Though its heydays of the 1970s and 1980s were long behind it, the Long Island, N.Y.-based Superboat brand never lost its reputation for building super-stout high-performance V-bottoms from 21 to 32 feet long. Company founder John Coen, Jr., who died earlier this week at age 82, influenced a generation offshore racers, go-fast pleasure-boat lovers and would-be boat-builders.
Among them was his fellow Long Islander and longtime friend Mark Fischer, the owner of South Florida-based Deep Impact Custom Boats, who still has home in the area as well as two residences in Sunshine State. Coen had a life-changing impact on Fischer, who is steering Deep Impact into its next era with brawny “true offshore” high-performance center consoles such as the 449 and 499 models.
“John was a legend in powerboating and an inspiration to me as child growing up around it in the early 1980s,” Fischer said. “He inspires my passion for powerboating to this day.
“He was always calling me telling me how to make Deep Impacts run faster,” he continued. “John actually scolded me while I was designing the new 499. He told me that said big boats ‘will never be’ performance boats.”
Fischer paused, then chuckled.
“I told him, ‘I think I learned a few things from you that will prove you wrong,’” Fischer said, then laughed again. “Obviously I was right, and I was so proud to show him the 499 at the Key West Poker Run last year.
“He looked at me, shook my hand and said, ‘You did it’ with his usual smile,” he added. “Then we shared a couple of his favorite cocktails and talked about the old days for a while. God’s speed, John.”