[Fiction question] What kind of boat does my character own?
Asked by
Jeruba (
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October 31st, 2009
My character “J” affects a pose of “captain” and owns a boat, a yacht, which he docks in San Diego. He lives in a coastal mansion near San Diego (where?). But he does not actually do any of the work of driving or maintaining the boat. He just gives orders and strides about and poses and plays host. (This is not the good guy of my story.)
What kind of boat is it?
Where does he dock it?
What does he wear?
Where does he live?
See also this question. When my question quota reopens, there will be more.
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48 Answers
Is this a trick question?
@RedPowerLady :: This sounds like a “I am writing a book question.”
@johnpowell but aren’t all the answers in the question itself?
Wait- I know this guy… oh it is fiction.
Okay- Is this guy from old money or is he self made?
@Grisaille, no, not yet—just getting my notes in order for tomorrow. This guy is probably my bad guy. I don’t know anything about boats. I want to be able to say he owns a <fill in the blank>, and then I can go find out details about it. Somebody who knows boats will know what kind of boat is cool and showy for a rich guy in San Diego to own. That’s what I need to know.
@Dog, he is self-made, and not in any very nice way.
Ahhh I get the question more clearly now
@Jeruba Good luck. I say you just say “fuck it,” say he owns a submarine and be done with it.
@Grisaille Funny but a submarine is not exactly “party friendly”.—
he owns a 1968 47 foot chris craft flush deck commander. he got it in a deal, a trade, but we don’t find that out until later. he lives aboard, I hope? it’s parked at chula vista. he wears worn out jeans, t-shirts, and a really nice old pilots jacket. he smokes hemingway short stories on occasion. he has an old, victorian house in the old town section of san diego, it’s beautiful, run down, and he’d rather be on his boat.
@trailsillustrated, no, he lives in the mansion, which is furnished with fabulously expensive collectors’ items: Persian carpets, original art, antiques. All ill-gotten. He keeps the boat so he can entertain on it and also so he can affect captain’s gear. Would a rich guy own such an old boat? Is it a showpiece?
yes it is one of the most desirable of all classic chris craft boats. He also has ill-gotten zebra skin chair and ottoman.
Oooh! Excellent. Some of his ill-gotten stuff came from taking advantage of other rich guys whom he (figuratively) sank. But no one can touch him——until “R” and the Finnish assassin and the old dragon lady come along.
He really should wear a nautical themed pashmina afghan.
but because of his shadowy life and riches, he has to kinda fly under the radar…..
How about a 74 ’ Northstar Pilothouse as shown here. He would wear all white, as yacht captains seem to always do. I’m not familiar with San Diego harbors (@Dr_C.can probably help here), but perhaps Mission Bay? See ya….Gary/wtf
@nnxknxk, can I see a picture? I don’t even know what that would be.
and, he has alot of his money parked in south africa, in rand, and some of his best exotic treasures come from there…...
I think a person of his status would moor his yacht off Coronado Island (part of San Diego) His mansion would be there as well- it is exceptionally beautiful, exclusive and expensive.
@Jeruba
Here. It’s from “I’m on a Boat” so unless you want a silly pop culture reference in your NaNoWriMo novel, I wouldn’t use it. I was jaykay.
Great, @Dog! Excellent. I have actually been out there to walk through the lobby of the Del and along the beach (and daydream) with a friend. Somewhere near there would be perfect. He has to have an ocean view at sunset from his deck because that is the only scene I’ve got in mind. I have no idea what happens next.
Cute, @nxknxk. He likes to wear the classic whites, though. Or maybe the white blazer and navy pants (or is it the other way around?). And the hat. He looks a lot like that one actor, um, not Eddie Albert—who am I thinking of?
That’s a gorgeous boat, too, @Gary. I want the flashier one, whichever it is.
so no flippy floppies, then
and he wears a breitling super avenger watch, and he collects fine, handmade bamboo fishing rods, and very rare english made reels, and when people are guesting on his boat he shows off this collection, and talks about the fishing he had in denmark, and chile, and idaho
har har- uh, whom am I describing- my husband maybe oh and , our capitan is sort of a blowhard, yes?
and he also has the finest collection of firearms in a safe, and, late at night , our capitan goes and talks, we can only hear them murmur, with his “friends” – people he met in the finest fishing and hunting lodges in the world, and therefore he also can afford the maintenance on his old mahogany boat.
Blowhard, yes.
So…are you doing NaNoWriMo too?
hell no I wish I could that’s why I interjecting all this crap to you
“He looks a lot like that one actor, um, not Eddie Albert—who am I thinking of?”
Are you thinking of Ted Knight?? That’s really not a very good pic
ted knight gah! no he looks like dennis hopper….
No, not Ted Knight. Some guy who…I think…might have played a detective or a cop on TV, long enough ago for me to have seen it. I quit watching TV altogether when Star Trek: Voyager replaced Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which was really no substitute at all for STNG. I guess that makes it about 1995. So—before that. A guy with white hair, a kind of squarish build, and…a gun…
Nope. I know him. I can see this guy in my mind. I’m going to have to look up 80’s and 90’s detective shows. I don’t think it’s a show I ever watched, or I’d remember the name.
[Edit] Yikes, I think I’d better check the seventies. I think I must have mostly quit watching TV by the late eighties.
Was he the leading man? I cannot remember any with white hair. Now this is going to really bug me.
Yes, and maybe it was gray, but I think it was white. I see him standing on a boat, but maybe I have already cast him as my character. Bugging me too.
It did! Thank you! It didn’t lead me to him, but it triggered the right memory. Here is the actor I was thinking of.
@Jeruba if we help you write this book, do we get credit on the acknowledgements page?
yay! yeah him. can we read your stories?
This is fun! He looks like he would be a bit paranoid and have people watching his people.
Good point, @Dog! I will keep that in mind.
You can find my NaNo page here and read an excerpt if you want. The old dragon lady and the Finnish assassin are there at the moment. This is only chapter 1. (And my inner editor is theoretically turned off, so we are not worrying about overwriting or anything else but word count at this point.)
It took me until tonight to come up with the 1980s TV show The Equalizer, which I never saw but which was the role in which I was picturing the actor. Dress him in a yachtsman’s blazer and white pants and you have my character. Complete with gun.
Follow-up Q: Could the crew sleep on board, awaiting the boss’s call? How many, and what are their positions?
Butler, Head of security, Cook and squeeze. (my apologies for the sexist reference- it is in character)
@Dog, he has a butler named Butler.
It was just too tempting.
“Come now,” said the man in the white uniform. “I have to take you below.” He took hold of D~’s hand firmly and guided him toward the steps that led down to the galley and the sleeping cabins.
“Are you really a butler?” asked D~.
“Yes,” said the man.
“What’s your name?”
“Butler.”
“You’re a butler named Butler?”
“I think the captain hired me for my name,” said the man. “I’m Richard Butler. He liked the idea of getting two for the price of one.”
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