Jimmy Buffett’s Maritime Dream and Legacy

As Lucy recounts, “The boating mythology has been in our family since we can remember, because we spent a lot of time on the Mississippi coast at our grandparent’s home. It was always a big deal whenever our merchant mariner grandfather Capt. Buffett came home, because he would have been gone for months and months at a time. He always returned with stories of where he had been, from all over the world. That’s the story of the song ‘The Captain and the Kid,’ and all of that was true.”

The Boat

With the idea hatched and the basic parameters laid out, Merritt began just as he does with any new build. Having never done a catamaran hull, he enlisted the services of Michael Peters Yacht Design to create the running surface while he and his in-house team designed the layout and practical operating functions of the boat.

In order to satisfy the criteria for Buffett and have a fully functional rig with sufficient fuel capacity, a generator, a watermaker, ice makers, livewells and a host of other components that fit and can be serviced in place, all while getting the look of a finely styled classic boat, the length grew to 56 feet with a 17-foot beam.

There were a host of other considerations that were addressed during the development, such as the width of the walkaround, deck height off the water, tunnel height, major component placement in each hull, bow layout and seating, anchor locker and windlass configuration, flybridge layout, and a host of manufacturing and assembly issues that needed to be ironed out. Designed to be powered with quad 600-horsepower Mercury outboards for speed and reliability, the boat is certainly unique and fills a niche in the industry that has been missed to date. For Buffett, the inherent fishability of the walk-around layout, with a massive ­cockpit, combined with its length and beam, will make it a player on the blue water anywhere it goes. The big cat’s interior comforts, including a full-size stateroom, a large head with a shower, a spacious salon with a galley, an interior helm, a settee, a bar and a large flat-screen television, make it an ideal weekender and commuter. Topped with a spacious, beautiful flybridge, the Buffett-inspired 56 Merritt catamaran is as much a trendsetter as it is a practical fishing tool.

With this boat, Jimmy Buffett the visionary set the table for his marine legacy, while his trust and confidence in Merritt to build a quality boat are a testament to Merritt’s legacy and track record. With the great sadness of his passing, Jimmy Buffett’s dream will be realized, as the boat is being built as he envisioned it and wanted for his personal use, knowing that others would also see the many benefits of such a boat.

The treasured American writer Thomas McGuane spent a considerable amount of time with Buffett throughout his life as ­collaborator, friend and brother-in-law. Perhaps starting in the early ’70s ­fly-fishing for tarpon in Key West, they have logged many hours in various boats of all manner in many places far and wide. I’d say he put it best when it comes to Buffett and his love of boats and the sea when McGuane said: “I think Jimmy loved every boat that was ever born. As his knowledge of boats expanded through a lifetime of thinking about them, building and acquiring them, a day inevitably came when a boat project outlived him. Rest in peace, sailor.”