thisboatinglife
BY ANN DERMODY
Blue Politics, Blues Songs, And Sailing The Ocean Blue
The Boater’s Politician
— John Breaux
There are boaters — and then there
are boaters. The latter is the sort who know
every inch of their craft to an almost obsessive degree, have their boats — rather than
family and pets — as smartphone and iPad
screen savers, do their own engine repair,
carry well-thumbed old maintenance manuals (that they’ve studied incessantly and
marked with highlighter pen throughout),
and though they might not readily admit
it, spend large chunks of their time daydreaming about that certain multi-ton lady
in their lives.
It is very obvious, very quickly, that
former Senator John Breaux is one of those
boaters. Born and raised in Louisiana, he
authored a landmark law that returned
boaters’ gas tax money to boating programs (it even became known as the
Wallop-Breaux Act), while he was in the
House of Representatives, where he’d been
elected at 28, in 1972. Apart from helping
to positively influence laws to enhance
the quality of recreational boating, Breaux
took advantage of his new home on the
Chesapeake Bay to do some serious boating. In 1987 he was elected to the Senate
and served as a U.S. Senator until 2005.
“I used to spend a lot of time repairing
my first boat,” he recalls. “It was a 23-foot-
er with twin engines. I was in the House in
those days, and I did all the repairs myself.
I remember my wife Lois and I changed
the headers, and she smashed her wedding
ring holding something for me.”
PHOTOS (LEFT) JOHN BREAUX, (RIGHT) MARCIA BALL
Boating has always been a family
affair. Breaux says some of his very first
memories are of fishing with his grandfather on the lakes, rivers, and bayous of
Louisiana. “I remember as a little kid looking out the window watching him, and
then later getting to go with him, when I
was about five. He’d have everything ready
the afternoon before, so the next morning
he could just step into his truck, pull his
boat, and go fishing before daylight. It was
just a wooden boat with an old motor that
you had to tie a rope around to crank up.
It used to backfire on him and bust his
knuckles, and the rope would break, but it
was a great sort of bonding experience that
was very special.” Breaux says he’s trying
to imprint the same memories on his own
five grandchildren who range in age from 6
months to 13. “I’m taking them skiing and
showing them how to run the boat. They
love it. I had that when I was growing up
and I’m trying to continue doing it. It’s
always been a big part of our lives.”
As with most boaters, his boats have
grown with him. “You have your first boat,
and then your second boat, and your sec-
ond boat’s a little bigger than the first boat,
and the third boat’s bigger than the second
boat. There’s always a bigger boat to get,”
he muses. Since that first 23-footer, Breaux
“I married into boating,” says
acclaimed blues singer Marcia Ball.
Although the Texas-based songstress
grew up in Louisiana and fished out of
bass boats as a child, her relationship
with husband Gordon Fowler meant sails
would become a big part of her future.
“He’d grown up on Lake Austin in Texas
and his dad had built 24 boats in his life-
time,” she says of her husband. “The first
thing Gordon did after we married was to
buy a 24-foot J-boat that we took to Lake
Travis in Texas. I’d been sailing before, but
it had never been a particularly pleasant
experience,” she laughs.
on before, and certainly not everything I
owned!”
Gordon’s son Jeb has since com-
pleted a spell at The Landing School in
Kennebunkport. And as for her own boat-
ing career? “I hope to sail more when I get
a chance, but right now I’m working my
behind off! But I’m happy to know it’s
there. It’s my getaway.” (Marcia Ball’s 15th
solo recording, “Roadside Attractions,” was
released in March of this year.) — A.D.
