stay on the boat than actually get wet, but it’s a very gentle way of winding down and I love that.”
Hanks is of a very grounded outlook and has never been one to let anything, not even the privacy of former world leaders, get in the way of a good story. Indeed, while chatting to Stephen Colbert on The Late Show, the actor and typewriter collector couldn’t help but spill the beans on one particularly amusing day trip the group enjoyed.
“I’ll tell you what happened to little Tommy Hanks on that trip. They call a guy who says he can rent bikes for everybody, so we go on shore and yes, there’s an array of bicycles that have been procured for us. Rented from all corners of Polynesia, they’ve all come,” he said. “Then, everyone gets on their bikes. There were some great bikes there, there were some fine and dandy bikes and then there was one piece of junk, hunk of junk bike.”
“Who do you think got the hunk of junk bike? The secret service guys hopped on these perfect bikes, they’re all gone, Oprah’s gone, and I have a bike that you couldn’t deliver newspapers with,” he continued.
“It was an undersized girls’ bike. It was rusted, like all over... and it only had one gear - it was miserable, miserable. I’d rather go back and get Legionnaires’ disease on that boat,” he added, causing an eruption of applause.
Yet despite his biking woes, Hanks revealed that the rest of the trip really wasn’t all that bad, admitting: “Imagine what it could’ve been like, then triple it. It was off the scale fantastic.”
When not hanging out with famous Democrats, the Forrest Gump star and his wife of 30 years are well-known for pushing the boat out (if you’ll excuse the pun) in a bid to have a little quality time together. Back in 2004, the pair, who are extremely fond of sailing, rented what was at the time, the biggest yacht in the world to traverse the Mediterranean.
Built in 1976, the 75m sailing yacht Phocea had recently undergone a $17million refit and accommodated up to 12 guests along with a high-tech gym and the kind of wood panelled, white linen luxury throughout that could rival your finest on land five star establishment. Costing around $200,000 per week to rent, the Phocea is arguably the finest way to holiday on
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THE EVER-AFFABLE 61-YEAR-OLD IS KNOWN TO HOLIDAY IN SERIOUS STYLE WITH A REPUTATION FOR RENTING FABULOUS VESSELS, CRUISING WITH FELLOW SUPER-CELEBS AND FORMER PRESIDENTS
the Mediterranean sea and cruise along the Turkish coast and visit many of the unspoilt Aeolian Islands, undisturbed from the prying eyes of the paparazzi.
“I’ve always loved the way some of the vessels are just like floating architectural wonders. Every square inch has been thought about and considered, and that’s something you can never say about a building.”
Hanks’ penchant for sailing over say, private jetting, is entirely in keeping with his overall persona. He is the kind of genuine, Old school gentleman Hollywood could do with having a lot more of. And whilst on the topic of his latest film, The Post, a thrilling retelling about the Pentagon Papers and their subsequent printing in The Washington Post, he explains why he believes integrity with the press is so vital, revealing that his top tip for not getting lost in the online whirlwind of ‘fake news’
and dubious echo chambers, is to return to physical copy.
“Well I had every app, every news update bombarding my phone and my computer, and they are constant. And because of the volume coming at me, I never read more than headlines, never more than a quick scan. And therefore, miss the point… miss so much,” says Hanks.
“So I now read The New York Times, cover to cover, every morning. It used to be my morning ritual, technology interfered and now, I have thankfully gone back. It works for me. I would prefer to be more informed about particular news events, fully informed, rather than knowing about everything but having a shallow understanding.”
And, of course, reading articles properly also keeps Hanks properly clued up on the latest yacht science!
ONBOARD | SPRING 2018 | 27
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