My earliest memories are with my grandfather on Lake Erie. Grandparents lived on the water and i spent a lot of time there in the summer. Had this little Cruisers Inc wood boat that i ran everywhere. Thats me in the front middle and my brother in the back. The kid next to me was a neighbor at the cottage. Great memories and my biggest influence for boating bar none.

Johnny, thats dedication, 15+ years later and you went with a Sonic.

New I wanted a Sonic from that day.......

After reading a few guys post here, I too had my initial shot in the arm when Miami Vice came on TV...... then the Sonic in 1992 sealed the deal........ I always had a love for the water though from when I was a little kid. I use to go down to Florida every year and go out on my grandfathers cabin cruiser that he had in the back of the house....... I think Beer Can Island was the spot we would anchor for the day....... That's me on the left, with my brother.....

Late 1960'sWhen that yellow fiberglass Donzi came out it got us going!!But Tempo&Ghost Rider old wood race boats +all the G-3's jumping waves me&older brother got hooked!My father had a Higgens and uncle had Steel craft both under 20 mph boats:point:My grandfather had a speed boat go figure he was the real reason we liked speed on the water:drink:When we cruise at the speeds of old we ran wide open we always bring it up:boat:

When I was about 7 my father had a boat (commercial fishing) at a marina that you needed to go under a railroad tressle then you could get on plane again.There was a Scarab and a Cig at the next marina down river,So after they would go under the bridge they would hammer it to get on plane again for a distance before having to shut it down again to go by our place. We had a Motorhome in a wooded area near there so when I heard them coming I would run down to the end of the dock to see them go by. One day the guy in the Scarab stopped to talk to me at the end of the dock and opened the hatch and showed me the engines. Ever since then I was HOOKED. By the way the old man HATED those guys saying those guys are *******S showing off,Which made me even LOVE them more. Tom

I grew up in Huron, on Lake Erie as well. The first ride that sticks in my mind was when i was in high school and one of my buddies took me out on the lake in his Boston Whaler he had. It seems to me it was only like a 10ft boat with a good running 50hp Merc on it. That damn thing actually scared me at the time! The engine was so heavy on it it would have been easy to swap just backing off the throttle. Then I noticed the Scarabs thumping up and down the Huron river....that was it!

Today that pic would be a burger and a beer! Great pic

Seeing one of my fathers client pulling his 30' Offshore boat with twins when I was 16 years old...Achieved that dream at 24...

hey . . . i think we may have went to the same barber :D










This is actually the first performance boat i was ever on and i was hooked. Twenty four Python my cousin owned back in the early eighties. I had not seen the boat since about 82 and it showed up in my marina last July forth pretty much unchanged. That was cool seeing it again.

:cool:Cool story Dave!!!!

A bunch of years ago, Jodie and I made a trip to Connecticut on the Panther for a 5 day weekend. When we were walking thru the yard at the marina I saw a boat with a full canvas that had the lines of my fathers old boat, a Fino.

As we walked closer, it started becomming clear that it was a Fino... I lifted up the Canvas and in fact it was a Fino, just like my fathers boat! Keep in mind there wasn't very many Fino's ever built, let alone still around... so I couldn't believe my eyes and what I was seeing!!! I thought it was soo cool that Jodie took a picture of me standing next to the boat. I was a little younger and a lil skinnier. :cool:

"hey . . . i think we may have went to the same barber"



haha........ looks like it.......lol....

Mine was from growing up boating on the Jersey shore in the early 70's and my Dads friends boat (in the pic) which I was told was a Donzi ??? which was the coolest boat I ever saw .

Then the final nail in my coffin was while I was stationed at USCG station Barnegat in NJ in the late 80's we boarded a big cat called " LIFE BEGINS AT 100 " probally just to check out the 3 girls in bikinis on board . I would see that guy from time to time around the bay and always with a few hot chicks on board always wished I was that guy with that boat and all those hotties on board.

Well it never happen , I didnt get my first performance boat until I was 40 & married with kids. So no hot party chicks on a performance boat for me.:picard1:

Below is a pic of Dads boat with his friends Donzi ? behind it . Does anyone reconize this boat ? And me on Dads boat NJ 1972

Silly question but does that picture of the Donzi happen to be from Irwin's Marina in Red Bank, NJ? The hills in the background and that bulkhead make me think it might be????

When my family moved here to NJ, that's where we kept our boat.

No it's down in Southern Jersey, Mystic Island area and the South Bay.Not Sure what Marina .

Now every now and then you get a genuine "LOL"....but THAT was genuinely funny! Still laughing....

I was waterskiing standing on my dads feet by the time I was 4. i was 9 or 10 and wrote a letter to cig for 4th grade project.. got a bunch of brochures a big sticker and a letter from the man telling me to stop by for a boat ride if I was ever in Florida... wish I still had it

19' Catalina [ Hondo hull ] with BBC .ca 1974
http://www3.telus.net/spectrasonly/c...te70's.jpg

Bought my 1976 Spectra new , BBF

http://www3.telus.net/spectrasonly/6....76Spectra.jpg

and a real offshore performance boat back in 1978 was a bright yellow 28' Jones hull from Seattle , single 460 Ford twin turbo/ Arneson drive . Still trying to find a picture or negative of that one

Now that would be a cool piece of history Rob!