You don’t find Giant Sequoias in South Florida, but that’s exactly what Ron Szolack would have needed if he wanted to put his most recent gifts to himself under a Christmas tree. The noted high-performance powerboat wheeler-dealer purchased an eight-seat Skater Powerboats 388 catamaran and a pair of 50-foot Mystic Powerboats cats from Louisiana’s James Branton this week.
Previously owned by the likes of Tom Borisch, Win Farnsworth and James Branton, Low Altitude is now the property of Ron Szolack.
“I sold the Skater when it was brand-new to David Branton (James’ father) in 2019,” Szolack explained. “It was Skater’s first eight-seater and it was displayed at the Miami boat show. He and James just got done redoing it.”
Said James Branton, “When it comes to buying or selling, Ron is the go-to, get-it-done-in-10-minutes guy.”
On the Mystic side of his purchases from James Branton, he picked up the well-known, turbine-engine-powered Low Altitude cat and another 50-footer formerly owned by performance boat enthusiast Doug Stevenson and offshore racer David Scott. Branton was about to repower the former Stevenson-owned cat with Mercury Racing 1100 engines at Performance Boat Center in Osage Beach, Mo. The new turbocharged quad-cam four-valve engines were part of the deal.
Originally blue and white, the Skater 388 catamaran Branton sold to Szolack has been redone.
“It would make a great Class 1 boat,” Szolack said. “It’s the same as the df Young Mystic.
“It was a package deal that was too good to pass up,” he added, then laughed. “Merry Christmas to me.”
The Low Alltitude Mystic is for sale. As for the other cats, time will tell.
The second 50-foot Mystic cat came with a pair of new Mercury Racing 1100 engines.
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