It wouldn't be the first time, believe it or not.........about 6 years ago I went from a 30' to an 18' just for the fun of it. Then back to a 30, then to a 40, and back down to a 33.

Maybe in 25 years from now when the wife and I are in our 50's and have no mortgage we will buy another big boat. I wonder what gas prices will be then? Maybe $10 per gallon? Ouch!

Thanks!

Although I must admit (and this may take this topic in a whole new direction) we are considering getting out of "big boat" ownership for a while; and putting our money into a lake front cabin. We know that real estate is a much better long term investment than boats, and we really need to start putting something away for our future. So Caleb might either be a future Captain or a future outdoorsman, either way he'll be a well rounded person. But we can't be without a boat completely, or two.....so if we sell the boat, I will be buying a new runabout in the 17 - 19 foot range, and an older aluminum fishing boat, too. That way we can still boat on the river here, and up at the cabin. :-)

I was on the top deck (Deck 15) of Royal Caribbean's "Mariner of the Seas," which is nearly 3 times the size of "Rising Sun" but when you consider our ship had over 4,500 people onboard (guest & crew), and Ellison's yacht had probably less than 50, well, you get the idea! :-) And considering his yacht is privately owned........give me his yacht any day! But it still felt pretty good to say we had the biggest "yacht" in port that day. LOL!

Rising Sun was built in 2005 I beleive, so it would've been about 2 years old at this point.

Here is some information from Wikipedia........I guess David Geffen is a fractional owner now??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RisingSun(yacht)

Julie, the blue hulled yacht is named, "Enterprise." We were also docked next to "Chana", "Floridian", and "April Fool" (as you can see in the pic.)

"Rising Sun" has some really sweet multicolor lighting on the deckrails, I tried to snap a shot of that but even my $1,200 camera couldn't capture it perfectly. Who would've thunk it!?

Julie, feel free to use those pics on the Boaters TV if you'd like. And BTW, thanks for the mention in episode 40......we had our little bundle of joy on October 4th. Meet our new "Swab", Caleb Robert Karnitz.......

[IMG]http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k218/jasonkarnitz/DSC07022.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k218/jasonkarnitz/DSC07176.jpg[/IMG]

Here he is, 10 days old, and already boating with mom and dad! [IMG]http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k218/jasonkarnitz/DSC07084.jpg[/IMG]

I guess we can't display pics in the forums!

Hey guys - sorry I haven't responded in a while, we had our baby so we have been crazy busy!!

Yes, I took a bunch of pictures of "Rising Sun". And yes, he has an all-male crew. Everyone wears the same polo shirt and khaki shorts.

Here are some pics of Rising Sun.......

[IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d121/RadioguyJ/Cruise%202007/DSC06095.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d121/RadioguyJ/Cruise%202007/DSC06096.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d121/RadioguyJ/Cruise%202007/DSC06102.jpg[/IMG]

And here's some of the other mega-yachts in port that day........

[IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d121/RadioguyJ/Cruise%202007/DSC06098.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d121/RadioguyJ/Cruise%202007/DSC06099.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d121/RadioguyJ/Cruise%202007/DSC06100.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d121/RadioguyJ/Cruise%202007/DSC06101.jpg[/IMG]

In January I was cruising the Caribbean and was docked in St. Thomas, right beside us was the largest privately owned yacht I have ever seen! It was "Rising Sun" which is owned by Oracle founder Larry Ellison. Funny how the yacht's tenders were as big as my boat! He had some 25 crew members, all male, and all wearing matching polo shirts and khakis. Some were having fun messing around, others were working their tails off. I recall and older gentleman standing next to me at the rail, looking at Rising Sun, and he said, "I bet that's a 150 foot vessel right there!!!" I then told him that it's over 400 feet long, and he couldn't believe it.

No sign of Larry onboard though.

But seeing "Rising Sun" in person gave me hope that someday I will own one of those beauties. I figure, if I start working my fingers to the bone right now, in about, say........oh 5,000 years I will have enough money to make a down payment on a yacht of that size. :-)