“Dad is a really laid-back guy, who’s easy to deal with,” Jason Neale explains. “One of his business partners years ago used to call him ‘Loose as a Goose Bruce’ and that just stuck. The Neales are a tight-knit family that work hard and play hard together. They started fishing in the mid-80s when Bruce and wife Martha owned a series of pocket sportfishing boats in the 27-40-foot range. After some breaks in the action while their children were away for college, starting families of their own, and learning to help run the family businesses, they eventually worked their way up to a 48’ Ocean sportfish. Jason says they have been enjoying not just fishing, but cruising that boat over the last five to six years. Besides fishing, they like to tuck in and anchor in quiet coves for swimming and cookouts, and often cruise to St. Michaels or Chestertown for dinner and walks around town. “But we own and operate a concrete construction business that takes a lot of time and attention,” Jason warns. As such, they haven’t gotten to go fishing as much as they’d like and admitted to being relegated to “weekend warrior” status while focusing on their businesses. But now Jason and his brother Michael both have families of their own and are motivated to also provide their kids the opportunity to enjoy the boating lifestyle. When the Neales collectively decided it was time to upgrade their angling adventures, they tasked Chase Sutton at Bluewater Yacht Sales to help locate the boats they were looking for. Jason was up first, purchasing a pre-owned 27’ Sea Hunt center console that fit his immediate needs to get out on the water more. As for upgrading from Bruce’s 48-footer, that would be a larger effort of finding something not just good for the Goose but for the Gander too. A QUICK SEARCH & REPLACE “We told Chase our budget, that we were looking for something over fifty feet and it must have a mezzanine,” says Jason. He describes a competitive situation where a well-known local boat was put on the market but went under contract before they were able to see it. Chase quickly put that disappointment in their rearview, locating another great sportfish listing that fit the bill. “We’ve actually talked with the new owner of that first boat we wanted and he’s had his share of problems, so it seems we ended up with the better boat with lower hours, and it all happened faster than we expected!” he reports. The result was Loose Goose, a 54’ Ocean Yacht now registered in Queenstown, Maryland, and ready to take the family into a new chapter of offshore angling and coastal cruising. The 54’ checked many of the boxes the Neales had on their wishlist. “We were originally hoping to find a Viking in that 50-foot range,” Jason says. But to stay within budget and still get the features they wanted; a late-model Ocean ultimately made more sense. “It’s a wellbuilt boat. It has a different hull than we’re used to and will be faster.” With a longer water line and upgraded power fromMAN engines, the 54’ can cruise in the mid-30s, which is crucial for reaching offshore fishing grounds more quickly. “When the fish are biting 80 miles out, you don’t want to spend most of the day getting there,” Jason explains. THE NEALE FAMILY GETS SERIOUS IN THEIR PURSUIT OF FISHING& CRUISING FUN THE GOOSE I LOOSE 48 BLUEWATER
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