Havana, at age 8, already has a passion . . . it’s boats. He likes to read about them, design and draw them, even build them. First it was Legos, now he’s working with block of scrap lumber. The inspiration for his first of a kind came from pouring over my collection of super yacht magazines, International Boat US and ShowBoat. He’s into wedding cake yachts right now, with helicopter landing pads, bow thrusters, reverse sterns, and aluminum super structures.  This first wood model has occupied him for 4 weeks, what with his initial drawings, which I make him do before we cut the wood with my power saw. With the pieces in hand he plays with options for the super structure, revers windows in the  pilot house, sky lounge, garage for the water toys . . . he gets me to do the heavy work of sawing, grinding and shopping, but this is an activity that brings us together, and we spend hours some days discussing design, engineering, construction methods, final finish and hardware. We visit boat yards together, boat building schooIs and marine stores. I was into these small wooden models when I was a kid his age, and boats are still a large part of my life. .  . not building them, but sailing them. But this passion has to begin some where and I’m please as a father to see my son has an imagination and the ability to get involved in an idea and turn it into reality.

We took his mega yacht, expedition cruiser, Coast Guard cutter, Navy destroyer for his first sea trials while we were in Vineyard Haven, on Martha’s Vneyard. The bow was a little heavy, which turned Havana’s ship into a submarine when towed in deep water, but with skillful boat handling, Havana soon had her plaining and reaching her design speed, which was “fast!.”