This kid will be fine and so will Cigarette. CEO in name only but eventually will be the man.

Don't really matter to me but talk about winning the sperm lotto,,,, cool.

I do like this quote "a platform for health-related claims recoveries",,,,,,,,,, nice way to put it.

I think its going to be ok down the road. By the way, my dad bought me a lawn mower once. Then told me to start mowing the grass !! The following week, I lined up 4 neighbors yards to mow all Summer, I made 20 bucks a week, not bad for a 12 year old. I did have to spend about 1.50 - 2.00 on gas though.

The 22 yr old kid is not only CEO but is starting law school..........heck of a multi-tasker! :D


I think Skip Braver just channeled his inner Don Aronow, he sold the business to a guy for a premium and moved on. Don took rich guys money for decades and left them with a business they may or may not be capable of running. He didn't care, he cashed out and started his next venture.


The youtube interview with Ruiz was interesting and he is definitely enthusiastic. They are building 10 more Top Guns and 10 35 footers then redesigning the TG. All boats will be carbon fiber from now on. Those are major events for Cigarette. The guy has one of the nicest factories in the boat business so the production capability should be there. The "billionaire label" is odd, most people don't advertise that and usually shy away from it. It may be tough to run a factory of blue collar labor when the CEO is 22 and the owner is a billionaire. I'd bet Bud got a preview of this during the business sale process and rode off into the sunset........


Performance boat building is a tough business with a very limited market share (compared to boats in general). It is usually even harder when you are trying to take your hobby to work with you. I think the most successful builders are the guys that built the business from the ground up: Reggie Fountain, Peter from Skater, Randy from MTI, Trond/Nils from Nortech, Joe/Wayne from Sunsation. Reggie sold more boats than the rest of the guys combined yet even the king of performance boats got into trouble financially.

Ok now lets relate this to today: Your dad bought you a 20 million dollar "lawn mower", it came with a 10 million dollar garage and you have 50+ employees that need to be paid each week. You need to line up 4 customers this week but things aren't $5 anymore but rather $750,000 each. Now you can't do any actual work because you don't know how to mow grass and you can't get your clothes dirty because dirty clothes can't go in the exotic car you drove to work! Things might be tougher in 2021 in their "mowing business" :D

I'll take young blood over old blood on this one just look at these ego trip posts! Good luck to him! Oh yea you have to be a captain to run a boat company??STOP! Peace

And sometimes, Don would wait for the new owner to run it into the ground, then buy it back. Perhaps Skip has a bigger plan than we think.

That did not end well for him sad!

I knew when I started reading this somehow it would invoke Outerlimits. With that being said a new broom sweeps clean. Cigarette, Outerlimts, Fountain etc. all need to evolve. I love 8’ beam V bottoms with 4”dry exhaust as much as anybody but the market has moved away from that in large part. You can now run 120mph with 2 outboard Mercs with warranties for days on end. The clown show in Washington wants you all to run electric anyways. The market sadly has moved on and Cigarette will have to as well to survive. I have always loved the brand. I am really rooting for them. I agree with Moses no golf carts or jet skis please. Cats and center consoles is where the money is being spent. Keep a few options for the go fast V market but my guess is they will sell more if those overseas then here in America. The old man won’t let the kid run this into the ground. He didn’t make his money by being an idiot and sure seems that he is more of an enthusiast then Skip was. Look how well Nor Tech is doing with their cc. They are killing it. MTI has moved their focus as well as Mystic. This could be good let’s see oh and by the way I am pissed my folks never bought me a multi million dollar operation to run.

Anyone see last nights publicity stunt? Rattle can painting a boat with some eccentric artist?