Yeah reading that just makes me sad that a big wealthy conglomerate is going to eventually push out local folks to cater to ultra rich city folk and big wigs
I probably have as much experience as almost anyone on this board when it comes to POE. Started out renting rowboats with my dad back in the early 60's. At that time, they not only rented boats for fishing in Peconic Bay but a little later on they even set up a "substation" at Orient point and would launch rowboats into the Sound on days with light or mainly southerly winds. The contraption they used as truly a "Rube Goldberg" type apparatus using the drive train of an old Cadillac to launch and retrieve the craft. But that's a long story for another day! Fishing in those days on the North Fork was off the charts incredible!
Starting in 1979 I bought the first of the 2 Grady Whites I owned and fished in for a total of 25 years going forward. That boat was the 240 Offshore with a traditional cut out transom paired with a 200 HP Johnson Outboard. I docked that vessel at POE the entire time I owned it and fished everywhere from local trips to Montauk Block, and even Coxes Ledge when the Cod fishing was superior out there and well worth the long steam.
After 13 great seasons with that boat I moved up to the 25' Sailfish with a somewhat unusual set up of a Volvo diesel rigged to an I/O drivetrain and ran her for the next 12 seasons. Although the hull was solid and we enjoyed many great trips aboard her the Volvo was a bit quirky and the I/O set up took up way too much space in the cockpit which I soon regretted. Hence my move up to my current vessel the Albin 28 in 2004.
I purchased both Grady Whites through the father, Bill Leiblein who was always a gentleman and I felt treated me fairly for all the years I dealt with him. I wish I could say the same for his son Will, but he and I never saw eye to eye and that's one of the reasons I actually moved the 25' Grady to Orient by the Sea for the last 3 years I owned that boat.
Overall, I felt their service department was reasonably capable, pricing was pretty much par for the course in the marine industry, and as a whole the family did try really hard to accommodate their customers. So, the fact that Bill Leiblein will be staying on, at least through some transition period is probably a good thing.
What will happen next with the Hinckley management team is more of a concern for anyone who has watched this trend of large corporations buying out smaller family run operations. Personally, I feel bad for the current Grady owners and those with slips in this marina. Hinckley can blow smoke all day long about how they don't plan to raise prices or will improve the service, but we all know better. Sure, they will probably keep things relatively stable this year, most likely because the current owners do have contracts. But hold on to your wallets next season and for the foreseeable future.
Hinckley can also BS all they want about not anticipating bringing in their own larger vessels due to the somewhat shallow nature of this basin. Who are they kidding. To the best of my knowledge Hinckley's fleet are almost all jet drive set ups that draw very little water!
So, yet another one of our fond childhood memories begins to fade into the distance. I feel the worst for our kids who may eventually get priced out of boating and fishing entirely thanks to the nature of the big corporations basically devouring everything in their path!
