The former CEO of Allied Marine and a small Opa Locka, Fla., boatbuilding company have teamed up to reintroduce the legendary Blackfin sportfishing boats, which were some of the best-riding offshore vessels built in the 1980s and 1990s.
Admirers of Blackfin might have been unaware that the boats never really went away. Blackfin Boats, which currently consists of Miami boatbuilders Jose Suarez and Gustavo Cardona and various contractors, has been quietly turning out about a dozen boats a year since 2001.
Dwight Tracy & Friends and Blackfin announced a partnership in March at the Palm Beach International Boat Show for the marketing, sales and distribution of an expanded line of updated Blackfins.
“We were the largest dealership of Tiara in the world at one time, and the same holds true for Hatteras and Ferretti,” said Dwight Tracy, president and CEO of Dwight Tracy & Friends. “We’ll go out in the marketplace and do everything possible to put this brand … in front of the boating public. Once people know what is going on here, they will want to be a part of it.”
Cardona and Suarez have built roughly 100 Blackfins — a 27-foot center console, a 34 Open and a 34 Fisharound. The 34s are lengthened outboard-powered versions of the Blackfin 32 (originally designed by Charles Jannace as the Blackfin 31 in the mid-’70s). “We have been relying on word of mouth and our customers. The boats have been built to order for the last 11 years and shown only at local boat shows,” Suarez said.
Click here for the full report by Soundings Trade Only, which includes a video of the new Blackfins.
