|
It is not yet midmorning
at Cape May’s Canyon Club Marina, and this being a lay day for a
local tournament, the sportfishing boats sit idle, stern-to on opposite
sides of four long docks being used for this event. I count up to 25 on
one side until I lose sight of the transoms in a blur of white. There
isn’t an open berth in sight.
There is a new boat
here that I have been invited to visit on this day off, and while her
unmistakable lines present a familiar profile, she carries something more
that sets her apart: a boatbuilding heritage that stretches back to 1721.
For that’s when John Leek, newly arrived from England, settled in
the Pine Barrens area of Wading River, New Jersey, and began the business
that continues today.
The Ocean 62 Super Sport
is the seventh convertible from the company now presided over by John
Leek, the third family member to carry that name. His son John IV, currently
a naval architecture student at Virginia Tech, and daughter Lauren, a
University of Maryland sophomore majoring in business administration,
are poised to carry on the tradition. Then there’s 11-year-old Ryan,
Leek’s youngest son, who in his own words "loves to fish and
wants to be in Dad’s business."
If pedigree is any indication
of success, the 62 should be proficient in the pursuit of big fish in
deep waters. Her 138-square-foot cockpit features port and starboard rod
lockers, a transom livewell, a pair of rod holders in each gunwale, and
a bait center with freezer, sink, and tackle lockers. There are two in-sole
fishboxes, one that, as on my test boat, can be equipped with an optional
Eskimo shaved icemaker. Other options included teak covering boards, a
Pompanette fighting chair, a pair of 39-foot Rupp triple-box spreader
‘riggers, a center ‘rigger, and a railful of rocket launchers
on the bridge.
Ocean offers two standard
power packages for the 62, 1,400-hp Caterpillars and 1,350-hp DDC-MTU
12V2000s. (Twin 1,480-hp DDC-MTU 12V2000s are optional.) And what happens
when that power is asked to perform? My boat’s Caterpillar 3412Es
had the 82,000-pound (plus full fuel and water) vessel flirting with 40
mph at just over 2000 rpm, admirable for a boat of this size. That big
iron, by the way, is housed in an engine room, accessed via the cockpit,
that offers stand-up headroom and plenty of space for the hands-on skipper
to do any kind of work short of a major tear down.
Access to the bridge
is via a ladder that due to both its rake–unlike some sportfishing
boats I’ve been on whose ladders are almost straight up and down–and
handy side rails, made going to and from easy and safe. Ocean also designed
the bridge to complement its fish-fighting cockpit. Placing the pair of
pedestal seats almost all the way aft gives the captain a clear shot at
the action below without having to stretch or lean over.
Next page >
Ocean 62 continued > Page 1, 2,
3, 4, 5,
6
|