Silver Lining too good
for Hawaii’s ports

Last Saturday's Star-Bulletin had barely hit the streets when I got the following e-mail: "Hey Ray -- You said the Waikiki Yacht Club has the only berth in Hawaii for that visiting 155-foot yacht. Why couldn't it tie up in Honolulu Harbor?"

My answer was that it could have moored there, with the assistance of a harbor agent and with the Department of Transportation's permission. But the fact is, for a number of reasons, most private yachts would rather not.

In Honolulu Harbor, they are usually assigned to the dock directly fronting Gordon Biersch and Don Ho's. That means they must listen to amplified music and be under the gaze of hundreds of restaurant patrons every night of the week.

And too, at that location, extra security is needed to keep uninvited (and often inebriated) visitors from coming aboard.

Add to this picture the heavy surge along that dock and its hull-scaring black rubber tire fenders, and you have a completely undesirable situation. Large yachts -- like the one in question -- and commercial harbors just don't mix.

"Silver Lining is owned by a European businessman, with strong ties to the U.S.," its American captain RJ Jones told me.

Christensen Shipyards in Vancouver, Wash., built the multi-million dollar vessel for the owner about 10 years ago. And although it is registered in the Cayman Islands, Silver Lining's home port is Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

It is 155 feet long, 28 feet wide, and has four decks over a fiberglass-composite hull, making it about the equivalent of a 9,000 square-foot house.

It is powered by two 2,250 horsepower, V-12 Deutz diesel engines which give it a top speed of 20 knots and a 4,000-nautical mile range.

Silver Lining's interior design is no less spectacular than its dimensions and performance.

With an obvious abandonment of the nautical dˇcor found in many yachts, Silver Lining was designed to showcase the paintings, furniture and art pieces the owner and his wife have collected -- including several paintings done by the owner.

Desks, tables and chests of cherry wood, ebony, maple burl, bone, teak and fine lacquer are used throughout the staterooms and saloons, while the heads are decorated with marble, itched glass and gold-plated fixtures.

This yacht would measure up nicely with most of the houses on Black Point, but Silver Lining is more than a floating mansion.

It also has all of the electronics any world-cruiser would need. From dual radar and forward-scanning sonar, to satellite navigation and communication systems, it has it all.

The vessel is also equipped for serious scuba diving adventures and until just recently, it even had its own hyperbaric chamber. But, when Silver Lining visited Palmyra, on its way from Tahiti to Hawaii, its owner was told of the need for such a device at the isolated Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium, of which the University of Hawaii is a member.

So now, thanks to the owner's generosity, Silver Lining's decompression chamber is now a lifesaving fixture on Palmyra.

As for its future, Silver Lining will be leaving its Waikiki Yacht Club berth soon for a cruise through our islands before heading to the mainland. Isn't it appalling that it will be the last boat slip available to it in the whole state?