The whale incident
 

In the Tusk video, John McVie is represented by a life-sized photo of himself mounted on board. According to... well, you know where I read it:

While we were actually recording at the stadium, John and eight other lads headed for Tahiti, thirty-five days at sea. One clear night, stars you could read by, shooting stars everywhere, total peace and quiet on the smooth downwind run, dolphins cruising alongside... suddenly the whole boat tipped sickeningly. Twenty-eight tons, almost keeled over. In the cabin people were on the floor, smashed crockery everywhere. They'd been rammed by a whale! At Tahiti the boat was hauled and they found a huge ding in the transom. Fleetwood Mac had almost lost Mr. McVie.

Does anybody know about articles, news that described about this, too? I found photos of John on a boat but I don't know if it was the same one from this episode.

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/c2/96/e9/c...e7343a4564.jpg

Hey guys, he's got the book out again. How about a good old fashioned lynching?

I did not know this story. Wow.

He consults his book.

Oh wait....that's the other thread

Have you not read Mick's first book??? I'll bet I've read it 100 times.

His second book I've never touched, though. I guess that's the different fan I became over the years. Once you know he's a liar, it's not as enthralling.

I knew it! You are a descendant of Tomás de Torquemada.

https://guayoyoenletras.net/wp-conte...l-verdugo1.jpg

Never bring an axe to a gun fight.

I think in one of his Q&As John went into some detail about sailing mishaps? I'm pretty sure he mentioned being rammed by a baby whale. But I've never seen any articles etc about it.

--Lis

Are those Q&A sessions still available? The list is still at

https://fleetwoodmac.net/fwm/index.p...d=28&Itemid=42

But no content is available and it shows an error: the xajax JAvascript component could not be included.

Invalid link.

CHECK YOUR BOOK!

i get a weird message as well about some java crap but they do still work for me...? i just checked. they're all still up there...if i click on 'Ok' for the message, it still goes ahead and loads them. maybe try clicking ok and see if you can't view them.

let me stick a link here and see if it works...

https://www.fleetwoodmac.net/fwm/ind...d=55&Itemid=69

yes i just checked and the link above took me right to john's 1st one.
it would be sad if nobody else could see them!! :(

--Lis

This link does work, thanks!

It wasn't when I tried.

It worked for me.

Read Mick's book again and it will work.

I should start with the second one that I've never cracked open.

I used to go to the boat shows at Marina del Rey many years ago and sometimes saw John’s boat Adelie moored in the slip — but John was never on it, probably because there were too many people around. I think John also owned some other sailboats named after penguin species.

Whose boat is Christine on in the Tusk documentary? Dennis?

I know that John had a boat named "The Challenge." I heard Chris say it was John's boat name that gave her the inspiration for her song. Her 1984 tour bus was also named "The Challenge."

I've always assumed that was dennis's boat. but people with money can always have access to boats lol.

did you see Adelie in the 70s/early 80s? I think he upgraded to a bigger one around 1980 or 81 maybe? no, the previous owner thinks it was around 78 or 79, i just checked.

I actually chatted a few times w the guy i mentioned above who sold John his second boat. The Challenge. he said he'd just made the decision to sell it, and had it docked in marina del rey for not too long and one day john approached him with a few friends to ask about it. the guy sold it to him under the prerequisite that he'd teach him how to sail it, because it was larger than Adelie, and john agreed. so this guy got to spend a lot of time w the mac (and sampled all their accompanying substances and party aids lol) on that boat. he said he met all the members of the group because they were all on that boat at some point or another partying together. didn't have too many specific memories, since the events never began without some serious drugs lol. but he went w john around newport beach, and to hawaii. he was like a pirate lol, i think he was australian. interesting character.

--Lis

"Let me teach you how to sail this boat because it's bigger and trickier but let's all do it high" :laugh:

Nothing says safety like doing a pile of coke before learning! :lol::lol::lol:

And I am sure there was plenty of booze too. The perfect high is 2 copious lines and a glass of booze. So I heard.

OMG you guys are killing me with these comments :laugh::laugh: It was quite a time, back in those days, with everybody doing so much naughty stuff. I guess somehow, by some miracle, john learned how to sail the bigger boat lol

--Lis

I still have a friend who drags me back into the 1980's, every couple of months. I might partake for an evening(because it's free), but I don't miss those days very much. Brown liquor(and red wine) is my jam these days. :woohoo:

We need the whale's side of the story to know for sure. With the amount of drinking happened on that boat its quite possible John ran into the whale rather than the other way around.

I suspect the whale was angry because he (or she) was thirsty and wasn't invited.

Another whale referred to Old Goatsy as the lead singer of FM.

Do you always trust your first initial feeling?

I was still living in Arcadia, so this would have been mid to late 70s. Those boat shows often hubbed at the LA Convention Center on Figueroa, but they’d show boats in the slips at Marina del Rey, so you’d hop in your car and drive to the marina to see these wonderful boats and yachts. It was true yacht rock. I used to remember exactly where Adelie was moored. Around that time, Stevie bought her condo in Marina del Rey, near Venice Beach. You could walk right up to the windows from the beach side, which was public at the time. The press always interviewed her in this condo. I think this was the condo that was rocking a little from the surf, which led to her writing the song. Mac fans would always visit the condo before going to see Stevie or Fleetwood at the Forum in those days. You’d run into dozens of people with a noncommissioned Fleetwood Mac T-shirt on (the ones they sold in the parking lots at the arenas), and then everyone would troop over to the venue after a six-pack or some shots on the beach. The fans weren’t quite so weird yet — they weren’t dressing like Stevie yet.

Special knowledge holds true.