On a breezy day in June, Viking 64—her right rigger full of flags—rounded the corner of the Intracoastal Waterway as the boat approached Toler’s Cove Marina in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. The spartina grass on either side of the saltwater creek’s edge glowed fluorescent green in the afternoon sun, and the humid haze of a Lowcountry summer hung low and thick around the boat’s gleaming hull. Those driving across the nearby drawbridge might have assumed that the Viking Yacht Co.’s demonstrator team had placed in yet another tournament. Instead, the crew had just set an unofficial state record for blue marlin releases in a single day. Celebrating accordingly, the demo crew had just made history, a standard that Viking Yachts considers a fundamental component of company culture.
The Viking demonstrator program is one of the most widely recognized sport-fishing operations of its kind, with a long list of outstanding tournament performances and boat sales tied to its storied title. Pat Healey, Viking’s president and CEO, oversaw the establishment of the program 40 years ago; since then, not only has he watched it foster strong relationships with new and returning customers, but he’s also seen the operation build character and lifelong careers. While it’s now become a critical pillar of the company’s success, with a full-time captain and two full-time mates who travel the globe aboard the company’s most advanced builds, Viking’s demo program didn’t quite start that way.
THE FOUNDING OF A WORLD-CLASS PROGRAM
Healey first learned the value of these programs while working as a part-time mate aboard another company’s demo boat. Fresh out of high school, he’d spend the week working at Viking Yachts, which his father and uncle owned and operated. Then,, a Viking build that the local Caterpillar dealer used as a demonstrator. “While working on the , I started to see the benefit of having a boat available during the summer months that Viking could use to test new systems and to showcase new models to customers,” Healey recalls. “That’s when I started talking to my dad and uncle about the possibility of us building a demo boat.”