1. From the time I was a boy, my family had always owned boats. Heck, I think I was about eight
years old when my Dad proudly presented my with a rickety, old rowboat that was his when he
was a kid. I was petrified the first time he pushed me out onto the lake. The thing was just so
darned old that I thought I would sink right there while looking at my parents on shore. That’s
one of my scariest, but fondest memories of my childhood.
The best thing that I gained from that experience was my love and respect for the water. This is
what brought me from the lakes of Michigan down to the beautiful Atlantic Ocean at Fort
Lauderdale as an adult. As my young family grew, so did my boats. They needed to be able to
accommodate my wife and kids. Well, after six kids you can imagine that I needed a good sized
boat for those overnight outings. I’m not good with the "his foot touched me" or "she hits in
her sleep" thing. I want to relax on the boat and not deal with sibling issues.