ON BOARDDECEMBER 2017
On February 14, 1964,
Miami gave The Beatles
a big valentine. They
had arrived in South Florida a few
days ahead of their appearance on
The Ed Sullivan Show at the then
swanky Deauville hotel. On that
day, the boys were whisked away to
escape throngs of fans for a Time
photo shoot in a private pool and
were treated to a sail on the 93ft
Southern Trail. Built in 1926 by the
Mathis Yacht Company, in 1964
the Trumpy-designed fantail yacht
belonged to Bernard Castro, the
inventor of the convertible sofa,
who lent his vessel to the band ’s
entourage. Dodging stowaway
reporters and fans, they snapped
photos, took a lazy swim and Paul
played a few notes of Can’t Buy
Me Love on the piano. “Funny how
all these people have swimming
pools when the sea is just at the
bottom of their gardens,” Ringo
observed as they cruised past
waterfront homes. Southern Trail
served as the Castro Convertible
floating showroom and hosted
fundraisers well into the 1980s.
Sold a couple of times, the historic
yacht fell into disrepair, caught
fire and sank near Ontario in
Canada. But she for ever remains
part of music history thanks to
four boys from Liverpool.
Southern
Trail
IMAGE Bettmann/Getty Images
EYE OPENER
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