Senators owner being sued for 10 millions

What do you do if you're trapped in the midst of a pandemic in Canada, where government lockdowns have been implemented in many areas?

According to recently filed litigation obtained by CBC News, billionaire Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk and his girlfriend felt they had an answer: Spend the Christmas holidays with friends and relatives on a $500,000-per-week superyacht in the Bahamas.

The 60-meter M/Y Dream boasts a "zen interior of refinement and relaxed elegance" and promises "a warm and congenial nautical experience," according to its website.

However, two of Melnyk's guests say they received anything but, with the Caribbean trip devolving into a power struggle between the NHL owner and the yacht's British captain, "panic attacks," and "corruption" — and now, a $10 million US lawsuit.

Melnyk, 61, and girlfriend Sharilyne Anderson set out on the Dream from Nassau on Dec. 22, planning to spend the first five days together before welcoming friends and family after Christmas.

From the start, it appears, they didn't hit it off well with the superyacht's captain.

He was "an odorous, ill-tempered man who was curt and dismissive with the guests and outright angry and abusive to the crew," claim the two lawsuits, filed in the United States last month by Anderson and another plaintiff. The captain "was easily flustered and overwhelmed and seemed completely unfamiliar with the area, the crew or the vessel."

Captain sought 'to punish' Melnyk, lawsuit says

It got worse when Melnyk told the British skipper they wanted to head through an inner, more protected passage from Nassau down to a chain of Bahamaian islands known as the Exuma archipelago.

The captain "appeared angry and resentful that a charterer would deem to intrude on his alleged specialized knowledge, experience, and authority ... and sought instead to punish the charterer and his party for their insolence through intentionally piloting the yacht into the open ocean," both statements of claim allege.

Credit: CBC.CA