Was Eric Clapton’s yacht docked at Marion last weekend?

There was a crackle in Marion last weekend like the hum of an electric guitar vibrating through an amp, with rumors that legendary rock and blues guitarist Eric Clapton was in town.

A yacht called blue guitar was spotted in the harbor over the weekend; for years, reports online everywhere it appears suggest that this yacht is owned by Clapton. It would make sense, after all, for a man who loves both the blues and the guitar to name his yacht blue guitar. It also sports a British Union Jack flag and is based in London, England.

It all adds up, right?

This photo provided to us may not be too detailed, but there are plenty of others floating around that show it was definitely the blue guitar which was moored at Marion.

Facebook groups Marion and Tri-Town posted several posts from people sharing photos of the yacht and trying to figure out if “Slowhand” himself was on board and why he might be in town. Someone claimed he came to Marion for a wedding (surely he should have performed “Wonderful Tonight” for the happy couple); others said his daughter, Sophie Belle Clapton, 17, is a student at Tabor Academy.

However, there is no definitive evidence, at least nothing found online, that proves that Clapton is the owner of the 103ft yacht which was built in 1967. Almost all links between the rock god and the yacht are anecdotal, like all stories about the blue guitar spotted in a particular port are followed in the comment sections with people claiming to moor their own yachts nearby and seeing Clapton on deck, strumming a guitar.

Even this 2013 YouTube video of the blue guitar sailing through the Cape Cod Canal suggests it belongs to Clapton:

We can prove, however, that Clapton owns at least one yacht, one much larger and more luxurious than the blue guitar – not that the blue guitar is something to shake a Strat at.

According to BoatInternational.com, Clapton owns a superyacht, the Well done. Apparently Clapton bought the superyacht in 2005 and has now put it up for sale for $7.5 million. He reportedly auctioned it off in November 2020 with an expected bid of $10 million, but it’s unclear if anyone bid and took it off his hands. The site also states that Clapton “would have” owned the blue guitar.

It is likely that Clapton at some point possessed the blue guitar, and maybe he sold it to someone else. Since it was built in 1967, he could have bought it just as it was starting to hit hard with the Yardbirds or later with Cream. A listing on the Alamy photo website suggests that blue guitar belongs to James Benenson and Lawrence Small, so maybe Clapton sold it to them when he bought the biggest, best Well done?

Whether he’s in Marion or not, Clapton has been a controversial figure in recent years. First, he had to fight claims that he was an anti-vax conspiracy theorist for his outspoken comments about the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccine. Then a racist rant from a 1976 gig resurfaced, in which he lamented the arrival of Jamaican immigrants to the UK and said, “Keep Britain white!