BOATERS OF INTEREST
PHOTO BY MIKE LONG
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Bill and Nancy Bryant go full throttle on a lake near Mountain City, Tenn.
Bill Bryant has a seemingly unquenchable
thirst for bouncing
Jersey Speed Skiffs across
lakes at high speed.
“Pound for pound it is the
most exciting boating on the water,”
said the retired Vero Beach contractor.
“Ever since I was a kid watching hydroplane
>>
boats, I wanted a race boat.”
Bryant had decided he wanted a
muscle car, but his wife, Nancy, said
he would have to sell one of his toys.
He sold the skiff “Falcon” but longed
for the waterborne thrill. “I missed it
so much. I kept watching the videos of
them racing.”
“I thought Bill was out of his mind,”
said Nancy from an April car show,
where they were displaying their skiff in
Mountain City, Tenn. “I would get up in
the middle of the night and he would be
watching the skiff videos. At first I was
scared. Now I am the one who wants to
go fast. I don’t drive it very much, but I
can,” she said.
The Bryant’s second skiff , “Glory
Days,” is ready for warmer weather at
northeastern Tennessee’s Lake Watauga.
Bill and Nancy always wanted a log
cabin, and now they spend six months