It’s finally Boating Season! It was a very tough winter, but we made it through! There were times that it seemed like it would never come…and then we would get that little teaser of a warm day and it kept our hopes up. If you have been reading my articles, you would notice that I missed quite a few Boating World editions for 2026. As we all know, life has a tendency to get in the way. All good things – but between holidays, birthdays, family and parties – each day just seemed to roll one right into the next. When I thought there was finally a breather and I could get back to writing, which I have definitely come to realize that I thoroughly enjoy, I got busy at work with tax season. But I’m back! Hopefully, you missed my articles.
Anyway, as I ended my last article, I had written about the fact that we were on our third boat in one season. The same season that I swore I wanted nothing to do with boating, I wanted no part of it whatsoever. But apparently, what I thought and what happened were two quite different things.
So, we had a 2355 Bayliner Cierra that we were lucky to sell right away. It was hauled from our driveway and went off to its new family before the end of the year. As Jay’s research continued, we decided on something totally different…we found and purchased from a marina in Freeport a 1998 25′ Stamas. It was a hull only and we added a 250 HP Yamaha motor to it. We went from a cabin cruiser with creature comforts to a hard-core fishing boat. I remember all Jay kept saying was that it would be the best riding boat. And so, we went for it.
We went with friends into the city that winter, January of 1999, to the New York City Boat Show at the Javitz Center. We had fun walking around, looking at the boats, but knew that our main objective was to get a name made for our boat. No matter how hard we thought, we just could not come up with a name. We felt pressure from our friends…so we went with…Under Pressure.
We took possession of our boat in March of 1999. Of course, it was winter and freezing and people thought we were crazy for taking delivery in basically the middle of winter. I even took days off from work to go fishing – we docked in Oceanside at that time and we would fish behind the buildings in Oil City. A lot of fun fishing in winter jackets, hats and gloves – but it was a new experience.
We started using the boat as much as we could, even though it was still technically winter going into spring. As I look back through my old school pictures to jog my memory, it brings back so many good times. We took our dog, Dakota, everywhere with us. Our friend Keith had his boat at a marina in East Rockaway, and we would go from our marina just to visit him. He also had a golden retriever named Abby and the dogs just loved being together. Spending time in the early Spring months on the boat really made the time go much faster. We even spent some weekends at the Gilgo docks bundled up in sweatshirts and hats, but it was so easy and so much fun. Remember, there were plenty of times when it was just our friends in the marina and us.
At the beginning of May of 1999, the old marina that we were docked in, Holmes Boat Yard on Mott Street in Oceanside, had a fishing tournament. I never caught a big fish in my life. Actually, I don’t even know if I had caught a fish at all at that point in my life. Well, luck was on my side that day and I caught one of the biggest fluke of the whole tournament. I came home with a beautiful handmade wooden fishing pole stand. I was very proud – and still talk about that fish to this day lol. I never caught anything close to that ever again.
Dakota loved the Stamas. Unlike the Bayliner with all the creature comforts, this boat allowed so much room for him – he loved just to lie in the cockpit – the space gave him room to hang out with Abby when she boated with us.
That Spring, we decided we were going to take a trip for Memorial Day weekend. We were going to go to Shelter Island and stay at Picozzie’s Marina. There were going to be four boats – us, Keith, Joe, Janet and their two boys on their 23′ Sport Craft Bounty Hunter and Joel on his Bayliner Cierra Fanta Seas (identical to the boat we had just sold). We were so excited. This was our first big trip ever. We had perfect weather going and the weekend weather was going to be banner.
So beautiful that it was more than perfect…we waited so long for the warm weather. Not only was the weather warm, it was HOT. Like extremely hot – in the 90’s. We were not prepared for it. At one point, we went to a bar across the street just to have a frozen drink – not only was their blender broken, but their drinks were warm. We were glad that there was a store right outside the marina and we were able to buy inflatable tubes just so that we could float in the water in the little cove in the marina. It was brutal. And our boat had no air conditioning. I couldn’t even use my hair dryer without almost passing out. Everyone knows how much I love my hair dryer.
But we made the best of it, though, despite the heat…we had a fun day golfing (I never golfed before) with lots of laughs. Lots of things that I can’t mention about that golf outing (all in good fun!) that we still talk about to this day and crack up about. It was awesome to be there to experience their Memorial Day Parade and celebrate the day with them. So many memories with good friends. Our friends John and Laura even drove out for the day to spend time with us. The picture that I have of all of us on the bench in the marina is one of my favorites.
The trip was just so amazing – we had never been that far and were just taking in the sights and making memories together – there is nothing better than that.
However, would you be surprised if I told you that we only had this boat for one season as well? But I do look forward to sharing with you the fun times that we had on the Stamas in 1999. Or the not so fun times like the one time that I got stuck in the aft cabin and couldn’t get out……