42' Express - "Reel Estate"
Launched December 2009
Ritchie Howell Custom Carolina Yachts is happy to announce that Curtis Campbell is only a few months away from delivery of his 42' Ritchie Howell Express.
We'd like to share a wonderful letter sent to us by Curtis Campbell:
My Dad and I have been fishing together since I was just a little kid. I fondly rememeber fishing with him in the back bays of Ocean City for flounder out of wooden rental boats. Eventually, we made the move to a small used pleasure boat, and a year later traded that in for a 19' Grady White. Somehow, it wasn't long before we found ourselves pushing the limits on that boat, and upgraded to a twin engine 28' Grady. Now we find ourselves wanting to be in the canyons two or three times a week from May to November. We knew we needed something bigger, something better, but where do you begin?
Idle dreams and conversations turned into action as a summer of seriously bad weather a few years ago motivated the search for a new (actually used) vessel. Frustrated by getting pounded every trip, or not even being able to go due to weather, we started looking at the factory boats, not even thinking we could ever build a dream boat...But the immediate thing you discover with a factory boat, is the fact that they are trying to appeal to too many different buyers and users. Basically, you end up paying for a lot of things you may not want or will never use... and you still have to maintain it too. I found myself searching the internet daily for used and new boats that fit our requirements...and then one particular boat caught my eye. It was a little yellow 40' Ritchie Howell express named Intensity. Man was she a pretty boat to look at, and the layout was perfect... a true fishing machine. I made some calls and was devasted to find out she had already sold. So it was back to square one for the search... but those lines, and that look had me captivated.
So I started to do a little research on Ritchie Howell and Carolina Yacht Enterprises. And as it turned out, I had been admiring his boats for a while. The Marli, a 60' Ritchie Howell has been Ocean City's premier tuna fishing boat for years...these guys are NEVER at the dock. That told me, not only did Ritchie's boats have the look and the layout, but they had the RIDE too. My mind turned to "How can we build a boat, rather than buy a used one?".
A friend arranged for me to meet Ritchie during a lay day at the White Marlin Open. I had called numerous builders during the two years of searching and researching I did, and not a single one of them ever wanted to meet me, much less even talk to me on the phone. His excitement about the concept of our boat was evident from the second we started talking. The next day, the Rebel another 60' Howell caught the winning white in that years WMO. Last summer, we did some fishing on the just delivered 60' Canyon Runner...we left the dock in darkness straight into the teeth of 20 knot wind and seas, and never throttled back...I knew we had made the right call. Now, construction on the 42' Ritchie Howell express Reel Estate is underway, and the experience is incredible. We will know every part of our boat like no other. The attention to detail, and the concern for the owners desires are forefront. I urge everyone to check out our build pictures, and consider doing what they may think is just a dream... Don't just buy a boat, have Ritchie build you one.
And we plan on doing our our part to carry on a fine tradition of taking home some tournament wins... see you in the canyons.
Curtis H. Campbell
Reel Estate Sportfishing
Ocean City, Maryland
