I suppose there are varying degrees of loving boats. Certainly, growing up near the water or having a heritage of seafaring people in your background doesn’t always guarantee that love, but in many cases, it is the rich stock for the gumbo of a water-loving life. And when that passion strikes, it can be so deeply ingrained that it is indeed the greatest ingredient of a truly full life. To say Jimmy Buffett was a lover of boats cannot be taken lightly.
Buffett’s longtime fishing buddy, the accomplished author and angler Carl Hiaasen, once put it into perspective, saying: “When Jimmy wasn’t on stage, he was on the water, or heading full speed to the water. He paid as much attention to the details of his boats as he did to his songs. Every line had to be just right.” Sadly, after battling skin cancer for four years, Buffett died on September 1, 2023, at the age of 76 of Merkel cell carcinoma.
A LIFE ON THE WATER
Buffett was infected with a love of the sea and boats of all manner—so much so, he wanted to always live by the sea. He spent the majority of his time away from his musical pursuits on the water, sailing, surfing, fishing or just messing about on his boats.
In a recent conversation I had with his sister Lucy Buffett, she spoke so glowingly of their childhood and the threads of growing up on the Gulf Coast that were woven into her late brother’s love of boats and