Page 77 - 52nd Annual White Marlin Open

100 percent and I’m committed to keeping it that way!

You have been involved with theWhite Marlin Open for
years, but then again we are theVikingYacht Company and “We as long as anyone can remember. What are your first
Build a Better Boat Every Day!” memories of the White Marlin Open?

You mentioned your children. They are now the 3rd Well, there is a bit of a story to that. It was 1979 and I was just
generation of Healey’s involved with the business. about to head back to college but before that,we were going to
What role are they playing in the company? take our very first factory demo boat, a 44’Viking to theWMO.
Right as we were about to leave,some urgent business came up
Both of my sons helped in the design of theValhallaYachts.They at the last minute, so the other guys all headed to Ocean City
understand what the younger fisherman wants in a boat. They without me. Once I was done handling my business, I drove to
brought different opinions and different views of how things Cape May and walked onto the Cape May-Lewes ferry. Once
should be done, and we took many of those ideas and incor- I got to Lewes, I hitched hiked to Ocean City and made it in
porated them into the design of theValhalla. time to fish.

They have since moved into other areas of the company. My The next year in 1980,we were 200 feet away from theTop Hat
son Sean lives in Palm Beach and he is developing a brokerage when Steve Bass pulled that record 99 lb. white marlin over the
business in Valhalla Yacht Sales. He really enjoys the retail side gunwales. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing. I believe
of it so he’s developing all that along with Ryan Higgins. My that is still the largest white marlin in WMO history.
other son, Justin, is developing aValhallaYacht Sales North. My
daughter Kaitlyn is our social media guru forViking and is taking How many WMO tournaments have you fished?
us to the next level in that area.
Since that first one in 1979,I have only missed oneWhite Marlin
It must bring you such great pride and joy knowing this Open and that was for the birth of Sean on August 9, 1992. I

has been a family business from the start. couldn’t convince my wife to let me go! In fact, I haven’t even
missed one fishing day in all those years.

The World’s Largest and Richest Billfish Tournament | 77

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