Trading Places with Mr. Flight Club
The owner of dozens of high-performance boats and one of the coolest waterfront properties, Michigan’s Ron Szolack lives life to the fullest. Photo by Jay Nichols/Naples Image
There are quite a few people in the performance boat industry who would be awesome to switch places with for a day, a week or even longer. Take an icon like John Tomlinson of TNT Custom Marine in Miami. Can you imagine a day in JT’s shoes testing a high-performance catamaran while running a high-profile marina complete with a rigging, service and restoration shop? Sounds fun—and busy.
Or how about Paul Ray, president of Ilmor Engineering Inc.? The driving force behind the Ilmor High-Performance Marine engine lineup, Ray oversees a facility that designs engines for both pleasure and race boats, Indy race cars, custom motorcycles, performance road cars and more. If horsepower is your thing, surely it doesn’t get much better than a day in the life of Paul Ray.
From boat builders, offshore racers and poker runners, the list of people that would be fun to trade places with goes on and on. Yet, after spending a little time with Ron Szolack at last week’s Desert Storm Poker Run in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., I think I’ve come up with the first person I’d jump at the chance to get a glimpse into their life
and then