BY SKIP ALLEN, SR.

It seems like only yesterday that we gathered around the ping pong table at our home in Miami Beach to layout the first issue of Southern Boating. Putting together that inuagural issue, I never could have imagined that we would still be going strong 35 years later. And while we may do things a little differently now, one thing has remained the same: Family.

During my career I have been lucky enough to work with industry greats like Mr. Charles Chapman who was the publisher of Motor Boating when I was their ad manager. He became my mentor and my eventual inspiration to start my own magazine (along with the six mouths I had to feed). However, working with my family has been an even more rewarding experience. I have been able to watch my family grow up with the magazine and eventually come on board, creating a family-run business where I didn’t have to constantly keep looking over my shoulder to see whose hands were in the cookie jar.

Along with successfully operating this business, one of my proudest accomplishments is raising a family that shares my love of being on the water. All my children have made it not only their hobby, but also their livelihood in one way or another. Whether it is working for the magazine, contributing to the magazine, putting on boat shows, selling boating goods, or any of their other business endeavors, boating has played a major role.

Now, I am also able to enjoy seeing my grandchildren participate in all the wonderful activities boating has to offer. They have all been running boats since they were little and now I watch as they go waterskiing, race Optis and pass their first captain’s license exams.

Related to passing on a love of boating is sharing my continual love affair with the Bahamas with others. A few years after starting the magazine, we began organizing Southern Boating cruises to the Bahamas. These trips would gather about 20 boats divided into slow and a fast groups with a Southern Boating leader at the head of each pack. Led by Bahamian guides, Hezron and Bersil Moxey, we would cruise through the Exumas, Eleuthera, Spanish Wells, Chub Cay, and Cat Cay. This proved to be a great way to introduce cruisers, as well as my family, to the wonderful islands of the Bahamas. In fact, at every boat show without fail, a few of the original cruisers will stop me to relive their favorite memories of our sojourns. Of course, most of mine are related to my family, and we are fortunate enough to be able to spend time in the Exumas every year creating new ones.

I urge you to remember to keep boating fun and to pass along your love of this activity to the next generation. If you do, I’m sure you will find it just as rewarding as I have. So, for making these 35 years so special, I say, ‘thank you,’ to one and all and hope the next 35 are just as remarkable.