Yachting News

According to the Sydney Morning Herald News Corp supremo Lachlan Murdoch has purchased a rather charming 1950s "superyacht" for $30M to possibly boat around Sydney Harbour,as one does. From photos in the prestige Yachting News online magazine the interiors seem a tad austere. No insult Lachlan- we mean that nicely (we know Lachlan puruses Whisper's pages occasionally). Certainly compared to the Superyachts of the world. There are a reputed just under 6000 yachts that fit the category. Perhaps this will just be his Sydney runabout as he has another larger yacht being built.

Whispers has had a short history with Superyatchs. In the early 80s we were a guest for 3 nights on Adnan Kashoggis Nabila when it was docked in Monte Carlo. Working on a European fashion magazine funded by Kashoggi, an extremely charming host, we were summonsed to cover a series of events and although we shared a "double cabin" the yacht was wonderfully luxurious and huge, a bit like a rather large country mansion in decor. Certainly not as glitzy as the Trump Princess which it became when Trump snapped up the ship for a knock down $30M.

There are several superyachts we actually missed out on visiting due to unforseen circumstances and prior committments. An invite to attend a party on the famed Aristotle Onansis yacht Christina O and Rupert Murdoch's NYC based Lady Ghislaine (as it was then called) when he was launching something or other (or was it his wedding to Wendi ?). Murdoch bought the yacht from the infamous Robert Maxwell.

These older yachts like Lachlan's and the Kashoggi yacht really look spectaular and in their day were considered huge. But they are dwarfed by monsters like Aussie billionaire James Packer's $200M IJE which, apparently after just one summer sailing the Medeterranean, is now for sale for $300M. No photos exist of the interior and apparently guests on that trip were forbidden to take any.

Still, it could be worse. Take the $700M Scheherazade said to be owned by Vlad Putin, invader of Ukraine. It's hard to see if it will ever set sail on the Med and may be doomed to cruise the Black Sea for eternity.

## You can charter the Onansis ship below with it's grand piano room and pool for aorund $1M a week for 20 guests!

New Year Resolutions

Just a few we have made for other people :

a.The Daily Mail will hire extra sub-editors after this clanger in their headline about Soraya Kashoggi ( The Shuttle worked for Adnan Kashoggi for a few years)

 b. Columnists who should know better will finally abandoned their fantasy of an affair between James Packer and  Miranda Kerr which reached a fever pitch after the Shuttle's April Fool Joke that brought a dozen enquiries from local and international media when the phony snaps could easily be found via Google. We have said for ages : we know who James is dating and while we are sworn to secrecy she is not famous and leads a very private life.

c. Same columnists will abandon their love affair with the Ibraham family of entrepreneurs whose rise in Kings Cross has mirrored the downfall of the same with drunken yob filled streets and 'one-punch' killings.

A Royal Visit !

The King & Charles Billich

 Visiting foreign potentates are rare in the Emerald City but this week  George TupouV, the current King of Tonga returned for further sittings for an official portrait being produced by controversial Sydney based artist Charles Billich.

Charles and wife Christa Billich lent their Rock's gallery for a reception for the King hosted by the Tongan Honorary  Consul Generals Bill Waterhouse and his daughter Louise Raedler-Waterhouse. Bill and Lousie were both at young bookmaker Tom Warehouse's website launch last week and said they were looking forward to George Tupou V's visit.

Tongan born Lorna Tonga sang the national anthems of both countries whilst a Croatian born cellist entertained guests ( Charles , born in Croatia once fought in the Croatian Underground).

His Majesty's empire consists of about 169 islands spread over about 800 kilometres with a population of 102,000 (2009). When the King visits his subjects, he travels in a London taxi although he has an ancient Austin Princess for more formal occasions. He once owned Tonga's electricity supply (the source of the Royal Family's wealth) which he generously sold to the nation some time ago for $20M.



The Tongan Royal Palace



His financial adviser is the  Saudi arms dealer Adnan Kashoggi. The King once contemplated setting up Tonga as a repository for tax exile corporations but was persuaded it wouldn't go down too well with former rulers Great Britain, a source for foreign aid to the perpetually struggling empire of the King.




A  Billich work of art

 

The Social Shuttle's Bill Ranken, a rural expert was once invited to Tonga by George V's mother Queen Salote to advise on her flock of royal sheep.

 He found all 50 of them in a pen at the back door of the Royal Palace, a rambling colonial style bungalow.

Quite how His Majesty finally settled on Billich as the chosen artist for his official portrait is steeped in mystery. Billich is hugely successful but critics sneer at his work claiming it is akin to commercial art.

The King said on ABC television about Charles : ""Well the thing is a lot of artists are actually better than what they think they are,"

"Donatello for example was apprenticed as a plasterer, Michelangelo thought he was a sculptor. Charles Billich - I like his drawings better than his paintings."

Hopefully his choice of Billich was for his love of his work rather than an investment. The Billich's recently opened Art Bar in Kings Cross, decorated with Charles' paintings is struggling and looks set to close with few art works sold. Those attached to the ceiling remain in place.

At Lawson Menzies Auction house in Glebe, a few months ago a Billich print was presented with great flourish at the weekly art sale. It went for the princely sum of $1. That's the bid accepted when the seller doesn't want the goods returned.