Glider Rider is ready to roll.
Karen and Glenn Martin spent many happy hours boating, but perhaps some of her richest memories of her late husband include the 1972 Marauder Model Correct Craft they have owned since 1987.
“The boat was beautiful with a custom chrome trim package and the original chrome horn on the front deck; she always attracted attention when we took her out,” said the Lake Lanier resident who lives in Gainesville. “We purchased it from someone in Columbus 37 years ago several years after purchasing property on Lake Lanier to eventually build our house here.”
The couple met in 1978 at Timothy Johns in Sandy Springs and married three years later. They purchased property on Lanier in 1981 and built their home, which they designed, seven years later. Shortly afterward, they purchased the Correct Craft and brought it to Lanier.
“Its original name was a mystery to us; the number 3 was painted on the stern,” she said. “When we asked around, we were finally told that it was one of the three Correct Craft boats used to pull at the waterski show on Robins Lake at Callaway Gardens. But we were never really sure that was true.”
A beginner water-skier back then, she took to the sport with Martin’s coaching. “He was always such an excellent skier in all kinds of ways – trick skis, slalom, barefoot skiing. We even sailed a hang-glider behind her,” she said with a laugh. “That’s how we settled on a new name – Glider Rider – and we always called her that, but we never got around to putting the name on her.”
Chrome and more chrome.
She and Martin spent many hours skiing behind the boat on Lanier, but they never did much work on her at least not at first.
“She was in pretty good shape aesthetically and mechanically it ran great, so we spent our time taking her out rather than having her gussied up.”
They’d ski or just go for boat rides whenever they could. She worked as a flight attendant for 43 years, and Martin had a career in video production and digital displays. The couple raised two children, both grown now, and also traveled abroad.
By the end of 2000 they decided to redo the boat.
“I reupholstered her myself using a regular sewing machine,” she said. “Boy, I’ll never do that again! It was quite a chore.”
They also had a bit of engine work done. They continued to go for boat rides until Martin’s ALS claimed his life in 2018.
“By the time I felt like going out on the boat after he passed, the pandemic was here and I decided to retire from flying, but always in the back of my mind, I knew I wanted to have the boat completely restored.”
In the spring of 2023, she contacted Gainesville’s Odis Sisk, a certified arborist who also does boat restoration. “My neighbor was listening to the radio one day and heard him talking about boats. He wrote down his name and number and passed it along to me.”
Back on the water!
When she contacted him she knew he was the right person to update the boat.
“He was so excited when I told him about the boat, he was thrilled to be working with me.”
By the end of the summer of 2023 the Correct Craft had a shiny new fiberglass hull, polished and restored chrome trim, new flooring and a reconditioned inboard. And her proper name – Glider Rider – was finally put on her stern.
“I couldn’t be happier, she said. “Glenn and I loved that boat; it was one of our favorite ways to be together. I know he’d be happy that she’s back out on the water. He’d be grinning ear to ear and saying, ‘Glider Rider’s back out there at it and Karen’s enjoying every minute.’ ”
Photos: courtesy Odis Sisk
