-day operations, she had no problem with sharing the company with her brothers, who had both worked in the dealerships for the past 15 years.
Or maybe it’s about money? Tammy is the product of her father’s first marriage; John Jr., Jamie and a half-sister are from his second marriage, to Judy Darvish.
Of all the friends, professional colleagues and current and former Darcars employees interviewed by The Washington Post, not one could offer a definitive explanation for Tammy’s ouster. Many believe it happened primarily because she’s a woman. “She knew the business inside out and is probably the hardest-working person I ever met,” says a former Darcars manager who asked not to be named because he’s still actively involved in the local car industry. “If she was a male, she’d be president.”
But Tammy was never one to lean in. She bent over backward. She believed that if she worked hard enough, played by the rules and trusted her father, she would be rewarded one day. This is the other road of feminism: not marching forward but being stopped in your tracks by a final, intolerable outrage.
John Darvish Sr. and his sons declined multiple requests for interviews, citing the pending litigation. Tammy says he promised her one-third of the business; in his legal response, Darvish Sr. moved to dismiss the case and called his daughter’s claims “pure fiction.” A family representative released this statement:
“Darcars has always been about family and Tammy’s lawsuit has been painful for the entire Darvish family. Last March, Mr. Darvish began implementing a comprehensive succession plan, which appointed John as CEO, Jamie as COO and Tammy as SVP of Darcars. Mr. Darvish felt this was an equitable arrangement for his children and the best decision for Darcars, its employees and customers. Unfortunately, Tammy chose to publicly reject her father’s plan, and resign from her Senior Vice President position at Darcars, by filing a lawsuit. As a parent and grandparent, Mr. Darvish loves his children and grandchildren and continues to support them in every way he can.”
Tammy Darvish sues her father for a share of Darcars.
A year later, Tammy is both broken and defiant. She’s running late, as usual, for an interview. Her brown hair is swept back with her trademark headband and her suit is slightly rumpled. Her tone is no-nonsense and almost brutally honest, especially as she struggles to understand how she ended up here — once the good daughter, now furious and willful — and why she was so completely under her father’s sway.
Even now, after everything that has happened, there’s only one thing she knows with absolute certainty: “Swear to God,” she says, “I don’t know of any daughter who loves her father more than I love my father.”
John Darvish Sr.’s first job in the United States was working in the cafeteria at Elon University in North Carolina. The young pre-med student from Tehran had planned to become a heart surgeon, but he fell in love with selling cars. His father gave his blessing, with one caveat: “Don’t be just a car salesman. Go out there and be a Henry Ford.”
It would be 15 years before Darvish bought his first dealership, and three decades before his company reached No. 31 on the Automotive News list of top U.S dealership groups, with revenue topping more than $1 billion a year. In 2012, he was inducted into Washington’s Business Hall of Fame. His only indulgence: a 130-foot yacht dubbed Tsalta (“At last” backward), based in Annapolis.
But first, he was just a used-car salesman. There was a short, turbulent first marriage that ended when Tammy and her twin sister, Terri, were 4 years old. Bonnie Darvish moved to Chicago with her daughters; their father remarried the day after the divorce became final and had three more children.
There wasn’t much money, so she worked two jobs and the twins were latchkey kids. They visited their dad for a couple of weeks in the summer and at Christmas but rarely saw him — he was at the dealership day and night.
Still, Tammy adored him “without question,” her mother says. The marriage had been bad, the divorce worse, but she wanted the girls to know him — less for his sake than for fear that they would hate her if she kept them apart.
At 17, Tammy graduated from high school and begged her father to let her move in with him in Maryland. “I just thought if I was with my dad, everything would be perfect,” she says. “There’s a mom and dad together and a house. There are kids and they play together and they’re not lonely. There was a stability there.”
What’s striking about that time is her lack of ambition. Unlike her twin sister, Tammy never considered going to college. Her life plan? “I just wanted to get married and do nothing.” She loved being the cool older sister to her half-brothers and half-sister, who were still in elementary school. She worked at the dealership during the summer and spent a semester at community college. Then her father sent her off to Northwood University in Michigan, to the only automotive management program in the country. Her grades were abysmal, and she wasn’t much interested in cars.
But she had what she calls her first life-changing moment after she was hit by a van and suffered two broken legs. The accident forced her to stop moving and think about her life. She decided that she wanted to be a better person. She went back to school, took extra classes and earned a four-year degree in two years. By the summer of 1984, she was back in Washington and working for her father.
Even though she had a management degree, he started her at an entry level, selling cars. “You have to be a salesman until you’re salesman of the month for two months in a row,” she remembers him saying. She hit that goal in her first 60 days, she says, selling more cars than anyone else on the lot. She was 20 years old.
It was the first step in a lifelong quest: trying to do something so spectacular that her father would be forced to say, “I am so proud of you.” That never happened, she says — not then nor during the next 30 years. But she fell in love with the job and began learning every aspect of the business.
She was also in love with the perfect guy, the Iranian American son of a friend of her father’s. When he proposed, she felt that her life was falling into place.
Then came that crushing dinner and the broken engagement. The two dated secretly for another year, but her boyfriend finally called it off for good. “It was just too much for him,” Tammy says, adding that she never asked her father to change his mind. “I was afraid he would not love me and he would send me away.”
Rose Bayat, her college roommate and best friend, tried to talk her out of returning the ring. “To this day, I’ll never understand it,” Bayat says. “It’s the perfect example of how she lived her life to please her father. He’d say jump and she’d say, ‘How high?’ ”
It was seven years before she fell in love again, this time with another Iranian — engineer Hamid Fallahi, who understood that her father came first, then work and only then her personal life. Theirs is a traditional marriage with a modern twist: Tammy became the breadwinner who worked nights and weekends. Hamid, who oversees construction for Darcars properties, was home for dinner when the kids came along.
The first time she got pregnant, she worked 10 days beyond her due date, until her doctor insisted on inducing labor. Instead, she had to have an emergency C-section. When she finally woke up, only her brother John was in the room. “You had a baby girl,” he told her. She thought he was teasing; she had convinced herself that she was having a boy. Her first thought: “I bet Dad’s really disappointed.” She took three weeks of maternity leave.
There was a second pregnancy, about 18 months later, but it ended with a miscarriage after five months. She was angry — at herself, at the job, at all those long hours on her feet. “It was a very bad time,” she says. “I think it was probably the first time in my life when I started to reevaluate.”
Did anything change? “No.”
She got pregnant once more and went into labor with her son during Labor Day weekend, one of the busiest in the car business. She asked her doctor if there was any way to delay the birth for 24 hours so that she could go to work.
Chances are, you’ve seen Tammy somewhere, in a Darcars commercial or a news story about the car industry, or at an event for business or for one of the dozens of charities she supports. For years, she had been the public face of the company: the woman who personally answered every single e-mail sent to tammy@darcars.com, the first female chair of the Washington Area New Auto Dealers Association, a board member of the National Automobile Dealers Association. Last year, she was named Philanthropist of the Year by the Community Foundation in Montgomery County.
She personified the new look of the industry: young, independent, female. Women buy more than half the new cars in the United States and influence up to 80 percent of all auto purchases, according to industry surveys. Tammy was a walking billboard.
According to her lawsuit, she ran day-to-day operations and served as gatekeeper. “There’s no way anyone could get to my father without going through me,” she says. They were so close that she knew what he was thinking, what he wanted — she says this included buying all the birthday and anniversary gifts for his wife and children, and organizing family holidays and big company parties.
Both father and daughter were well respected by the dealerships’ employees — they were always on the sales floor, their office doors open, free to chat. She remembered birthdays and brought cupcakes to the dealerships on July 7, Darcars’ anniversary. But she was also a demanding boss who acted and sounded like any male executive. “There was no grass growing under her feet — and no BS,” says the former Darcars manager.
But that confidence evaporated with her father. He kept her off balance, criticizing and bullying her one moment and asking for her advice the next, said former employees.
Following the General Motors and Chrysler bankruptcies in 2009, Tammy took on her biggest public fight: a national campaign against the federal government to protect car dealers. The government allowed automakers to close more than 2,000 underperforming dealerships as part of their reorganization plans, a move that put several family-owned locations at risk, including three of her father’s properties. “I didn’t want him to die being labeled a reject,” she says.
She teamed up with a local competitor, Jack Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald Auto Malls, and Chicago's Alan Spitzer to form the Committee to Restore Dealer Rights, which successfully lobbied for a law giving dealers the chance to fight closings in arbitration. Tammy chronicled the battle in her book, " Outraged: How Detroit and the Wall Street Car Czars Killed the American Dream ."
“She’s very good,” Fitzgerald says. “She’s very astute and very aggressive, and some men don’t like that in a woman.”
Fitzgerald has known her father for decades and Tammy since she was a little girl.
She’s a lot like her dad, he says: very intense, passionate about the car business.
“I don’t know her brothers,” he says. “I never see either one of them at things. Tammy has always been the one running the business with her father.”
John Darvish Sr., now 78, took the first formal step to secure his succession in January 2014. As sole owner of the company, he signed a stock purchase agreement giving Tammy, John Jr. and Jamie each 5 percent ownership and the power to manage day-to-day operations by unanimous vote, according to court documents. When he gave them copies to sign, the brothers demanded a majority vote instead, which would effectively give them controlling interest. The agreement fell through, and Tammy now believes that’s when they began pressuring her father to cut her out of the business, a charge her family denies.
On a Monday in March 2014, an e-mail went out to all Darcars managers. Tammy was taken aback; she usually called meetings and had no idea what this one was about. She called her father. “I’m going to make some changes,” she recalls him saying, and he asked her to meet that night at his Potomac home. Tammy brought her husband, and they sat down with her father and stepmother. Her father explained that he was turning over management to the boys. It’s just titles, he reassured her — it doesn’t really mean anything. She didn’t believe him.
She didn’t go to the office the next day, or to the managers’ meeting where John Sr. read from a prepared statement naming John Jr. the new president of Darcars and Jamie the chief operating officer. Tammy would remain senior vice president, he said, and run two of the company’s dealerships.
By the end of the day, John Jr. had contacted the managers of those locations. His father, he explained, had misspoken: Tammy would not be running any dealerships. He and his brother also made a YouTube video introducing themselves to employees. “As some of you know,” John Jr. says, “Darcars is entering a new era of leadership as Jamie and I have accepted new roles within the company.” There was no mention of Tammy.
She says her father asked her to clean out her office because her brothers thought that it would be distracting for customers to see her, but he said that he’d continue paying her “until we sort this out.” What “this” meant was unclear — she hadn’t been fired and she hadn’t resigned.
Darcars promotes John and Jamie Darvish
Her father, she says, told her, “A year from now you’re going to thank me.” Her brothers urged her to move forward for the sake of family unity.
A family spokeswoman says it’s true that John Darvish Sr. originally planned for all three children to inherit the business but denies that Tammy was forced out; she remained as senior vice president until she filed suit. The succession plan changed when it “became apparent it was impossible to find a plan that all parties approved of.” The spokeswoman said that, as owner, Darvish Sr. felt he needed to act: “It was time to make a decision, and he made a decision” — formally promoting his two sons.
Tammy kept it all a secret from her daughter, who was away at college, and from her teenage son. Every morning, she got dressed and left the house before he woke up, just as she always had, and left again before he came home from school. It was two months before she admitted the truth, because “I didn’t want my children to be angry with my father.”
Kathy Kessler Overbeke, a research fellow at Case Western Reserve University, says that fewer than 1 in 5 daughters end up running family-owned companies. Even if they’re qualified, it’s very rare to see women in charge, especially in traditionally male-dominated industries.
It’s not a lack of love, Overbeke says, but that powerful gender norms persist: Fathers believe that sons have a right to take over, where daughters don’t. Some believe that customers and employees won’t trust a female chief executive as much as a male. And some women are welcomed into the company until a male family member becomes interested, whereupon they’re marginalized or squeezed out.
“If the daughter is usurped by the son, that’s culturally acceptable,” Overbeke says. “But if a son is going to be usurped by the daughter, that’s really bad.”
Tammy says she agonized for months about filing the lawsuit. For the second time in her life, she had time to stop and think.
At first she was just devastated and missed her dad. “It’s hard,” she says, “because I was used to seeing him almost every day.”
She would wake in the middle of the night, convinced that she had just had a terrible dream. She still talked to her father, but never about business, she says, and had dinner with her brothers only once and hasn’t talked to them since.
Then, finally, she got mad. It was crushing to be personally humiliated in front of her co-workers and her husband, but in her mind her father and brothers had stripped away her children’s future, too. All the plans and all the sacrifices — the late nights, the weekends, the missed PTA meetings and soccer games — had counted for nothing, she thought.
In January, she sued. In the pleading filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court, Tammy says that she helped build Darcars into one of the most successful car franchises in the country and that, over the past 15 years, her father had repeatedly promised to give her and her brothers equal ownership and equal control. She claims that after her father drafted the formal stock agreements, John Jr. and Jamie pressured him to disavow his promises to her and give them control. The lawsuit seeks damages equal to one-third of the company’s value.
Her father was “really hurt” by the suit, says his spokeswoman. He and the company responded with a motion earlier this month, saying that John Darvish Sr. never pledged to give her an equal share of the business, that nothing was ever put in writing, and that “her characterization of her father’s succession plans is pure fiction.” They have asked the judge to dismiss the case in its entirety.
I n February, Tammy started a new job at Pentagon Federal Credit Union, as executive vice president in charge of business development and government/community relations. A longtime professional buddy — someone she met at a charity dinner — persuaded her to accept the position. It has been a revelation to be treated as an equal, she says.
“I’m so fortunate and blessed to have a man recognize that this is somebody with talent who has a lot to give.”
Tammy Darvish joins PenFed.
Her lawsuit is being followed by everyone in the car industry, with special attention to how it might change Darcars’ reputation among the big automakers, who want “peace in the valley,” says Michael Charapp, a lawyer who specializes in family businesses. “That’s why most of these cases settle before going to court.”
Regardless of the outcome, he says, he’s seen many families come back together after the business issues have been resolved.
The first hearing is in May.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Tammy says. “But at the end of the day, I’m going to know I’m not a coward, and I’m not a hypocrite.”
Bayesian superyacht sinking: Post-mortems carried out on lawyer and wife
Seven people died when the luxury vessel capsized off Sicily after being hit by a violent storm last month.
By Claire Gilbody Dickerson, news reporter
Tuesday 3 September 2024 00:02, UK
The first post-mortem examinations on two victims of the Bayesian superyacht sinking have been carried out.
Seven people died when the luxury boat, owned by British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, capsized off the coast of Sicily , Italy, after being hit by a sudden, violent storm in the early hours of 19 August.
US lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda, the first victims to undergo a post-mortem, were found to have drowned.
Mr Morvillo was in Mr Lynch's legal team in a fraud case involving the 2011 sale of Autonomy to Hewlett Packard in a $11bn (£8.3bn) deal.
The British entrepreneur, 59, who co-founded Autonomy, was acquitted in June and he had organised the yacht trip to celebrate his legal victory.
The bodies of six of the victims, including Mr Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, and passengers Jonathan and Judy Bloomer, were discovered in the wreck during a five-day search operation by divers.
The yacht's chef Recaldo Thomas was found dead near the boat the day after the disaster happened.
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Mr Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, survived the sinking, along with 14 other people.
The post-mortem examinations were carried out by coroners designated by Palermo prosecutors, who confirmed the results.
Read more: CCTV shows Bayesian engulfed in storm moments before it sank What we know about the Bayesian superyacht that sank
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Post-mortems are planned on Wednesday on the bodies of Mr Bloomer, who was the chairman of Morgan Stanley's London-based investment banking subsidiary, and his wife Judy.
They are pending for Mr Lynch, his daughter and Mr Thomas.
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Prosecutors are investigating the captain and two crew members for possible responsibility in connection with the sinking.
Meanwhile, American tech giant Hewlett Packard has said it is to continue with legal proceedings "through to their conclusion" to seek up to £3bn in damages from Mr Lynch's estate in the UK.
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Bayesian Yacht: Morgan Stanley boss and wife 'suffocated in bubble'
A utopsies carried out on Morgan Stanley boss Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, who died in the Bayesian yacht disaster, have revealed they ‘suffocated’ in an air bubble and didn’t drown, reports claim.
Seven people were killed when the £30 million superyacht sank last month in just 16 minutes after it was hit by a violent downburst.
Among those who died were British tech millionaire Mike Lynch, 59, and his daughter Hannah, 18, who was due to start at Oxford University later this month.
Mr Lynch's wife and Hannah's mother, Angela Bacares, survived along with 14 others after the £30 million vessel sank off the coast of the Italian island of Sicily at Porticello near Palermo on August 19.
Ms Barcares is also listed as the owner of the 56m yacht, which is registered with an Isle of Man company called Revton.
Autopsies have been carried out on four of those who died by the local coroner at Palermo’s Policlinico hospital and findings have been leaked to Italian media.
La Repubblica newspaper claimed the lungs of Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer, 70, and his wife Judy were ‘not full of water and neither were their stomachs or trachea’.
Who are the nine surviving crew members
Captain James Cutfield, 51, a New Zealander
Sasha Murray, 29, from Ireland
Kyaw Htun Myin, 31 from Myanmar
Matthew Griffith, 22, from France
Leo Eppel, from South Africa
Onboard hostess Leah Randall, 20 from South Africa
Hostess Katja Chicken, 23, from Germany
Tus Koopmans, from the Netherlands
Eaton Parker, believed to be from the UK
They went on to suggest that the couple had ‘suffocated’ after oxygen ran out in an air bubble below deck that had formed after the yacht sank.
It added that the bubble would have lasted barely any time at all as it would have been ‘small and quickly filled with rising levels of toxic carbon dioxide’.
Italian media suggested the fact some of the victims examined so far had no water in their lungs, has given rise to the frightening possibility they had been awake and were warned that the yacht was sinking.
Among others who lost their live in the tragedy were New York lawyer Chris Morvillo and his partner Neda, with autopsies confirming they drowned, according to sources on Monday.
There were 'no signs' of any other injuries and autopsies on the other victims will continue for the rest of the week alongside the judicial investigation.
All the victims in the disaster were passengers except for the yacht’s chef Recaldo Thomas.
His body, which was found in the sea close to where the Bayesian sank, was the first to be recovered.
The other victims – apart from Hannah who was found in her cabin – were in another room.
Italian media has also gone on to claim that it was Hannah's mother, Mrs Bacares, who had gone below deck to wake them and inform them the vessel was about to go down.
She is said to have been woken by the fierce storm and gone onto the bridge where she found several crew members.
Mrs Bacares, who was barefoot, then went back below deck to warn the others but cut her feet on glass that had fallen onto the floor.
Fifteen people survived the sinking and autopsies on Mr Lynch, Hannah and Mr Thomas are expected to be carried out on Friday.
Three members of the crew including New Zealand skipper James Cutfield, 51, British chief engineer Tim Parker Eaton, 59, and conational Matthew Griffiths, 22, are being investigated for causing a disaster and manslaughter.
However, this does not necessarily mean that charges will follow, and it will be up to an investigating magistrate to decide if a full trial will take place and that will be after the probe is closed.
New Zealander Mr Cutfield, 51, who is among three currently being probed regarding last month's tragedy, was seen for the first time today since he jetted from Sicily, where the boat sank, to his home in Majorca by private jet last week.
Both Mr Cutfield and Mr Parker Eaton live on the same road in a sleepy Majorcan village, half an hour from the capital Palma, in villas each with a swimming pool.
Mr Cutfield, who injured his leg in the sinking still had a white bandage on his leg, as he was seen leaving his house in a black Mercedes.
Mr Parker Eaton, who is originally from Clophill, Bedfordshire, purchased his property in 2013 while Mr Cutfield bought his five years later.
There were signs of life at Mr Parker Eaton's home, where he lives with his partner, but there was no answer at the door while Mr Cutfield also did not respond to attempts to contact him.
The men flew out of Sicily last week on a private jet and Mr Cutfield was reported to have refused to answer questions as per his rights - although he was quoted as telling coastguards they 'didn't see' the storm coming.
Mr Cutfield had been a captain on luxury yachts for eight years and had previously been working on them and involved in building them for the past 30 years in various locations around the Mediterranean.
He said before he worked for the British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, he had worked for a Turkish billionaire.
His brother Mark, who lives in New Zealand, said he was a 'top sailor' in his youth and raced 470s competitively in his youth and he has married wife Cristina in Majorca last year.
This comes shortly after Matthew Griffiths, who was on board the Bayesian when it was struck by tragedy in the early hours of August 19, told authorities that crew members did everything they could to save passengers, according to Italian news outlet, Ansa
'I woke up the captain when the wind was at 20 knots (23 mph). He gave orders to wake everyone else,' Ansa quoted Griffiths as saying.
'The ship tilted and we were thrown into the water. Then we managed to get back up and tried to rescue those we could,' he added, whilst describing the events of that occurred that fateful night.
'We were walking on the walls (of the boat). We saved who we could, Cutfield also saved the little girl and her mother,' he said, referring to passenger Charlotte Golunski and her one-year-old daughter.
In total there were 15 survivors in the wreckage of the Bayesian yacht, which sunk on the Porticello coast.
Prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano previously said that the yacht was most likely hit by a 'downburst,' a very strong downward wind.
However, the sinking has puzzled naval marine experts, who said a vessel like the Bayesian, built by Italian high-end yacht manufacturer Perini, should have withstood the storm and, in any case, should not have sunk as quickly as it did.
Prosecutors in the town of Termini Imerese, near Palermo, have said their investigation will take time, with the wreck yet to be salvaged from the sea.
They are currently investigating whether human error may have caused the disaster with claims that 'portholes and hatches' were left open which led to the ship being engulfed by water and sinking in 16 minutes.
Mr Parker Eaton, 56, has told prosecutors he followed procedures and made sure all was watertight as the storm engulfed the yacht.
According to excerpts from Mr Parker Eaton's statement, leaked to the Italian media, he insisted all doors and openings on the yacht were shut.
He said: 'I activated the generators and the hydraulic pump for the rudder.'
When asked crucially if all portholes and hatches, including where the yacht's tender was kept, were closed he replied: 'Everything was shut.
'The only thing open was the hatch to the engine room which from my point of view would not have caused the disaster because it was at the other end from where the yacht went down.'
Lynch, 59, had invited friends and family onto the boat to celebrate his recent acquittal in a huge US fraud case when the tragedy occurred earlier this month.
The 56-metre (185-foot) yacht was struck by a storm when it was anchored off Porticello, near Palermo, and sank within minutes.
The bodies of Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah and friends were recovered over the subsequent days in a major search operation.
Chief prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio, who is heading the investigation, has said his team will consider each possible element of responsibility including those of the captain, the crew, individuals in charge of supervision and the yacht's manufacturer.
Video shows moments before superyacht went down in storm off Sicily
Newly released video captures a luxury superyacht being battered by a violent storm before it suddenly sank off Sicily with 22 people aboard Monday.
The grainy images obtained by NBC News and other outlets were recorded on closed-circuit television not far from where the Bayesian was anchored, about a half-mile from the port of Porticello, on Sicily’s northern coast .
The yacht's 250-foot mast, illuminated with lights and lashed by the storm, appears to bend to one side before it finally disappears and is replaced by darkness.
The speed with which a yacht built to handle the roughest seas capsized stunned maritime experts.
“I can’t remember the last time I read about a vessel going down quickly like that, you know, completely capsizing and going down that quickly, a vessel of that nature, a yacht of that size,” said Stephen Richter of SAR Marine Consulting.
British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and five of the 22 other people who were aboard the 184-foot vessel remain unaccounted for and are believed to be trapped in the Bayesian’s hull, nearly 170 feet underwater.
Officials confirmed Monday that at least one person, the ship’s cook, had died.
Superyachts like the Bayesian, which had been available for charters at a rate of $215,000 a week, are designed to stay afloat even as they are taking on water to give the people aboard a chance to escape, Richter said.
“Boats of this size, they’re taking passengers on an excursion or a holiday,” Richter said. “They are not going to put them in situations where it may be dangerous or it may be uncomfortable, so this storm that popped up was obviously an anomaly. These vessels that carry passengers, they’re typically very well-maintained, very well-appointed.”
Built by Italian shipbuilder Perini Navi in 2008, the U.K.-registered Bayesian could carry 12 guests and a crew of up to 10, according to online specialist yacht sites. Its nearly 250-foot mast is the tallest aluminum sailing mast in the world, according to CharterWorld Luxury Yacht Charters.
On Tuesday, Italian rescue workers resumed the search for Lynch and the five other passengers still missing: Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah; Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife; and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife.
“The fear is that the bodies got trapped inside the vessel,” Salvatore Cocina, the head of civil protection in Sicily, told Reuters .
The Bayesian is owned by a firm linked to Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, who was one of the 15 people rescued Monday after it capsized.
“It’s extremely rare for a boat of this size to sink,” Richter said.
What’s not rare is the kind of storm that sank it , said Simon Boxall, senior lecturer in oceanography at Britain’s University of Southampton.
“People assume the Mediterranean is this rather calm and passive place that never gets storms and always blue skies,” Boxall said. “In fact, you get some quite horrendous storms that are not uncommon at this time of year.”
The president of Italy’s meteorological society has said Monday’s violent storm may have involved a waterspout, essentially a tornado over water, or a downburst, which occurs more frequently but doesn’t involve the rotation of the air.
Luca Mercalli, president of the Italian Meteorology Society, also said recent temperatures may have been a factor.
“The sea surface temperature around Sicily was around 30 degrees Celsius [86 Fahrenheit], which is almost 3 degrees more than normal,” Mercalli told Reuters. “This creates an enormous source of energy that contributes to these storms.”
The Mediterranean sailing vacation was designed to be a celebration for Lynch, who two months ago was acquitted by a San Francisco jury of fraud charges stemming from the 2011 sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion.
Prosecutors alleged that Lynch, dubbed “Britain’s Bill Gates,” and Autonomy’s vice president for finance, Stephen Chamberlain, had padded the firm’s finances ahead of the sale. Lynch’s lawyers argued that HP was so eager to acquire Autonomy that it failed to adequately check the books .
Lynch had taken Morvill, who was one of his defense attorneys, on the luxury trip.
Chamberlain was not on the Bayesian.
In what appears to be a tragic coincidence, a car struck and killed Chamberlain on Saturday as he was jogging in a village about 68 miles north of London, local police said.
“Steve fought successfully to clear his good name at trial earlier this year, and his good name now lives on through his wonderful family,” Chamberlain’s lawyer, Gary Lincenberg, said in a statement .
Henry Austin reported from London and Corky Siemaszko from New York City.
Henry Austin is a senior editor for NBC News Digital based in London.
Corky Siemaszko is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital.
Good Morning Gloucester
My View of Life on the Dock
TSALTA Docked at Ocean Alliance
TSALTA is a 39.62 m Motor Yacht, built in the United States of America by Westport and delivered in 2004. She is one of 42 130 models.
Her top speed is 28.0 kn, her cruising speed is 24.0 kn, and she boasts a maximum cruising range of 3000.0 nm at 12.0 kn, with power coming from two MTU diesel engines. She can accommodate up to 10 guests in 5 staterooms, with 7 crew members waiting on their every need. She has a gross tonnage of 289.0 GT and a 8.23 m beam.
She was designed by William Garden , who has designed 26 other superyachts in the BOAT Pro database.
The naval architecture was developed by Westport, who has architected 62 other superyachts in the BOAT Pro database, and the interior of the yacht was designed by Sheryl Guyan (31 other superyacht interiors designed) and Pacific Custom Interiors (39 other superyacht interiors designed) – she is built with a Teak deck, a GRP hull, and GRP superstructure.
TSALTA is in the top 30% by LOA and in the top 30% by speed in the world. She is one of 1171 motor yachts in the 35-40m size range, and, compared to similarly sized motor yachts, her cruising speed is 5.68 kn above the average, her top speed 6.12 kn above the average, and her volume 21.27 GT above the average.
TSALTA is currently sailing under the Marshall Islands flag, the 5th most popular flag state for superyachts with a total of 455 yachts registered. She is currently located at the superyacht marina Boston Yacht Haven, in United States of America, where she has been located for 2 days. For more information regarding TSALTA’s movements, find out more about BOAT Pro AIS .
Specifications
- Name: TSALTA
- Yacht Type: Motor Yacht
- Yacht Subtype: Semi-displacement
- Builder: Westport
- Naval Architect: Westport
- Exterior Designer: William Garden
- Interior Designer: Pacific Custom Interiors, Sheryl Guyan
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Ardizzoni Photography, Business Manager, Grandmother, love living in Gloucester, love to swim, kayak, walk and of course take pictures. Our company does computer networking, Office Management, Medical Billing, transcription, networking software updates and virus protection View all posts by Donna Ardizzoni
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Channel james bond aboard the 190-foot superyacht ‘skyfall’.
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SKYFALL is currently for sale for an asking price of $29.5m
Superyacht SKYFALL is as iconic as the James Bond movie it shares its name with. Owned by an American real estate developer, the 190-foot motor yacht features a distinctive silhouette and a boatload of stand-out amenities including a panoramic sky lounge, a split-level owner’s cabin and a helipad that converts into a basketball court. As well as being highly appealing to owners, she’s a successful charter yacht that’s renowned for her ability to entertain.
SKYFALL was built by American luxury motor yacht builder Trinity Yachts in 2010 for the shipyard’s owner. “SKYFALL is the most exquisite superyacht ever delivered by Trinity Yachts and is a shining example of American craftsmanship and pride,” says Frank Grzeszczak Sr of FGI Yacht Group. “In a market where yachts of her size are rarely this versatile, SKYFALL stands out as a unique offering. With a Bahamas-friendly draft, aluminum construction, speeds exceeding 20 knots, a flexible seven-cabin layout—including a bi-level primary suite—and expansive lounges, SKYFALL sets herself apart from others in her class.”
The current owner bought her in 2018 from an American automobile tycoon and completed a full refit in 2020, including elegant, timeless interiors by designers Patrick Knowles and Even Marshall. Now, as the owner builds a new, larger, 270-foot yacht with an Italian shipyard, they’ve reluctantly put SKYFALL up for sale.
As SKYFALL enters the market with FGI , the owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, gives Forbes an exclusive look at life onboard the yacht and reveals his favorite experiences and spaces, as well as his top tips for superyacht ownership.
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What initially captivated you about SKYFALL?
Owner: SKYFALL is an iconic yacht. She really has the best of all worlds. She has semi displacement which means she is fast and efficient. She also has a shallow draft that allows her to get into anchorages or ports that other similar sized boats can’t even try to get into. In the Bahamas, for example, it is typical for SKYFALL to be anchored close to shore while other 60-meter (190-foot) boats are a mile or more offshore.
What are your favourite memories onboard SKYFALL?
We have had a lot of fun with family and friends on SKYFALL. The list of great memories onboard is quite long. The bridge deck outdoor dining table is where we always try to have meals unless the weather is very bad. We have had a lot of great discussions with family and friends around that table that will last a lifetime. We also like that the sundeck that has two hot tubs with plenty of space, which is where we have pre-dinner canapes every night while we watch the sun set wherever we might be.
One thing that often grabs people’s attention is the basketball goal that also is a helideck on the sundeck. We have had a lot of competitive games of basketball on sundeck, sometimes with a number of spectators watching from afar.
The top deck of SKYFALL features a basketball court, helipad, pool, hot tub and dining area
What is your favourite space onboard?
The sky lounge is group favorite. It has twin 80-inch TVs, so there isn’t a bad place in the sky lounge to view a game.
Please talk us through the owner’s cabin and how you designed it to suit your lifestyle.
The owner’s cabin on SKYFALL is exactly what we wanted on a boat. The master bed faces the bow with large windows which means we get to wake up every morning to an amazing view. The sitting area is perfect for getting a break from guests when we just need some time to ourselves. The suite also has ‘His and Hers’ separate baths and closets, which is a requirement for us. My wife and I always say that the key to a long and happy marriage is separate bathrooms and closets.
The office in the master suite is a welcome retreat for me so I can get work done privately without being disturbed, and more importantly, without waking up my wife.
A cabin onboard SKYFALL superyacht
Where are your favourite places to visit around the world?
It has always been non-negotiable for our family that we spend New Year’s together in Saint Bart’s on the boat. In early spring, she spends a few weeks in the Bahamas, and then typically we send her over to the Med for the summer season. She then comes back for a quick yard period in the fall, does the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show, and then makes her way back to the Caribbean.
What makes SKYFALL such a successful charter yacht?
The feedback from charter guests has been that this is a great multi-generational boat. We have all the fun toys for kids, and lots of relaxing spaces for adults. Three generations in a family can travel together and have a great trip for different reasons. With the multitude of large beds, it is also a great boat for several couples to travel together.
Interiors are elegant and timeless
What first inspired you to become a yacht owner?
Our family had been chartering yachts for about 12 years. More and more we found ourselves wanting to spend time on the water. We had been loosely talking about buying a yacht when we started attending the annual Fort Lauderdale Boat Show. I’m not an impulse buyer, but when we found a boat that we thought would work for our lifestyle, we knew (or rather, my wife knew) that was the boat for us.
What does yacht ownership give you that villa or a hotel ownership couldn’t?
We often talk about how owning a yacht allows you to basically have a home nearly anywhere in the world. We like new places, and we like to explore, but we like to have a familiar home base to come back to at the end of a long day. A yacht gives you the advantage of being in the Med in the summer and the Caribbean in the winter sleeping in the same bed every night.
Guests can enjoy indoor and outdoor dining areas
Why have you decided to put SKYFALL on the sales market – and why now?
We are building a new boat, and it is time to let this one go. We are sad to part with her, but we hope she will find a new family that will create many new memories on her as we have.
What would be your biggest piece of advice to the next owner of SKYFALL?
Have fun with her. That’s what she is for. This boat loves to be used so if you have a destination in mind, she’s ready to go.
The decks have plenty of space for entertainment and relaxation
Want to be the new owner of SKYFALL? Here’s how
SKYFALL is currently for sale for an asking price of $29,500,000. Interested parties should contact the broker, Frank Grzeszczak Sr, Founder & President at FGI Yacht Group , who says: “Simply put, SKYFALL is the finest American superyacht available today. The price has recently been adjusted to $29,500,000, reflecting the seller's commitment to securing a fair price for this extraordinary vessel.”
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A Summary of Motor Yacht TSALTA
Westport Shipyard completed motor yacht TSALTA in 2004. The yacht is built country of the United States. TSALTA had design compiled by William Garden and Gregory C. Marshall and William Garden. This superyacht TSALTA can accommodate the number of 10 aboard and 7 professional crew. Ready for launch for 2004 her reasonably recent interior design promulgates the proficiency of owner and Pacific Custom Interiors.
The Shipyard Work & Design relating to Luxury Yacht TSALTA
William Garden was the naval architect firm involved in the professional superyacht composition for TSALTA. Also the company William Garden and Gregory C Marshall skillfully collaborated on this undertaking. Interior designer Pacific Custom Interiors was employed for the creative interior styling. In 2004 she was formally launched with triumph in Westport Wa and post sea trials and final completion was then passed on to the yacht owner. Westport Shipyard completed their new build motor yacht in the United States. Her core hull was built out of composite. The motor yacht main superstructure is fabricated predominantly with composite. With a width of 8.23 metres or 26 ft TSALTA has fairly large interior. She has a fairly shallow draught of 1.83m (6.6ft).
The Main Engines And The Speed The M/Y TSALTA :
The 12V 4000 M90 engine powering the yacht is built by MTU. She is driven by twin screw propellers (schaffran 5 blades). The engine of the yacht creates 2735 horse power (or 2013 kilowatts). She is equiped with 2 engines. The sum thrust for the boat is accordingly 5470 HP or 4025 KW. As far as stabalisers are concerned she was supplied with Naiad. The bow thrusters are Wesmar.
For Superyacht TSALTA She Caters For The Following Passenger Accommodation Potential:
Offering cabins for a maximum of 10 visiting passengers overnighting, the TSALTA accommodates them luxuriously. Under normal conditions she requires approx 7 expert crew to operate.
A List of the Specifications of the TSALTA:
Superyacht Name: | Motor Yacht TSALTA |
---|---|
Built By: | Westport Shipyard |
Built in: | Westport Wa, United States |
Launched in: | 2004 |
Length Overall: | 39.62 metres / 130 feet. |
Waterline Length: | 35.02 (113.8 ft) |
Naval Architecture: | William Garden and Gregory C Marshall, William Garden |
Designers Involved in Yacht Design: | Gregory C Marshall |
Interior Designers: | Pacific Custom Interiors |
Gross Tonnes: | 309 |
Nett Tonnes: | 162 |
Displacement: | 193 |
Hull / Superstructure Construction Material: | composite / composite |
Owner of TSALTA: | Unknown |
TSALTA available for luxury yacht charters: | - |
Is the yacht for sale: | - |
Helicopter Landing Pad: | No |
The Country the Yacht is Flagged in: | United States |
Official registry port is: | Westport Wa |
Home port: | Westport Wa, USA |
Max yacht charter guests: | 10 |
Number of Crew Members: | 7 |
Her Engine(s) is two 2735 Horse Power or 2013 kW MTU. Model: | 12V 4000 M90 diesel. |
Giving the combined power of 5470 HP /4025 KW. | |
Approximate Cruise Speed is 24 knots. | |
Top Speed: | 29 nautical miles per hour. |
Approximate range: | 3450 at a speed of 11.5 knots. |
Bunkering capacity: | 37472 L. |
Fresh water: | 6132.00. |
Power generation: | Northern Lights 2 times 65 kilowatts. |
Stabalisers: | Naiad. |
Bow Thrusters: | Wesmar. |
Beam: | 8.23m/26ft. |
Waterline Length (LWL): | 35.02m/113.8ft. |
Draught Maximum: | 1.83m/6.6ft. |
TSALTA Disclaimer:
The luxury yacht TSALTA displayed on this page is merely informational and she is not necessarily available for yacht charter or for sale, nor is she represented or marketed in anyway by CharterWorld. This web page and the superyacht information contained herein is not contractual. All yacht specifications and informations are displayed in good faith but CharterWorld does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the current accuracy, completeness, validity, or usefulness of any superyacht information and/or images displayed. All boat information is subject to change without prior notice and may not be current.
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Whakatāne yacht owner who alleged he was assaulted by council staff warned by police
Steve and Rachel Wright with their yacht on the hardstand at Whakatāne Wharf. Photo / Brianna Stewart
A yacht owner who alleged he was assaulted by council staff at the Whakatāne boat ramp in May has been warned by police.
A recent report to Whakatāne District Council’ s finance and performance committee said both an internal investigation within the council and the police case had now been closed.
“Whakatāne Police investigated the matter and had no significant findings regarding the staff or contractors’ conduct,” the report said.
Whakatāne Police Senior Sergeant Helen Hay confirmed the file was completed and the member of the public who laid a complaint of assault against the council staff had been warned for his behaviour.
No warnings were issued to council staff or contractors following the investigation, Hay said.
Steve Wright laid an assault complaint after an altercation with a council contractor and two council staff members which ended with his arrest and hospital treatment for a dislocated thumb.
The altercation occurred after a council staff member asked Wright and his wife Rachel to stop work on their yacht, which had been on the council-owned hardstand at the Whakatāne boat ramp for a week.
The hardstand is available for rent but must be booked in advance. Wright told Local Democracy Reporting he had submitted application forms before having the yacht lifted into the cradle, but did not receive a response.
Wright said when they refused to stop work on their yacht the man left and returned with two more people who took the power cable for his tools.
When he “fronted up to them”, he alleged he was held on the ground by two of the men while a third man took hold of his hand.
It was during this altercation he claims his thumb was injured.
Wright said after reviewing CCTV footage of the incident police had encouraged him to make a complaint and taken a statement about the incident.
However, he said several weeks later he was phoned by police who told him he was as much at fault as the council staff and contractor and no one would be charged.
Wright said the explanation for what he had done wrong was that he had not listened to the council officers.
He said he had not received any paperwork or documentation from police about a warning. He had understood from the conversation with police that all parties were going to receive warnings.
“We were tempted to go to the station manager and ask for an explanation but in the end we just said ‘thank you very much’ and decided that we were going to close any and all contact with the police and the council.”
Rachel Wright said they had seen one of the men in town recently.
“It just opened up a flood of memories,” she said.
Steve Wright said: “I just got out of there because my anger was rising very fast.”
His dislocated thumb was still very painful, but he had recently been able to resume going to the gym after more than a month off, he said.
“There was quite a bit of soft tissue damage but nothing broken.”
The report to the council committee said: “Police issued a formal warning to the member of the public in relation to this incident. It was determined that communication and approach from both parties could have been better.
“The council staff and contractor involved in the matter have been through a lessons-learned exercise and have also attended situational awareness training.”
The couple’s yacht, meanwhile, has been mostly repaired.
“We’re happy with it. There’s lots of jobs to do on it. We’re excited about where we’re going to go on it.”
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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Westport Shipyard completed their new build motor yacht in the United States. Her core hull was built out of composite. The motor yacht main superstructure is fabricated predominantly with composite. With a width of 8.23 metres or 26 ft TSALTA has fairly large interior. She has a fairly shallow draught of 1.83m (6.6ft).
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