We can go anywhere with our boats that you
” — Nick Hake, owner, Hake Yachts
79
TREASURE COAST BOATING
Boats of Interest
The spacious cockpit of Hake Yacht’s new flagship is clean of lines and clutter.
“ can take a 14-foot Boston Whaler.
With its classic good looks
and towering 62-foot
mast, the new Seaward
46RK from Hake Yachts
attracted a constant
stream of visitors during the 2013 Stuart
Boat Show. Its high-tech self-furling
rig, which lets a skipper sail this 48-foot
long-range cruiser singlehanded, and the
outstanding volume in its three-stateroom
interior drew “oohs” of surprise even from
experienced sailors. But for many who
boarded the boat that weekend, the most
amazing aspect of the 46RK was the fact
that it was built right around the corner.
When Nick Hake, an avid sailor, graduated
from engineering school in Wisconsin
and moved to Miami in the early
1970s, he landed a job at the Key Biscayne
Yacht Club — in the kitchen.
“Between lunch and dinner, I worked
on a little 8 1/2-foot sailing dinghy,”
he says.
When the boat was finished, it proved
popular enough for him to get into the
boat-building business full time, and he
founded Hake Yachts in 1974. Always an
innovator, Hake made his mark by developing
the Vertically Retracting Keel, a
lifting keel that gives his sailboats flexible
draft. When the keel is fully extended, it
maximizes the boat’s stability in rough
seas. Fully retracted, it allows the boat
to venture into shallow waters like those
found in the Bahamas and the Keys. Between
the two extremes, the keel’s depth >>