Lake Pontchartrain

Photo by Keith Cacioppo

Tickfaw 200 Powerboat Poker Run

Once more renowned for picking strawberries not royal flushes, Livingston Parish now hosts Louisiana’s largest poker powerboat run, Tickfaw 200, bringing performance powerboaters to the bayou state in springtime. “It’s the Baja 500 and the Iditarod of powerboating,” said Keith Cacioppo, a lifelong boater with a 30-foot cruiser who’s attended The Tickfaw 200 for 11 straight years.Cacioppo has never run the 200, but is one of hundreds of spectator boats charging the event with energy and cheers.“My boat couldn’t handle it,” said Cacioppa. “This is for the big dogs.

Geoffrey van Aller launched his own marine design firm, van Aller Yacht & Naval Design, in Ocean Springs, MS. Photo courtesy Geoff van Aller.

Whirlwind of change: Where’s Trinity Yachts' crew today?

Four key players of the disbanded Trinity Yachts, once the world’s sixth largest custom yacht builder, are working in new roles in yachting since the company’s break-up about four years ago.Billy Smith, Geoffrey van Aller, Jim Berulis and Phil Nuss rolled with the punches, just as they did when this author interviewed them at Trinity’s Cinco de Mayo crayfish boil celebrating their new Gulfport facility in Mississippi in May, 2006. In a region suffering after Hurricane Katrina toppled the Gulf Coast and sank New Orleans on August 29…

M/V Southern Star. West End Boat Parade New Orleans. Photo by Lisa Overing

Christmas Boat Parades Celebrate the Magic of the Season

It was not a silent night nor was a single star in sight, but the sky was bright - full of lights and blaring music and revelry as sailors celebrated Christmas on the water in New Orleans, La. on Saturday, December 15.Yachting Journal enjoyed reporting live from the 26th annual West End Christmas Boat Parade. Featuring over 36 boats and yachts in complete holiday splendor, the maritime holiday began with vessels lined up at the historic New Canal Lighthouse, proceeding on Lake Pontchartrain in a loop…

John Dane III Leaves His Mark

“The 2008 financial crash slowed  the luxury business, and the new class warfare coming out of Washington has made owning a large yacht out of favor. In the more than two years since its founding, Mississippi-based TY Offshore, the former Trinity Offshore, has invested in a new yard in Gulfport and repaired its storm-damaged New Orleans holdings. The company has doubled its capacity and racked up new orders, president and CEO John Dane III said. TY Offshore designs and builds offshore barges, tugs, oilfield-support vessels and spill-response and patrol vessels. The company's new name, adopted in late June, should make business simpler.