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Web pioneer Jim Clark is the latest mogul to seek silverware on the high seas.
Web pioneer Jim Clark is a thrillionaire on the high seas.
“SOMEONE ONCE ASKED ME if it’s worth $100 million to win the America’s Cup,” Oracle founder Larry Ellison once said. “It’s certainly not worth $100 million to lose the America’s Cup.” But what about the Sydney Hobart race, one of the world’s most demanding sailing competitions? For Netscape cofounder Jim Clark, a former Navy man, last December’s 628-nautical-mile race was especially meaningful because his 35-year-old Australian supermodel wife, Kristy Hinze-clark, wanted to take part as a crew member.
So the 70-year-old billionaire built Comanche (a state-of-the-art supermaxi yacht), assembled an impressive international sailing team (skippered by American Ken Read) … and came in second to Wild Oats XI, owned by Aussie vintner Robert Oatley, the eighttime winner of the contest. Here’s how Clark’s campaign compares with those of other famous water warriors.
Owner: Jim Clark Event: 2014 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race Boat: Comanche Cost: $15 million Estimated cost of campaign: $40 million Finished: Second Cap’n says: “Boats of this type are sort of like building a Formula 1 car. You are not going to ever get anything back from it, except enjoyment.”
Owner: Larry Ellison Event: 2013 America’s Cup Boat: USA-17 Cost: $8 million to $10 million Cost of campaign: $300 million Finished: First Cap’n says: “I discovered that my personality doesn’t allow me to quit while winning.”
Owner: Bill Koch Event: 1992 America’s Cup Boat: America3 Cost: $5 million Cost of campaign: $68 million Finished: First
Cap’n says: “Financially, I would say, win or lose, it’s not worth it.”
Owner: Sami Inkinen Event: 2014 Great Pacific Race Boat: Roosevelt Cost: $45,000 Cost of campaign: Raised more than $300,000 to combat childhood obesity Finished: First (pairs division) Cap’n says: After successfully rowing from Monterey to Honolulu for 45 days with his wife, Inkinen wrote on his blog: “Divorce papers are untouched in a waterproof container.”