Now I know that I have never been much of a fisherman, about the closest that I ever get to fishing is hanging rod off the back of the boat when I am out cruising, if I catch something great but if not no big deal. I must confess it was pretty cool when I caught some tuna off the coast of Georgia and had it an hour later hot off the grill. Boating to me is about the journey but to many hardcore sport fisherman the boat is just a means to an end and it become about the fishing and not the actual boating.
Living as I do in the north east I often travel up and down the east coast and I have noticed that as you travel south the amount of sailboats diminishes and the amount of powerboats grows. South of the Carolina's there are a large number of sport fishing boats and many of these have what is known as a fighting chair in the cockpit. The end of the rod sits into a socket between the fisherman’s legs and the reel is clipped in place to take the inevitable strain off the fisherman’s arms as he lands the 'big one'.
Some of these chairs are works of art and cost anything up to $50K which is more than many would spend on a whole boat. They also take up a fair bit of space in the cockpit and are unlikely to be an easy fit for any boat less than 50 feet in length. Recognizing this fact Release marine has come up with the 'Battle Saddle'. Meant for smaller boats it is not less an impressive piece of teak and chrome furniture which would sit well, if you excuse the pun in cockpit of boats in the 35 to 40 foot range. Instead of sitting in it as you would with a normal chair you sort of perch on it, much as you would with a leaning post with you feet on the deck of the boat. It is height adjustable so works well for most everybody and best of all it is cheaper than a fully fledged chair but will still set you back about $11000 depending on the exact configuration.
Very Cool!
Avid Reader From South Florida - William
Posted by: William | March 13, 2012 at 08:22 AM