Since I have memory there was a boat in my home. I was born in Spain and we lived by the shore in a small town near Barcelona. My father built a small wooden row boat, maybe 10’ long, square bow and stern and flat bottom. Fig box called it the locals. But when winter storms came my dad went out to fish, and that was for sport since he was an artist painter. I still remember watching him come back, the tiny speck the boat made in those dark green waves, overcast sky and very windy, and he would wait for the proper wave train and then row like mad to end at the beach and then jump out barely wetting his feet and dragging the small dinghy to higher ground. When the pros tried to beach their heavy traditional double ended keel boats they invariabily dug the keel , the next wave pushed them sideways and then the next overturned them in a mess of nets, glass round floats and yells and curses….Boy was I proud of my father and our Fig Box. But around 1950, my father was afraid of another war or comunism and he decided to come to America and we ended in Venezuela. About one year after settling he bought a 1947 Pontiac and built another square boat that fit nicely on top of it. So we had a boat again. On this one I put a square sail made with bed sheet, and later a 1 ½ Hp outboard. Wow!!!. So I finished high school, money was rather short so I started working at 17, and soon bought a Sunfish (sailboat). Then one day I met this guy that was a professional wood boat builder. He had come to Venezuela too but his art was not appreciated so he made Jeep canvas tops for living. But the urge was there and in his spare time he had built this mahogany 12 feet runabout all hand varnished and polished, naugahide seats, steering wheel and all. He must have seen the sparks in my eyes and believe it or not, he gave it to me. He had no sons and I suppose that the fact that I went every day after work to touch that boat must have got into his heart. Well that boat went thru a 30 Evinrude, then I tricked that motor but I wanted more speed so I got a 60 Gale…who remembers that motor?…Man, that was power…with a two blade prop I did 55 knots, the only thing riding on the water was te anticavitation plate of the motor. But this boat was a Trip Chine boat, which at that time I had no idea of what that was so one day I was flying with it and turned perhaps too much and WHAM!!!
Now you are riding smooth as silk, now you are turning and turning and it seems it will never stop. I ripped the steeering wheel with my knees but that was about all. Lucky me.
I then got my hands into a 13’ Bosto Whaler with a 65 Merc. Beautiful boat. Got married too. And then in 1978 I bought a 22’ Outrage Boston Whaler with a 200 Merc. We enjoyed that boat so much that we all cried when we sold it one year ago. Which brings us to my present boat, a 1970 53C Hatteras built strong as a battleship, in the era when nobody was real sure of the strenght and durability of fiberglas.
You know, if I have to be honest, a boat of that size was out of question…and possibilities. But since my Sunfish days, when I saw the big Sportfishermans, with high mighty bows and low sterns, going by me slowly, big diesels rumbling I began to have that impossible dream that one day I would have one. So years went by and then I began to remember that my grandfather, in Barcelona, who was an accomplished and renown photographer always said..You know when I decide to retire, I will buy a small house by the beach and will spend my years fishing, and shooting photographs when I care to.
My father became also widely recognized by his paintings and he always said…You know, when I decide to retire I will buy a small house by the beach and spend my time fishing and painting when I care to.
You know what?
My grandfather died in his apartment in Barcelona from lung cancer. Never made that dream, even thou he had the means.
My father died of a heart failure in his house in Barquisimeto. Never made his dream either.
The time was never right you know? There was always the….Ok, next year we will see….But next year something popped and …next year we will see…
So, all of a sudden I turn 64, been in boating forever, small boating ok, but you know, let's say I have been around,... still working and for YEARS dreaming of that boat and then I see that chinese proverb…”Enjoy your days…it is later than you think” and like a flash comes the…next year we will see,…
I decided then and there that I would have my dream while we all were in good health. I took the savings of a lifetime, and right or wrong, political moment or not bought that boat.
Yesterday it was the boat second birthday with us and we met to celebrate.
You can see the boat at anchor, early Sunday morning, windy as hell, the Delta anchor holdig securly in a sandy/crushed coral bottom. Scope was about 12 to 1.
And the day before, at the marina having breakfast on a spanish mackerel and two groupers caught 20 minutes before. My grand daughter having her first fish taste.
And then her smile and tongue licking...it is for this moments that we boat...don't you agree?
And what about my grand father and my father?
I bet if we look closely, in calm nights, they are sitting on that huge bow deck, legs dangling and fishing happily on their son's dream come true.
and drove up to do the sea trial on two hours sleep, and thereby part company with the funds. Talked to the original broker the other day and he says, "call me please when you are ready to sell"...I caught the bug, when my frau and I got a tour of a 43' MY, out of the water, at a large marina one Spring day. 
, which still makes my hair stand up, to the first big seas you take with applomb, 
I still have the fever.
I have been buying and maintaining our Yacht Club's work boats for 20 years. I have owned and raced lots of sailboats for about 40 years. I enjoy racing sailboats, but wouldn't want to cruise them. 
