With the exception of serious Major League Baseball credentials, retired Angels right-fielder and power-hitting great Tim Salmon is like any other right-thinking and responsible performance-boat owner. Salmon, who owns a 32-foot Sleekcraft Heritage V-bottom with twin Mercury Racing 525 EFI engines as well as a houseboat and a wakeboard boat, wants to be as safe as possible behind the wheel.

Tim Salmon said he’s all about safety on his boats. Photos courtesy Tres Martin/Tres Martin Performance Boat School (click images to enlarge).

“I have to say up front I’m a (high-performance powerboat) novice,” said Salmon, who completed the Tres Martin Performance Boat School driving course earlier this year. “When Charlie Brown (the owner of Phoenix-based Octane Marine, which hosted the course for its customers and key employees) told me about it I said, ‘I’m in.’ On all of my boats, we’re are all about safety.”

Salmon said that Brown has served as a mentor to him throughout his boating life in Arizona. And despite intermittent rain during the on-water portion of the course in early January, he thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated his time in the cockpit with Martin.

“It was the best thing I ever did,” he added. “I recommend it to anybody.”

“I’ve worked with a lot of athletes,” said Martin. “Tim wasn’t just a great student. He was a very cool guy.”

Salmon, who is 46 years old and lives in the Phoenix area, does much of his local boating in his 32-footer on Lake Pleasant, where the on-water portion of the course was held. For longer trips with his wife, Marci, and their four teenage children he heads for Lake Powell with his entire fleet. He said he enjoyed not just learning safer driving techniques from Martin, but gaining understanding “about all the physics that are going on when I run my boat.”

Salmon recently purchased his first catamaran, a pre-owned 33-foot Daytona from Eliminator Boats with a pair of 700-hp engines from Mercury Racing. Given his proximity to Lake Havasu, the upcoming Desert Storm Poker Run would be easy for Salmon to attend with his 33-footer. But that won’t happen—at least anytime soon as he’s a Fox Sports broadcaster for the Angels. He also moonlights as a high school baseball coach and is involved with the Tim Salmon Foundation, an organization he founded while he was an active player that supports charities assisting abused and at-risk children as well as faith-based organizations.

“I’ve seen all the pictures and I follow it,” Salmon said. “But spring is a busy time in baseball.”

“Tim wasn’t just a great student,” said Martin (right). “He was a very cool guy.”

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