great story...maybe you should settle for a Swan? tf
Joe McCary wrote:
I have one child... she attended out of state school (UNC-CH) and graduated with honors in '94. She was off to Med School and since she knows that mom, a school teacher, and dad, a photographer, were in a bit of a bind paying the nearly $70K for her under grad degree so she offered to pay us back. Of course we said, "NO, that was out obligation to you." She responded that she was going to be a doctor and wanted to help. In a flash of brilliance I said, "Why not buy us a new sailboat?" She liked the idea and asked what kind. I suggested a Hinckley. She asked what that was and I answered a type of sailboat like a ford is a car. So, she went off to med school promising to buy dad (and mom) a Hinckley. A couple years later during her only summer break in Med School she announced she and a couple friends were going to Maine to go camping. I asked of she was going to Bar Harbor and suggested that she drop in at Southwest Harbor and visit the Hinckley plant. She did. I am sure she went announcing that she was going to be a doctor and buy a Hinckley for her dad. They took her on an extensive tour (it's a small place) and introduced her to the cabinet makers and showed her the moulds etc. When they finished they gave her a brochure that was not a pre-printed like Ford has, but rather a binder of photographs of their boats. This was a big deal in the mid 90s before the advent of desktop photo printing. The last page had a price list...the smallest sailboat was a Southwest 42 and in 1994 was over $500,000 without sails! She realized that she had been "had" by her dear old dad... but still a promise is a promise. Now she is long done with med school, she has completed residency and is well into her career, she was married a couple years ago and now has an adorable daughter. BUT still no Hinckley in sight for dad... Last night we talked and she told me they had made an offer on a house. Her husband chimed in from the background that this "might delay the Hinckley!" Joe McCary Aeolus II West River, MD [EMAIL PROTECTED]
