Sens owner Eugene Melnyk's pandemic yacht vacation went hilariously awful, according to lawsuit

At this point, Ottawa Senators fans are just numb to all of the nonsense that they read about team owner Eugene Melnyk.

Whether he's trying to weasel his way out of gambling debts, trying to pawn off expired gift cards on fans or getting shipwrecked in the Caribbean, there's always something with Mr. Melnyk.

The embattled Sens owner's latest adventure concerns an ill-advised Caribbean superyacht vacation that he and girflriend Sharilyne Anderson planned over the Christmas holidays. With the rest of Canada hunkered down in quarantine, Melnyk and Anderson elected to defy public health guidelines and charter a $500,000-a-week superyacht in the Bahamas to spend the Christmas holiday with friends and family. 

The couple chartered thee 12-passenger, 60-metre M/Y Dream yacht that boasts on its website of "a Zen interior of sophistication and comfortable elegance" and promises "a warm and congenial nautical experience."

More on the hilariously ill-fated trip from CBC:

The yacht voyage began Dec. 22, when Melnyk, 61, and girlfriend Sharilyne Anderson set sail on the Dream from Nassau, intending to spend the first five days together before friends and family joined 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."

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. 

So instead, the captain charted a route out onto the open ocean, the lawsuits claim. Without the protection of the Bahamian islands, the yacht was pummelled by the full force of the Atlantic, leading to a "harrowing 10-15 hour ordeal" where Eugene Melnyk and Anderson "became violently ill, vomiting throughout the night," the lawsuits allege. 

That appears to be the basis of the lawsuit... that Melnyk and his buddies got tummy aches...

Interestingly enough, the couple seemed to enjoy their experience just fine when signing the on-board Guestbook. 

What an amazing way to celebrate the start of the new year 2021! You guys are all amazing! We had a wonderful time," says one entry dated Jan. 1.

"Thank you so much for making this such a great experience! This was an amazing way to start the new year," says another, signed "The Melnyk Group"

Oh... Eugene...