Christina T

This is the crown jewel of the Wiseman's fleet.  Christina T, named for my daughter, is a 19' 1975 O'Day Mariner which I purchased in March of 1975 and have been the sole owner.  She might be the longest continuously owned Mariner in the Mariner Class Association, and, very possibly, of all Mariners ever built!  She has served me well as a racer in the late 70s and a cruiser since.  She has seen waters ranging from the quiet little Lake Nockomixen in Ottsville, Pennsylvania to the sometimes not so placid environs as far out as 15 miles into the Atlantic Ocean. Every year she takes me on new adventures and this year she will ply the waters of the Florida Keys as I chalk off another item from my bucket list.  Check out the blog page for details on this exciting trip as it proceeds!

Jack-Ash is a 24' 2013 Bentley Encore pontoon boat which I added new to my "fleet" when I became a grandfather.  None of my kids never really got into sailing, so I figured, if I'm going to have any undue influence over my grandchildren, I would need a stable platform from which all kinds of crazy water activities can be perpetrated.  There is really no better family boat than a pontoon, in my humble opinion, so, after grandson number two was born, this beauty became mine.  The name?  I was never into marine cliche names, but I wanted to give her a name that would definitely draw attention to her radio call. My first grandson is Jackson, and Ashton was next to come along just over three months later.  I wanted to name the boat after them, but the name had to raise some eyebrows! A good play on words is always good for some laughs, and also easily remembered, so what else could I chose?  I knew quite well that there would be those boaters who just wouldn't get with the flow of the name and call her Jackass, but they get corrected quickly.  The Coast Guard hasn't gotten it wrong yet!  You can follow some of her adventures as well since Jack-Ash, under my prodding, refuses to behave like a pontoon boat, staying in the quiet backwaters, by venturing out into the big lakes and bays from Lake George, NY to the Chesapeake Bay and New York Harbor. 

Jon-B

Again, I ask; What’s in a name? In keeping with my past boat naming protocol, I wanted to name the boat after my grandsons. Ashton and Jackson lent their names to Jack-Ash, my pontoon boat. The two youngest grandsons were Jonathon and Benjamin and I just couldn’t help myself. Thank you Beach Boys for writing a song about my boat!

Jon-B is my latest addition to my fleet. She is a 1996 Hunter 240 which I found on Craig’s List in December of 2017 and immediately was taken in by her great condition and usage history. At first, I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t find a Hunter 260 in similar condition that was in my budget, but after hooking her trailer up to my truck for the first time, I knew that a 260 would have been more of a pain to haul around to different sailing venues than I was ready to deal with.

Three short trips to the Chesapeake over the summer exposed some design issues that needed to be dealt with as well as some modifications to make her more adaptable to the kind of cruising she would be experiencing. Turns out, she’s a beauty to sail and tucks nicely into any of the usual anchorages I use on the Bay.