I am responding to the invitation in the JackHargrave.com website for owners of Hargrave designed boats to write about the experience. Technically, I wasn't an owner. However, my dad bought new a 1972 Hatteras Convertible, hull#338.We had it for five years, until his death.It's hard to know where to start.Suffice it to say that my father and I bonded on that boat. I grew up , became a man, on that boat. We caught our first sailfish by ourselves, on that boat. Traveled from Nantucket to Key Largo, on that boat.

Our 53C, NIRVANA, was in a Hatteras TV commercial. Bet you didn't know that there was one! It was September 1973, on Wide World of Sports.It aired twice. It was filmed in Cape May. I remember the line,"For Two-hundred thousand dollars, it's some catch." And it was.

So when I stumbled onto your website, I ordered the Hargrave book.It is fantastic. Imagine my pleasure when you describe the 53C as "The Perfect Sportfisherman."

I have a passion for boats, but sadly, not the financial means{divorce didn't help, either!}. We haven't owned a boat since. I am an Interventional Cardiologist now. I followed my father's footsteps and became a doctor. If I didn't get into medical school, I was going to be a naval architect. I have always admired the work of Hargrave, in addition to David Martin and Raymond Hunt.

One more vignette, before I stop- At the 1974 New York Boat Show, my dad and I visited the Hatteras booth. We met with the director of marketing {I forget his name-it wasn't Phil Fowler, who was sales manager at the time,or Ray Meyers, whom my dad and I both respected a great deal}. In any case, he showed us blueprints of a Hargrave designed 70 foot convertible.I was mesmerized. It obviously was based on the hull of the 70 Motor Yacht. It resembled the JOE BOY [found on page 159 of your book}.I distinctly remember two layouts, one with a larger cockpit.It had an enclosed bridge, too. The boat was never produced, to my knowledge.


MIchael Innerfield

West Nyack, N.Y.

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