It’s not all plain sailing in Disney’s world

WHATEVER you do, don’t call Roy Disney a Mickey Mouse operator. The 73-year-old nephew of the famous Walt has heard all the bad jokes before and they don’t get any funnier in the retelling.

He is far from being po-faced but the reason he doesn’t get this particular joke is due to the fact that he is still smarting from being fired by the entertainment empire his uncle founded.

Don’t talk about money, either. According to his minders, he finds such conversation boring and, in any event, he has more than enough of it.

Asked recently about the cost of running his majestic ocean racer Pyewacket, he remarked: “If you have to ask, you can’t afford it. I can afford it.”

One thing you can talk about to him, though, is the success of Cork Week, Europe’s biggest sailing regatta this year. It still amazes him how a relatively small sailing club with barely 300 members can carry off such a prestigious event every two years, gaining for itself an enviable international reputation.

“Everything works, it’s as simple as that. All the starts are in order and everyone knows exactly where they are supposed to be. That may seem pretty basic but it doesn’t happen everywhere. Everything at Cork Week is always well run, down to the last detail.”

Next year in Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, it will take seven different clubs to organise a similar undertaking.

“Cork Week is always a wonderful event. We always have a great time when we come here and regattas are nice because it means you can sleep in your own bed at night.”

The bed he refers to is housed in the castle he and his wife, Patty, bought near Kilbrittain in Courtmacsherry 15 years ago.

“We come here as often as we can. We’ve been coming since 1989 and it gets better every year. I first encountered Cork Week with Hugh Coveney and Bernie Cahill and then I found myself becoming a member of the RCYC.”

If you’re lucky, you might get Disney to talk about his spat with those in control of the famous empire founded by his uncle and in particular his ongoing feud with Disney boss Michael Eisner.

“I was fired against my will,” he said, as he relaxed after a day’s racing on Pyewacket.

He has even gathered together a group of dissident shareholders and started a campaign “to save Disney”. That was all he was prepared to say on the subject, though. “I’m not going to discuss politics anymore,” he said. “I’m here to race.”