Doug Matthews likes all kinds of boating
June 9, 2005
Like a lot of boaters, Doug Matthews began when he was very young.
By Capt. Carl Kelly
His grandfather got him started. Every time he went to visit his grandfather, he would take him fishing. Later, when he lived in Indiana, he would trailer a boat to Lake Erie to fish for walleyes.
Matthews' first boat was 17 feet long and was powered by an inboard/outboard. He moved from that to a 23-foot SeaRay.
"I brought that boat down here with me and traded it to Walker's for a 26-foot Pursuit," he said. "Then I got the idea I wanted a little bigger one that I could do a little cruising in, so I got a 33-foot cruiser. My wife didn't like it too well because you had to live down inside it, like in a well. She just didn't like that. So, we traded that on a 42-foot Post. We had that about five years."
The Post was a sport fisher configuration.
"It was a great boat," he said.
Four years ago he bought the boat he has today, a Post 50, also a sport fisher. Powered by twin Caterpillar engines, each producing 800 horsepower, Matthews' boat has a top speed of about 35 knots.
"I don't run at 35 knots," he said. "I only go about 80 percent of that or less. I usually like to go about 22 or 23 knots. That's a good speed for me. It's a heavy boat, so it's very stable in the water. It doesn't get very good fuel mileage. But, it gets as good as any of them."
With three bedrooms and two bathrooms as well as a salon, it is a comfortable boat and serves Matthews well for both cruising and fishing. The boat can sleep eight, "but, eight's a crowd on a boat," Matthews said. "So, we've never arranged to do that."
The Post, though, is not Doug Matthews' only boat. In addition to an inflatable dinghy that's mounted on the forward deck of the Post, he has an aluminum canoe and a 17 1/2 foot Aquasport center console with a 115 horse power outboard that's four boats in all. The Aquasport is something of the family boat, used by his daughter and son-in-law and by grandchildren to fish or go shelling around Marco Island.
"When you like boating you like all kinds of boating," Matthews said.
But, the boat he uses most is his big boat, and he uses that mostly for fishing.
"I try to get out there once a week, sometimes two times," he said.
Matthews loves to catch grouper.
"It's the best eating there is," he said. "And, I've never abused it. I used to have a place about 15 miles out I'd go to, and I could always pick up two or three nice keepers. And, that's all I wanted, anyhow. Then I come home. But, it's got so that its really hard to get them."
He noted, as many fishermen do, that it has become much harder to find the bigger fish than it used to be. Now, Matthews and company go out as far as 30 or 40 miles.
When he's not fishing, Matthews likes to cruise to a variety of places the Bahamas, the Dry Tortugas, Key West.
"Probably the most interesting place that we go is Key West. It's one place I don't get tired of going," he said.
He and his wife, Jean, joined the Marco Bay Yacht Club when they came to Marco in 1991 and were instrumental in forming the Marco Island Yacht Club four years ago. He was on the steering committee and helped raised the money to buy the property. As this year's commodore of Marco Island Yacht Club, Matthews is helping to pilot the club into new directions.
"The Marco Island Yacht Club just became a member of the Florida Council of Yachts," he said. "That has opened up a whole new horizon of cruising for us different exciting places to go to. There are 38 clubs in the organization. When you go to any of the council clubs you get one night free dockage per month. You could start on the Gulf and go all the way around Florida stopping one night at a club and not pay anything."
When he and Jean cruise somewhere, Matthews said, "We stay right on the boat. On our boat we have showers and everything, so we don't need to use any other facility. And we can just leave whenever we want to."
They may use the club pool or restaurant, or if they're in Key West, they walk around the town to find new things. They also enjoy using their dinghy to explore the area, and that may make the dinghy their second most-used boat.
Capt. Carl has held his U.S. Coast Guard Captain's License since 1994. He was a columnist for the Englewood Review of Englewood, Fla., before moving to Collier County. He can be contacted at marcocaptain@comcast.net.
Captain's Notes
All vessels are required to proceed at a safe speed at all times. Maximum speed is posted in many channels, but the maximum speed may not be the same as a safe speed. Safe speed is dependent on many factors visibility, the amount of vessel traffic, maneuverability of your vessel, wind, currents, local hazards, weather.
Generally, traveling at a safe speed is understood to mean that you're able to take proper and effective action to avoid a collision and to stop within a distance appropriate to the prevailing conditions. That is, you must be going slow enough to avoid a collision.
If you're involved in a collision, it will be assumed that you have violated the safe speed rule, as you were obviously not going slow enough to avoid the collision.
Matthews' first boat was 17 feet long and was powered by an inboard/outboard. He moved from that to a 23-foot SeaRay.
"I brought that boat down here with me and traded it to Walker's for a 26-foot Pursuit," he said. "Then I got the idea I wanted a little bigger one that I could do a little cruising in, so I got a 33-foot cruiser. My wife didn't like it too well because you had to live down inside it, like in a well. She just didn't like that. So, we traded that on a 42-foot Post. We had that about five years."
The Post was a sport fisher configuration.
"It was a great boat," he said.
Four years ago he bought the boat he has today, a Post 50, also a sport fisher. Powered by twin Caterpillar engines, each producing 800 horsepower, Matthews' boat has a top speed of about 35 knots.
"I don't run at 35 knots," he said. "I only go about 80 percent of that or less. I usually like to go about 22 or 23 knots. That's a good speed for me. It's a heavy boat, so it's very stable in the water. It doesn't get very good fuel mileage. But, it gets as good as any of them."
With three bedrooms and two bathrooms as well as a salon, it is a comfortable boat and serves Matthews well for both cruising and fishing. The boat can sleep eight, "but, eight's a crowd on a boat," Matthews said. "So, we've never arranged to do that."
The Post, though, is not Doug Matthews' only boat. In addition to an inflatable dinghy that's mounted on the forward deck of the Post, he has an aluminum canoe and a 17 1/2 foot Aquasport center console with a 115 horse power outboard that's four boats in all. The Aquasport is something of the family boat, used by his daughter and son-in-law and by grandchildren to fish or go shelling around Marco Island.
"When you like boating you like all kinds of boating," Matthews said.
But, the boat he uses most is his big boat, and he uses that mostly for fishing.
"I try to get out there once a week, sometimes two times," he said.
Matthews loves to catch grouper.
"It's the best eating there is," he said. "And, I've never abused it. I used to have a place about 15 miles out I'd go to, and I could always pick up two or three nice keepers. And, that's all I wanted, anyhow. Then I come home. But, it's got so that its really hard to get them."
He noted, as many fishermen do, that it has become much harder to find the bigger fish than it used to be. Now, Matthews and company go out as far as 30 or 40 miles.
When he's not fishing, Matthews likes to cruise to a variety of places the Bahamas, the Dry Tortugas, Key West.
"Probably the most interesting place that we go is Key West. It's one place I don't get tired of going," he said.
He and his wife, Jean, joined the Marco Bay Yacht Club when they came to Marco in 1991 and were instrumental in forming the Marco Island Yacht Club four years ago. He was on the steering committee and helped raised the money to buy the property. As this year's commodore of Marco Island Yacht Club, Matthews is helping to pilot the club into new directions.
"The Marco Island Yacht Club just became a member of the Florida Council of Yachts," he said. "That has opened up a whole new horizon of cruising for us different exciting places to go to. There are 38 clubs in the organization. When you go to any of the council clubs you get one night free dockage per month. You could start on the Gulf and go all the way around Florida stopping one night at a club and not pay anything."
When he and Jean cruise somewhere, Matthews said, "We stay right on the boat. On our boat we have showers and everything, so we don't need to use any other facility. And we can just leave whenever we want to."
They may use the club pool or restaurant, or if they're in Key West, they walk around the town to find new things. They also enjoy using their dinghy to explore the area, and that may make the dinghy their second most-used boat.
Capt. Carl has held his U.S. Coast Guard Captain's License since 1994. He was a columnist for the Englewood Review of Englewood, Fla., before moving to Collier County. He can be contacted at marcocaptain@comcast.net.
Captain's Notes
All vessels are required to proceed at a safe speed at all times. Maximum speed is posted in many channels, but the maximum speed may not be the same as a safe speed. Safe speed is dependent on many factors visibility, the amount of vessel traffic, maneuverability of your vessel, wind, currents, local hazards, weather.
Generally, traveling at a safe speed is understood to mean that you're able to take proper and effective action to avoid a collision and to stop within a distance appropriate to the prevailing conditions. That is, you must be going slow enough to avoid a collision.
If you're involved in a collision, it will be assumed that you have violated the safe speed rule, as you were obviously not going slow enough to avoid the collision.
