Tonight, Friday, is a big night for a 77 year old California man. If all went well this week, David Clark sails into the Fort Lauderdale Marina in Florida to become the oldest man to sail around the world.
A big celebration is planned by the FLM Marriott to welcome Clark.
The Fort Lauderdale Navy League will set up an arc of water under which Clark will sail and a band will be playing as he docks to greet family and friends. The hotel will be providing a champagne reception and a formal dinner.
Johanna Glatz is the senior catering sales manager for the Marriott. She said that once Clark is docked and off the boat, it will be lifted out of the water and put on display inside the hotel for the weekend. Clark is expected to talk about some of his experiences over the past two years. He also will receive some awards, including the Golden Circle Award from the Joshua Slocum Society International.
Glatz said that 35 hundred invitations were sent out.
Clark should have some experiences to relate, too. He probably will draw some tears when he talks about what probably was the scariest portion of the trip.
He started out two years ago from Fort Lauderdale in a 44-foot sailboat called the Mollie Milar. His dog, Mickey, was on board with him.
But in the always stormy waters off Capetown, South Africa, the Mollie Milar sank. Clark, obviously, was rescued but, sadly, Mickey was not.
Clark obtained another boat, a 34 footer, and continued his journey.
The circumnavigation was Clark’s idea, but the celebration apparently was inspired by Fort Lauderdale marketing specialist Ruchel Louis.
Louis kept in touch with Clark throughout his trip through email directly to the boat. She also maintained telephone contact with Clark’s wife, Lynda.
Clark is expected to begin writing a book about his trip after getting back home to Lafayette, California. It should be interesting.
Some of CART’s dirty laundry got hung out this past week. It came in the organization’s third-quarter report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to Jack Arute, writing for ESPN.com, one large shareholder, Jon Vannini, had already gone public with his opposition to CART CEO Joe Heitzler.
Vannini doesn’t like the way Heitzler has made overtures to the IRL or the 2002 TV contract he negotiated.
In the third-quarter report another large shareholder, Jerry Forsythe filed a formal response to Vannini. Forsythe also has argued against some of Heitzler’s plans but still supports a strong executive. Vannini seems to want more power centered in the Board of Directors.
The high powered maneuvering will continue, powered by cubic money, and it could drastically alter, if not help signal the end of, the open-wheeled series.
I usually hate racing movies. There have been few good ones. John Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix is arguably the most artful, although the main plot was mundane and predictable, as was Maurice Jarre’s score.
My favorite is Lemans, directed and starred in by actor and parttime racer Steve McQueen. There was virtually no love story…it was all about the cars and the racing. And the action scenes were more exciting than spectacular.
Last weekend we rented and watched Driven, written, produced, directed and starred in by girl’s school gym teacher turned sort of actor Sylvester Stallone. I’ve got to hand it to him, Driven was even more far out than I expected.
Stallone thumbed his nose at realism. Heck, he even gave little thought to reality in some of the scenes. The characters are likable enough, if a little thin. And, as it turned out there weren’t any bad guys, just people with conflicting goals and agendas and valid reasons for them. A good story not done terribly well.
If you like racing movies, even if you just like movies, it’s worth a rent, it just can’t decide whether it’s a guy movie or a chick flick. It’s PG13 for some language, which was no worse than your kids will hear in the hallway at school.