Waterline: Of Fathers, Sons, and Boats

Not just for boating enthusiasts, this account of a two-year struggle to resurrect a 50-year-old Chris Craft motorboat, Miss Emily , and turn it into a trophy winner at a boat show is a story of and for fathers and sons. St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch columnist Soucheray depicts his father as a loving man reluctant to show his emotions, yet captivated by motorboats, which he moored and piloted on various Minnesota lakes; he communicated this enthusiasm to his son, and boats became the link that bound them. When the author had the rare good fortune to recover one of his father's old boats (it was too rotted to be repaired), he was able to strip off its hardware and use this in the boat he was refinishing, thus strengthening the filial/paternal bond. Happily, the dying father lived long enough to witness his son's triumphant handiwork. (Oct.)