One Yacht leads to Another

The ugliest yacht in the world? On his Wealth Report blog, Robert Frank notes that some think the megayacht Sigma, still under construction, could take the title.

Bet we could endure a cruise on Sigma when she's finished. Still, Mr. Frank has a point. To bespeak Old Money, yachts need a traditional look.

Google came up with a good example, the vintage yacht Chanticleer.


A few years ago Chanticleer was offered for sale to settle the estate of Frances Langford, the old-time singer/actress. Members of the Greatest Generation remember Langford fondly from her U.S.O. tours of WWII battlegrounds with Bob Hope. As you'll read in this Boston Whaler's log of an August, 2001 cruise on Georgian Bay, her glamor endured:

On my way back to the boat I stop at Wally's Gas Dock, where the rather famous yacht CHANTICLEER is fueling. We have seen this boat cruising many times in our previous visits to this area. A beautiful 110-foot Burger motor yacht, CHANTICLEER has just arrived from a month long trip from her home port of Jensen Beach, Florida. The owner is on board, in fact she is having lunch on the fantail. Still looking like Hollywood, 88-year-old former movie star Francis Langford is wearing sunglasses, a white sweater, and a gold lamé hair covering as she enjoys her noon meal, prepared by her cook and served by her steward on the screened-in aft deck of the gleaming yacht. Married to outboard engine pioneer Ole Evinrude (who died in 1987), she and the big yacht have been annual visitors here every summer for decades. As soon as they finish fueling they're off to their anchorage at the tiny twin islets they own in The Pool, a beautiful spot in the extreme northeast end of Baie Finn. It is quite a sight to see her and her famous CHANTICLEER. What a way to go! I hope I am still game for cruising when I am 88-years old.

Readers in the yachting crowd know all about Burger yachts. For the rest of us, the history of the family-founded company is set forth here. There's enough drama to fill a succession-planning seminar. After assorted trials and tribulations, the luxury tax on yachts killed Burger in 1990.

Not to worry, the story has a happy ending. For a shorter version with photos, see the Timeline. Here's one of the new Burger yachts: