Most of you have no idea who I am, I don't post here much at all. But I would like to share a story with you that shows the class and generosity of 4 people in the industry.

I had the pleasure of growing up around fast boats, and since I was a little kid I loved them more than anything. I wanted to race them, build them, design them, and of course... own them. But that was kind of hard when I was 6.... So I would sit in my room and draw all kinds of crazy boats, fill my walls with pictures and print outs, and drool over my grandfathers Hustler whenever I would visit him. But outside of my family I never got to be around these beasts of the water, until I met 2 people that started to change that, and probably who had no idea what they would start for me.
The first is Rick Gage of Performance Marine in Bolton Landing, NY. My whole family lives up there and from probably the age of 10 I would walk down to his place against the will of my parents and run around the boats like a kid in a candy store. Eventually my parents would just leave me there and Rick would say "he's fine we got enough boats here to keep him occupied", and he was right. I would spend hours there climbing in and out of every boat I could, looking at setups and things I knew nothing bout at the time. But he fed my passion, and still does to this day.
The next man that took me under his wing at a young age is Chris Cestero of Ocean Performance Marine in Old Saybrook, CT. I met Chris for the first time when I was 14 years old at the PRA event in Saybrook. Chris was a pretty busy guy during these events. He was usually with customers that spend a lot of money with him and always working; but he was the only one that would talk to me for hours even though I had nothing, just a love for speed on the water. I eventually would go down to see Chris at his shop and not just for the Poker Run, and once again, he couldn't be more generous with his time, and later with his expertise and parts.
Flash forward to being a senior in high school, I had to do a senior internship in order to graduate. Well the frst thing that came to mind was, let me see if one of these boat builders around here would give me an internship. So I found a company by the name of Rage Powerboats. Ive never heard of them before but gave them a call anyway. A man by the name of Rich Stroffolino picked up the phone and said " So you wanna build boats? Come down tomorrow and see if you like it. If so youll get the internship". So the next day I drove down walked in the shop and lets just say that I took the offer. This is the day I met Mark Schnepf for the first time, and not knowing then the influence these 2 men would have on me. So I did my internship, it went well, and off to college I went. But I still didn't accomplish my dream of building my own boat. Then almost 2 years later looking online I found a 21 Superboat for sale that Mark apparently did work on. the boat was rough. it was still in primer, with no interior and a bad floor. So I called Mark and asked him if he remembered doing the work. He said, its a good boat, buy it. So I did.
Within 2 months the boat ended up at Marks Shop and he turned to me and said "heres your first shot at doing your own boat, get ready to learn a lot and probably to get your ass beat" He was right about both. Mark would go on and take time out of his own day to help me restore and rebuild this Superboat for a year. Letting me keep the boat at his shop and whatever materials and parts he and Richie could give me they did. The boat ended up getting a new transom, stringers,bulkheads, tank, dash, floor, bodywork, paint, interior, etc,etc,etc. Basically a brand new boat. It turned out to be a much bigger project than I imagined but There was Mark and Rich right by my side thought the whole thing. It was and still is unbelievable the generosity and class of these 2 human beings. What they did for me and the knowledge I gained from them will never be forgotten or taken for granted. I couldn't be more honored to call both of them mentors and friends. And 2 of the most knowledgeable people in the industry PERIOD.

So, to Mark, Rich, Rick, and Chris THANKYOU upon completion of my 21' Superboat, the first of hopefully many awesome boats to come. I am honored to call all of you my friends and mentors. Not bad for a 21 year old

Great read. Thanks. There are good people in this industry. Doug

Sweet boat and GREAT story! Congratulations and keep up the hard work!

Great story and congratulations.

Cool story bro!

(And ++ for actually conjugating a story at 21 and not trying to communicate in txt spk.
I have a feeling your interacting with some salty dogs had something to do with that as well.)

the boat is beautyful,the story is even better.

Sydwayz, I'm not your typical 21 year old and I take what you said as a compliment. I hate txt speak. I don't have a twitter or Instagram or any of that crap. I'm old school I call people

x 2 .

And to add:

Some young people that aren't afraid to get dirty and work their balls off.

Great to see on both angles.

I also forgot to mention that Mark has been behind the scenes of some of the most amazing boats ever built and his Activators are argubly the best rough water vee's out there. Pretty cool.