“If you don’t recognise Tatoosh from a distance, you probably don’t know yachting.” Captain Richard Hielckert doesn’t mince his words, although it’s a 20-year-old boat he’s talking about. From the 12-metre racing sailing boat she carries as a toy to her classically elegant silhouette and twin helicopters, 92-metre Tatoosh has always stood apart.
But to regard her as old would be a big mistake. Shell doors, a swimming pool, owner apartment, cinema, sauna – Tatoosh is bang up-to-date. “She is a timeless boat that has always been at the forefront,” he continues. “She stands out from the majority of boats that all look the same. There are lots of new boats, but they all look like wedding cakes, with maximum interior on minimum exterior. When those boats sit at anchor, you see them swinging and rolling while Tatoosh is still.”
After a recent massive refit, this iconic yacht is in better shape than she’s ever been in her life, featuring the latest cloud-based audiovisual system from Omniyon. She is also for sale, which explains why broker Burgess has hooked me up with some of the key people aboard to find out more. It is a rare glimpse inside a boat that has been owned by two of the most successful figures in IT.
begins in the late 1990s, as her prospective owner’s fortunes rode high on the technology boom. Craig McCaw was in the vanguard of the mobile phone revolution in
