bertram31.com

If you are wondering what to ask for Christmas this year, I have the answer. I just got my Rybovich Book and I gotta tell you, it's unreal. This book was put together by Tommy Rybovich's daughter Pat Rybovich and she did an amazing job. She spent years collecting old photos and stories about these beautiful boats and the colorful owners and captains that ran them. Many sportfishing innovations that we take for granted, like the outrigger, fighting chair, tuna tower and many others were developed and refined by Rybovich during the Cat Cay Tuna Tournaments of the 1930's and 1940's. The book is full of previously unpublished black and white photos of these early tournaments. It's very cool to see photos of the pioneers of this sport that we all love. Ernest Hemingway brought his boat, Pilar, to Rybovich to be fitted with these innovations in 1935. Rybovich opened their boat yard in 1919, building and repairing commercial fishing boats. Starting with the first modern sportfishing machine in 1947, Miss Chevy II, Rybovich has built 126 boats. There is a history and description, as well as numerous pictures of each hull. It's a giant book, nearly twice the size and weight of any other coffee table book. You can see how big it is in the last picture with my son holding the book. Here's the link to the book, and I understand that if you add your email to the update list at the bottom of the web page, you will be offered holiday pricing on the book:

http://rybovichbook.com/book.html

JR

This is a photo of hull #2 and hull# 125

Ditto to the Wow!

126 boats!!!

That sure brings back memories.....beautiful boats

Cool!!

hb

Always been a class act, always will be. They did their book the way they did their boats, beautifully down to the smallest detail with no apologies to anyone. Don't you wish there were a few more of them? An American product, designed and made in America by an American company. Maybe then we wouldn't be in the mess we're in. Get out and vote on Tuesday guys!

Randall,

You would appreciate the chapter called Visual Indulgence. It's a series of close up photos of woodwork done at the Rybovich yard. They also had some very cool stainless hardware. I can't imagine the number of man hours that went into each of these boats. Here are a few pics from that chapter:

jack..thanks, i really want to see this book.

.ive seen a few in real life and they just blow me away. there really is no finer object in my opinion than a real custom boat (sailboats too) with lots of wood and original metal.

for some reason the photo right under the book on the fighting chair the boats look amazingly like model boats. they are just that clean in design.

Things of beauty and quality survive the tests of time!

The Rybovich family knew how to get a boat just "right"...I saw one up close in Oregon Inlet @ Pirates Cove...boat named Breathless...I have never seen such a simple and beautiful boat, no detail left unfinished, but the beauty was in the fact the boat was simple and understated...nothing out of place. Try and find a gaff on a Rybovich, they are, just cleverly hidden out of sight until they are needed..The book was done to the same degree, Pat Rybovich did her family proud with the release of this book...BH

Bob H. wrote:The Rybovich family knew how to get a boat just "right"...I saw one up close in Oregon Inlet @ Pirates Cove...boat named Breathless...I have never seen such a simple and beautiful boat, no detail left unfinished, but the beauty was in the fact the boat was simple and understated...nothing out of place. Try and find a gaff on a Rybovich, they are, just cleverly hidden out of sight until they are needed..The book was done to the same degree, Pat Rybovich did her family proud with the release of this book...BH

Hi Bob, excellent summation! Decades ago, a friend described them, correctly, as austere.
For those of you old enough to remember, Rybovich used to run a rather modest ad in the local Yellow Pages. A rudimentary drawing of a Rybovich, 45 feet or so, bow on, at rest. Now in our xxth year, that number updated annually.
But their slogan never changed: Where standards are set, not met.
Similar to many of you, I was blessed to grow up around boats. Bertram 31's one of my all time favorites. BTW, which one of you owns the former "RED HEAD" that Dick Winters kept at The Deep Sea Club in the early seventies? She was the first 31 to sport a Rybovich fighting chair.
Anyway, Pats' book documents an era of interest to us all, a lifestyle that made her families' work possible.. Check it out.
Rick.

ricky, i am pretty sure Hop-A-Long sported a rybo chair back in the early 60's

and participated in the cat cay tuna tournament.

There was a 31 FBC called Twilight at Montauk Marine basin in the 60's owned by a guy named Don Stott that had a chair that could have been a Rybovitch. Walter

I got the biggest shock of the decade this afternoon when my mail arrived...

This huge box, marked with Pat Rybovich's return address of course instantly gave away the contents. Another shock came upon opening and discovering that it is also a COMMEMORATIVE EDITION.

While I'm reasonably sure I know who the ring leader of this awesome gift was, I hope that he had lots of monetary help in deferring it's cost.

Johnny Rybovich was a personal friend and a member of my Board of Directors when I started the Palm Beach Chapter of Florida Conservation Association back in '85. Later I met and became friends with Michael Rybovich, who is one of the world's finest boat builders and a person who has influenced me often. I miss going to Mike's shop, seeing what was being built, and the fact that he was never too busy to stop and talk with me.

I never missed an opportunity to inspect and admire the Rybovich boats that constantly surrounded me for over twenty years living in WPB, Fl.

So, needless to say, this book has personal meanings to me that even predate bertram31.com. And now, this gift ties both entities together in such a way that words can not describe.

Thank you Guys, thank you all!

Best regards,

Patrick

COOL!!!!!!!!BH

very nice, you deserve it,

that is just OUTSTANDING!!!!

but typical of the best boating site BY FAR.

Capt. Patrick,

Try not to pull your back out lifting that thing. The guy's on this board are the greatest. It's gonna take you a while to go through, but let me know how you like it. Greatest book I ever bought.

JR

Always been my dream boat......Since I was a lot smaller than Neils boy.

I just found out what the holiday pricing for the Rybovich Book will be. Pat Rybovich sent out an email to everyone on the update list to indicate that the holiday pricing for her book will be $350 for the Commemorative "1947 Edition". This is quite a drop in price, as they were priced at $1400 prior to this.

JR