Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” —Murphy’s Law. It’s a quote that some use as a coping mechanism for when they’re just too frustrated to come up with any other explanation as to why fate seems pinned against them. Up until now, I’ve been no stranger to this phenomenon, nor the dumbfounded feelings that ensue. But after being stranded in the middle of a snotty-watered Puget Sound in a power-sapped, inoperable vessel amidst a boat test gone awry, I’m now beginning to rethink what ol’ Capt. Murphy was feeling when he said those famous words. Call me crazy but I actually think he was having a brazenly good time.
I met Frank O’Neill, president of Lindell Yachts at a little brewery in La Conner, Washington along with two younger men, Mason Tuttle and Cade Lucero, who would be our photographers for a fishing trip we had planned to test out their latest Lindell 41. We decided to grab dinner the evening before our venture to get acquainted.
Although I never told him this to his face, O’Neill bore an uncanny resemblance to the late Canadian comedian Norm Macdonald—sans hair. He even sounded like him.
“Our products are like the J-Lo of boating,” O’Neill said, looking up from his burger, before going on to needlessly qualify his statement. “They’ve got a big ol’ backside.”
Tuttle and Lucero cackled. O’Neill went on to explain how Lindell Yachts got its start. As the story goes, Jim Lindell, the company’s founder, started building yachts because he wanted to beat all his friends to the best fishing spots. He developed a 40-foot gillnetter that was lighter and faster than anything in its class on
