Grand Ambition An Extraordinary Yacht, the People Who Built It, and the Millionaire Who Can't Really Afford It

by Knecht, G. Bruce

• ISBN13: 9781416576006
• ISBN10: 1416576002
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-03-05
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Summary

G. Bruce Knecht, former reporter for The Wall Street Journaland author of The Proving Groundand Hooked, describes the creation of an outsized yacht in a sweeping narrative centered on the men and women who made it happen. Doug Von Allmen, a self-made man who grew up in a landlocked state dreaming of the ocean, was poised to build his fifth yacht, his biggest yeta 187-foot behemoth that would cost $40 million. Lady Linda's interior walls were to be made from rare species of burled wood, her floors paved with onyx and exotic types of marble, her furniture custom-made, and her art specially commissioned. But the economic crisis changed everything. Like many others, Von Allmen suddenly realized that he could no longer afford his lifestyle. Then it got worse: desperate to reverse his losses, he fell for an audacious Ponzi scheme. Would Von Allmen be able to finish the yacht? And if he did, would he be able to keep it? In Southern Mississippi, artisans and blue-collar laborers continued with their work. The divide between the very rich and everyone else had never been greater, but the livelihoods of the workers and yacht owners were inextricably intertwined. Even $10-an-hour employees knew that no one was ordering yachts like Lady Lindaanymore. Knecht transports readers to a world of high seas luxury and ostentation that already seems like a bygone era. But like Tracy Kidder's House, Big Timetakes us deep inside the building process in a narrative that is ultimately focused on the individuals who piece together the yacht.