Highs and Lows from 2013: John Tomlinson
Considering the name it has made for itself in the high-performance powerboat world, you’d think that go-fast boat service, rigging and storage would be TNT Custom Marine’s bread and butter. But the truth is that while the Miami-based company’s performance-boat business picks up in the winter months with the influx of fast boats from the Midwest and Northeast, local owners of “regular pleasure boats and fishing boats,” according to company co-owner and noted offshore racer John Tomlinson, are the company’s mainstay throughout the year. And thanks to the range of services TNT offers for powerboats of all kinds, it’s been a good year for the outfit.
John Tomlinson: “Fortunately, I don’t have a lot of lows. Everybody in my family is healthy and business is good.”
High: Well, I have a few highs. We went out and won the offshore race in Gasse in Sarasota (Fla.) this summer after not touching the boat all year, which was kind of cool. And then we successfully ran Sterling’s turbine engines in the Skater at the Shootout (read the story) to a big number. That was a high for sure. And our business was up this year over all the different categories—Mercury service, stern-drive rebuilding, rigging, marina and storage—we offer. That’s definitely a high.
Low: Boat accidents are always a low, so the accident at the Lake Cumberland Poker Run had to be the biggest low of the year. It seems like we have one of those every year. Finding out we weren’t going to Key West to race (read the story) the day before we were supposed to leave—that was a low, too. Fortunately, I don’t have a lot of lows. Everybody in my family is healthy and business is good.
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