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- Apr 5, 2011
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In late summer of 1967 I moved to northern Illinois from Virginia. I had never heard of a Boston Whaler. I boat to fish, and in northern Virginia my wonderful Sport Yak II suited the waters I fished. I had heard of the Pacific salmon stocking program in the Great Lakes, though, and had some ambitions to fish for these great gamefish.
A news item got my attention. The Coho Salmon run was on and everyone was cleaning up on them. Like any panic, there were a lot of purely stupid things going on. On the Chicago lakefront Rapala lures were selling for as much as $50, and there were canoes and 10-14' jonboats out on the main lake.
As is predictable in August, a storm front rushed in from the west with fierce gales. Off the eastern shore of Lake Michigan the Coast Guard sent helicopters to warn fishermen and order them ashore. Many did not heed.
When the squall line hit it swamped, capsized and sunk many boats and drowned many fishermen, as I recall.
Six boats ran through the squall line and across the lake to Chicago. They were all 16' Boston Whalers. No Boston Whalers were lost in the storm.
I promptly sought out a 1966 Boston Whaler Sakonnet... top of the line in the day. . .with a 100HP Johnson outboard. It seemed awfully expensive compared to many other boats in that size range, but I wanted a boat that was safe for me and my family. I named her SUNSHINE.
For the next 13 years SUNSHINE took us all over the Midwest... Lake Michigan, Leech Lake, Minnetonka, Waconia, The Mississippi, Bone Lake and Big Sissabagama in Wisconsin. She was equipped with a forward casting deck and 2 OMC 6 gallon tanks. She also had full weather canvas so we often fished in the rain. Eventually we added a Johnson 7.5 as an auxiliary. Our timing on the aux engine was excellent. About three weeks after we mounted it the main engine broke a flywheel on Lake Waconia and the 7.5 brought us the last several miles home.
One of our great adventures in SUNSHINE was to tow her to Sturgeon Bay behind our TransVair Camper (1971 VW Westfalia Camper with a Chevy Corvair drivetrain) and camp out for a weekend. We boated some great salmon trolling the canal between Green Bay and Lake Michigan.
When the big Johnson broke her flywheel, and then the power tilt, I decided she needed repower and a new trailer. I decided that a lighter outboard would allow better maneuvering and balance and use a lot less fuel. She got a new 1980 Johnson 70HP and an EasyLoader trailer. I gave the 7.5 to my son.
The next Summer I lived alone on Lake Minnetonka. I had a dock at my cabin door. I pulled out all of the mahogany and refinished it.
In 1981 I took a job in Ft. Lauderdale. I took SUNSHINE with me. I had a townhouse in Treasure Cove, a small development on the Dania Cutoff Canal. There was a dock with a slip for SUNSHINE. I painted her and gave her bottom paint.
That began three years of salt water fishing. The Gulf Stream was our haunt on weekends, seeking mahi mahi, but often finding tuna and once a sailfish. I have written about adventures with SUNSHINE in the Gulf Stream in earlier stories here.
One great adventure before she was replaced. Cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. This was in convoy with about 5 other boats. We departed from Haulover Cut in Miami Beach. SUNSHINE was, by far, the smallest boat in the fleet. About halfway across it got choppy and two boats turned back. I had by this time learned to quarter the waves so I got rocked instead of being pounded. The rest of the fleet slowed so as to not leave me behind.
One of the larger vessels, without thinking, crossed my bow off plane, making a big bow wave I could not escape. My bow buried itself in blue water and I was promptly up to my knees in water, with fuel tanks floating around and banging my shins. The outboard was still above the water, so I gave her some throttle and stood her on her transom. About 80% of the swamping flowed out over the transom. I then pulled the drain plug and in just a minute or two SUNSHINE was bone dry and back on plane. To this day I do not believe any boat but a Boston Whaler could have done that, and I was reminded of the Boston Whalers that ran through the squalls on Lake Michigan.
About that time I got "2 foot fever". SUNSHINE was replaced by a new Boston Whaler Outrage 18, SUNSHINE II. Meet her next month.
To be continued...
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(JB Cornwell writes from "The Hideout" in Whitt, TX, and is also an expert moderator, instructor, and fountain-of-knowledge in the iboats.com Boating Forums, where he may occasionally share a yarn of his own.)