OnBoard Magazine - Issue XIII - 2021 Season

P erry Nichols was an active young man—he played on a championship football team and was crazy about catching bass. But as he was growing, he noticed something was going wrong; he couldn’t move as fast or grip the ball as well as he once did. The local doctor couldn’t find anything wrong, but after a visit to Duke Medical Center, he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. He kept fishing as long as he could, even buying a Ranger bass boat. But before long, his muscle mass diminished to a point he had to give it all up. He thought he would never fish again. Perry focused on entrepreneurship, found hobbies in auto racing and worked to manage his symptoms as best he could. Fast forward decades, and he made a friendship on the race circuit with Darrel Gwynn, who had been paralyzed in a car accident before founding several charities. Gwynn coerced Perry to go fishing with him on a pontoon boat that was accessible for their wheelchairs. He also introduced Perry to an electric reel he could use. It was a Eureka! moment for Perry. He was so ecstatic to be on the water again, to reconnect with the outdoors and the sport he grew up enjoying; he was motivated to keep fishing by whatever means necessary. GETTING TO BLUEWATER A few South Florida charters later, he was all-in… setting his sights squarely on big game saltwater fishing and even building his own boat to do it in. A mutual friend introduced him to Earle Hall of Bluewater Yacht Sales, and Earle immediately set out trying to find a boat that could get the job done. The two alsodiscussed the company’s prior experience modifying a Viking yacht for another man with muscular dystrophy, Steve Jones, the owner of the 52’ Cuttin’ Up in Virginia. [Editor’s Note: See the Volume VI of OnBoard for details on the Cuttin' Up project] Bluewater, Viking Collaborate to Meet the Dreams of Multiple Friends with Disabilities Helping Hands Photos courtesy of Viking Yacht Company, Tom Spencer and Earle Hall | story by Jason Pim 6 BLUEWATER