Grand Ambition: An Extraordinary Yacht, the People Who Built It, and the Millionaire Who Can't Really Afford It, by G. Bruce Knecht
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Grand Ambition: An Extraordinary Yacht, the People Who Built It, and the Millionaire Who Can't Really Afford It, by G. Bruce Knecht
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DOUG VON ALLMEN, a self-made man who grew up in a landlocked state dreaming of the ocean, was poised to build a 187-foot yacht that would cost $40 million. Lady Linda would not be among the very largest of the burgeoning fleet of oceangoing palaces, but Von Allmen vowed that it would be the best one ever made in the United States. Nothing would be ordinary. The interior walls would be made from rare species of burl wood, the floors paved with onyx and exotic types of marble, the furniture custom made, and the art specially commissioned. But the 2008 economic crisis changed everything. Von Allmen’s lifestyle suddenly became unaffordable. Then it got worse: desperate to reverse his losses, he fell for an audacious Ponzi scheme. Would Von Allmen be able to complete Lady Linda? Would the shipyard and its one thousand employees survive the financial meltdown? The divide between the very rich and everyone else had never been greater, yet the livelihoods of the workers, some of them illegal immigrants, and the yacht owners were inextricably intertwined. In a sweeping, high-stakes narrative, the critically acclaimed author of The Proving Ground and Hooked weaves Von Allmen’s story together with those of the men and women who are building his yacht. As the pursuit of opulence collides with the reality of economic decline, everyone involved in the massive project is forced to rethink the meaning of the American Dream.
Grand Ambition: An Extraordinary Yacht, the People Who Built It, and the Millionaire Who Can't Really Afford It, by G. Bruce Knecht - Amazon Sales Rank: #801258 in Books
- Published on: 2015-06-30
- Released on: 2015-06-30
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.37" h x .80" w x 5.50" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 264 pages
Grand Ambition: An Extraordinary Yacht, the People Who Built It, and the Millionaire Who Can't Really Afford It, by G. Bruce Knecht Amazon.com Review Q&A with G. Bruce Knecht
Q. Where did you get the idea for Grand Ambition?
A. This is my third book and the sad truth is that none of them resulted from my own ideas. The Proving Ground, the first one, was about the tragic 1998 Sydney to Hobart sailing race. That was my agent's idea. That book was a #1 bestseller in Australia and my publisher there had the idea for my second book--Hooked: Pirates, Poaching and the Perfect Fish. My German publisher came up with the idea for Grand Ambition. He talked about House, Tracy Kidder's book about the building of a small house. The concept was that if the building of simple wood-frame home could be turned into a very successful book that the creation of a large, technologically complicated and expensive yacht would lead to an even more compelling narrative. I agreed.
Q. Did you always plan on writing about the blue-collar laborers who built the yacht as well as its owner?
A. Absolutely. I did not want to the focus to be on Doug Von Allmen, the owner, or the lifestyles of the very wealthy. Nor did I want the book to be a social commentary about income inequality or illegal immigration (some of the guys who worked on the boat were undocumented workers). What I wanted to do was to describe the lives and work of some of the hundreds of people—ship-fitters, welders, plumbers and cabinetmakers--who came together to build a 187-foot, $40 million vessel.
Q. How did Gale Tribble end up becoming such a major character?
A. The Von Allmens yacht was built in Gulfport, Mississippi. It's a part of the world that's full of colorful characters. Gale was one of the first people I met at the shipyard. He had spent 40 of his 59 years working as a ship-fitter and he was the guy who put together the very first pieces of the hull. I liked Gale from the moment I met him and he invited me to his home for after-work afternoon beers and conversation. His life could not be more different from the Von Allmens--or mine--and he had a great story to tell.
Q. How did Doug Von Allmen make his fortune?
A. He came from a family that never had enough money. He was so physically frail that his mother didn't expect him to survive childhood, but he ended up becoming one of the early pioneers of what we now call private equity. He bought 52 companies and sold every one of them for more than he paid for them. They were small companies when he bought them, but he turned some of them into very substantial operations.
Q. Did you start working on the book before the financial crisis in 2008?
A. Yes. I left the Wall Street Journal, where I had been a reporter for many years, to start following the design and building process in 2007. It was a time of seemingly unstoppable economic growth and a time when shipyards couldn't begin to keep up with the demand for extraordinarily large yachts.
Q. So that means you started working on the book not knowing that Von Allmen would lose $100 million to a Ponzi scheme?
A. That's right. Doug, by the way, was an unlikely victim. Before he was a private equity investor, he was an accountant with Peat Marwick. But Scott Rothstein--the guy who created the Ponzi--was diabolically clever. In retrospect, the tales he spun out to Von Allmen might seem incredible; but when you read my description of how Rothstein worked, I think you'll see how even a very experienced investor could fall victim.
Q. Did Von Allmen have any particular goals for his yacht?
A. He had owned several yachts before. When he and his wife Linda--their yacht would be called Lady Linda--started planning this one, their goal was to create the best yacht ever made in the United States. Most people believe the best yachts are made in Europe. The Von Allmens wanted to prove them wrong.
Q. Did you always plan to include history about very large yachts?
A. The richest members of societies going back to the Pharaohs have been building yachts. I didn't include a lot of history--I didn't want to slow down the narrative--but I did want to include stories about some of history's most colorful yacht owners: Cleopatra, European kings and queens, Chinese emperors, Greek shipping magnates, oil rich Arabs and Russians as well as Americans such as J.P. Morgan, Malcolm Forbes, Henry Ford II, Paul Allen, and Larry Ellison.
Q. Are people like Gale Tribble and Osly Heinandez bitter that they devoted their days to doing back-breaking and sometimes dangerous work to build what's basically a plaything for a very rich man?
A. Not at all. By the time Lady Linda was completed, Tribble's body was literally falling apart. Working in a shipyard takes a much greater toll than, say, sitting at a desk writing a book, but he couldn't afford to retire and he still loved his work. Osly Heinandez is a 21-year-old illegal immigrant from Honduras who did some of the most difficult work there was and the work damaged his lungs. But he and Tribble never expressed any bitterness. On the contrary, they were quick to say that they were grateful to have a job and that they were proud to work on Lady Linda.
Q. Did you enjoy writing the book?
A. Totally. I loved the people I got to know and I enjoyed watching the process evolve from tentative sketches in a London design studio to a 487-ton yacht. The only part I didn't like was worry about whether Lady Linda actually would be completed. Given the financial crisis and the Ponzi scheme, there were times when it looked like it wouldn't happen and it ended up taking two years longer than it was supposed to. If Lady Linda didn't make it across the finish line, I'm not sure I would have had a book.
From Booklist In January 2008, construction began on a 187-foot luxury yacht commissioned by Doug Von Allmen, a wealthy entrepreneur. Its cost would be about $40 million, which seemed a pretty reasonable and effortless price tag until, later that year, the economy went belly up. Oh, and not long after that, Von Allmen discovered he’d been duped by a Ponzi schemer to the tune of about $100 million. With the yacht still under construction, Von Allmen was forced to put it up for sale. But the company that was building it was also in some serious trouble. Would Von Allmen’s boat ever be completed? Knecht tells many stories here: not just Von Allmen’s but also those of the boat-building company, the craftspeople who build these megayachts, and the yacht’s much sought-after designer, stuck in the middle between an impatient client and a slow-moving builder. The author also explores the culture of megayachting and talks a bit about yachting’s history. Given that it’s a book about the building of a boat, it’s a surprisingly exciting and suspenseful story. A very different take on the recession. --David Pitt
Review “Illuminative and utterly engaging.” (The Wall Street Journal)"Reads like a novel of suspense and financial intrigue, proving that fact is often stranger and more unbelievable than fiction. A great read and a cautionary tale for all of us whose ambitions exceed our means.” (Nelson DeMille)"Bruce Knecht is my kind of reporter--a master storyteller with a great eye for the tales of our time. Grand Ambition is centered around the building of a huge yacht, but it is ultimately about our bipolar society--the rarefied lifestyles of the very, very rich and the day-to-day realities of blue-collar laborers who have never worked indoors or been paid more than $20 an hour." (Tom Brokaw)"Knecht deftly tells a tale of craftsmanship and conspicuous consumption, and he challenges us to think about the boundary separating ambition and hubris, creativity and narcissism. Above all, he paints compelling portraits of the dedicated craftsmen who designed and built Lady Linda." (Steven Ujifusa author of A Man and His Ship)"If this lively book doesn't 'lift your boat,' nothing will!" (Steve Forbes)“The pacing and the narrative hold your interest, and you find yourself engrossed.” (Houston Chronicle)
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Most helpful customer reviews
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful. Grand Ambition By Jonathan Russo An extraordinary yacht, the people who built it and the millionaire who can't really afford it. Simon & Shuster.Don't walk, run to your neighborhood bookstore to buy this book. Stop reading this review now and go to your favorite e-seller and get a copy or a download. This book, intentionally or not, is remarkable for its detailed up-close and personal depiction of the people who have made the country what it is.Full disclosure: I love yachts of all kinds, including superyachts. I own a modest yacht myself and have upgraded and bought a different boat four times in the last 30 years. So I understand dissatisfaction in the nautical realm. My yearly yard bills cost the same as tuition in a state university. I subscribe to several superyacht glossies and attend as many major yacht regattas as I can. I write about yachting for a local paper and can talk about yachts all day and night. I also have several really rich friends, and I don't hold their Forbes listings against them. That said this book shocked me.For starters, writer G. Bruce Knecht has pulled off a coup of real proportions. I would pay to see the release form his subjects signed. They include the Von Allmens, Trinity Yachts, yacht designer Evan Marshall and Ingo Pfotenhauer, the owner's rep. They must all believe that any celebrity is better than none. You can understand this for Snookie and JWoww on Jersey Shore, but to lay bare all the absurdity and incompetence of your supposedly successful life for all to see really takes chutzpah.Let's start at the end. Three years late, the Von Allmens kinda get the yacht they want, the yacht that was supposed to be the ultimate American-made one. Yet they don't seem satisfied. They left out many important features for a top-quality charter that they might have to do without since they are strapped for cash. Two days before Lady Linda, the yacht in question, is to set sail for Monaco, one assumes to be sold, Evan Marshall and Mrs. Von Allmen are shopping for tchotchkes in Boca Raton to fill in the decorating blanks. These tchotchkes will then be glued onto the furniture. I used to think yacht designing was a noble calling; thanks, Bruce, for disabusing me of that idea.Mr. Von Allmen has a hysterical fit because he doesn't think a teak coffee table was specked in the plans. He is proven wrong but never acknowledges or apologizes for his ignorance. Wow, what a client. I won't go into the subplot of Von Allmen's business dealings to say I don't know anyone that rich and stupid. He is conned out of a hundred million dollars in a deal that one call to his lawyer and the resulting independent due diligence could have prevented. Von Allmen is at least consistent in one area: he blames Obama for everything. His political outbursts about spending, taxes and immigration make Mitt Romney's secret video look socialist. In fact, the whole lot of them, he and the Trinity shipyard brass, sound like they have been watching way too much Fox News. The author should be commended for leaving all this in; he reveals the dark underbelly of the world of people with too much money and those who suck up to them. Grand Ambition makes the case for a tax bracket a lot higher than 39.6% for folks like these.I wasn't a big fan of unions until I read this book. The exploitation of the workers on this superyacht is comparable to the pharaohs and their slaves. They are totally expendable. The workers are literally dying from the toxic workplace and no one cares. In fact, they are told that any complaints will result in dismissal. Theodore Dreiser could not have come up with a better storyline. I found myself screaming, Where is OHSA or the NLRB when the illegal immigrant Osly can't get a needed new filter for his gas mask. Oh, but he works for a subcontractor to Trinity, the job is "outsourced," so look away, nothing to see here.Trinity's shenanigans are really too much to bear. A favorite anecdote relates to Feadship, a well-respected yacht-building venture in Europe. One of the venture's owners cites Trinity as an example of what not to do, a "reference point" to which Feadship might favorably be compared. They and other yards should buy this book in bulk as a handout to prospective customers. The blame game and lies about the yacht's delivery delays are egregious, and if I did that to my clients...I wouldn't have any.A lot of the actions just don't make sense, but you know not to blame the author. For example, toward the end, the Von Allmens fly by Lear jet into Gulfport in the winter to inspect the status of the build. They, by the way, have their very own representative there to monitor things on a daily basis. Yet when they see Lady Linda they are shocked, shocked to discover how little work has been done. Really? Even before Instagram, someone could have e-mailed photos of the boat. How about a written description or even a phone call with an update to anyone in charge at Trinity? No, they had to waste their time flying in to see the yacht and bitching about the jet-fuel expense.If you ever watched with envy Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, this book will free you. Grand Ambition is an orgy of schadenfreude. When the Von Allmens take their old boat to the Dubai yacht show in an attempt to sell it to a keffiyeh-wearing sucker, armed pirates attack on the way. As a result, they need to put barbed wire around the yacht and post armed guards. My days of sailing in Long Island Sound are positively blissful in comparison. I must confess I almost wish they had been kidnapped and held for ransom, so little do I empathize with them.I could go on, but why bother, when the book is so much better than this telling?A fitting postscript might come from the economic visionary who saw this "conspicuous consumption" coming, Thorstein Veblen. Here is what he had to say about his funeral arrangements: "It is my wish, in case of death, to be cremated, if it can conveniently be done, as expeditiously and inexpensively as may be, without ritual or ceremony of any kind; that my ashes be thrown loose into the sea, or into some sizable stream running to the sea; that no tombstone, slab, epitaph, effigy, tablet, inscription, or monument of any nameor nature, be set up in my memory or name in any place or at any time; that no obituary, memorial, portrait, or biography of me, nor any letters written to or by me be printed or published, or in any way reproduced, copied or circulated."
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. Terrific Story and a perfect title "Grand Ambition" By Charles M. Grand Ambition is really quite a story and a must read especially for anyone in the business of yachting. Bruce Knecht weaves an interesting and incredible story. Incorporated is a history of large and lavish yachts together with the business of yachting, the events surrounding the recession intermingled with the many facets of people involved in the creation of Lady Linda and of course the Von Allmen's own personal story. The disaster the Von Allmen's suffered surrounding the Rothstein ponzi scheme that occurred right here in Fort Lauderdale and the bizarre saga relating just how easy it is to be conned into believing an off beat investment is capable of returning such huge rewards is in itself a novel. Knowing many of the people involved in this story and attending the open house on the eve of the yachts departure for the Mediterranean makes the book even more enticing. The folks in Washington should each have a copy so that they might just possibly come to grips with the incredible amount of blue collar man hours necessary in creating a yacht and the redistribution of wealth directly into the community that occurs as a result. Bruce, thank you for bringing this story to life.Grand Ambition: An Extraordinary Yacht, the People Who Built It, and the Millionaire Who Can't Really Afford It
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. What Happened? By PBJ Enjoyed the story and the style. It is an interesting peek into a niche business. My rating was driven by the ending. Resolution of the mulitple issues facing the suppliers, contractor and principal were not addressed. It was like a film crew peering into the camera and realizing they only had 5 feet of film left in which to wrap up the movie.
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Grand Ambition: An Extraordinary Yacht, the People Who Built It, and the Millionaire Who Can't Really Afford It, by G. Bruce Knecht
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Grand Ambition: An Extraordinary Yacht, the People Who Built It, and the Millionaire Who Can't Really Afford It, by G. Bruce Knecht
Grand Ambition: An Extraordinary Yacht, the People Who Built It, and the Millionaire Who Can't Really Afford It, by G. Bruce Knecht
