We are just days out from moving onboard TIMBALERO, celebrating our fifth year of travel-school. This family is excited! We will miss our land-friends for sure, but winter passes quickly and we are always back on terra firma in time for some freezing-rain-driven, early-spring New England weather and of course, baseball spring training.

TIMBALERO = (noun); One who plays the Timbales. (origin: spanish) (plural: timbaleros).

Timbalero is a 53′ Huckins yacht. All Huckins are unique, each stamped with an impressive history. Ours is an Atlantic model and her official hull number is #384. If you are a history-buff, the story is a good one…

In 1928, Huckins Yachts opened its doors by selling “Hull# 1” to David Goodrich of the BF Goodrich Rubber Co. Due to its “Quadraconic” planing hull and outboard rudder design, Huckins went on to build PT boats for use during World War II and postwar boats through the 1970’s. As intended, these boats are well-designed, soundly built and fast.

Sophia and Oliver in 2014 with current Huckins owner (and grandaughter of Frank Huckins) Cindy Purcell, in the famous drawing room.

ONE AT A TIME. ONE OF A KIND.

Each boat is unique and made with double-diagonally planked Philippine mahogany, wrapped in a cold-molded resin fiberglass. The finished interiors are thoughtful and layouts use every inch of extra available space.

By 1986, Huckins was building the largest motor-yachts in the U.S. and their innovation was a feature. Another decade later, the company began to alter its designs by re-introducing the elegance of 1950’s and 1960’s yachting, a style for which they already owned the templates.

Timbalero is of this vintage. She was built in 1966, just months before Tony and I were born! When we acquired her, she had been well-cared for. Her custom design included a bar, coat and hat closet, guest loo and other features which spoke to the formality of entertaining onboard  in the late 1960’s.

Today Huckins still makes beautiful, composite boats blending traditional styling with modern materials and processing techniques. Some even have hybrid power and other hidden state-of-the-art features. While they excel at modernity, they are also the leading experts on restoring the old ones… like ours. The Huckins company is family-run and they treat their boat-owners like favorite relatives, which keeps us coming back.

“She is as nimble as a ballet dancer yet designed to take any sea that you can throw at her”   – Huckins Yacht Corp.

Recess-time! Jumping off the stern in the lower Florida Keys.

Below is a little video-interview we gave a few years ago while visiting Vero Beach, FL  on board our first boat, an Ortega 40′. We called this boat “Cortado” and she is now owned by a family of like-minded adventurers in Barrington, RI. It was wonderful to see her living a new life in Newport Harbor this past summer!

This video is a keeper.

“Conceive an idea. Then stick to it. Those who hang on are the only ones who amount to anything.”    ― Augustus Saint-Gaudens (from “The Greater Journey” by David McCullough)

http://www.huckinsyacht.com/index.cfm