From his first aluminium runabout at age seven to the upcoming delivery of his Horizon FD100 Island Soul, Mario Benedetti’s boating journey has spanned continents, challenges and dream upgrades. Now embracing life with a crew, the Venezuelan-born owner reveals how his latest yacht rekindled his passion for life on the water...
I grew up around boats. My father was the Chris-Craft representative in Venezuela and brought his passion for boats to everyone in the family, but I was the one who fell most in love.
I started boating when I was seven years old, on an aluminium Sears boat with a four-horsepower Johnson outboard. I would spend all day cruising slip to slip in the marina. The first boat I bought was a 13-and-a-half foot (four-metre) panga that I designed myself. I felt like I had a cruise ship! My first family boat was a Luhrs 37 Convertible, which we brought here to the US when we moved from Venezuela in 2009.
One day we were cruising from Bimini, crossing the Gulf Stream and the seas got really rough. We were doing 18 or 20 knots, and my wife, Lucy, was holding on for dear life. She wanted me to slow down, but if I slowed down, the tail of the boat would go underwater. Then a Hatteras 54 passed by us; everybody was standing on the flybridge, waving to us. And she said, “Why can’t we go that way?” I said, “That’s a 54, it’s a big boat.” So she said, “Well, maybe we should get a bigger boat.” I looked to the sky and said, “Thank you, God.” As soon as we got to Miami, I don’t even remember if I tied up the boat. I just ran to the internet and started searching for a Hatteras 54.
We really enjoyed that boat for almost eight years but it was a lot of work for me: getting it ready, driving, checking everything and washing it. On my most difficult day as a captain, the three things that can go wrong on a boat — weather, mechanical issues and injury — went wrong.
The day after my wife fell on the dock and cracked two ribs, a tropical storm became a Cat 2 hurricane and we had to evacuate Highbourne Cay. On the way to Nassau, I lost an engine, then the generator, then the steering. The dockmaster at Albany helped us and I became a member after that.
After our last trip to the Bahamas, I needed a vacation from my vacation. I told Lucy that while I love driving the boat, I wasn’t enjoying it as much and it was time to think about a bigger boat with a crew. We looked at the Horizon FD100, but we weren’t ready to make the move then and bought a Horizon E88 instead.
I clicked with the yacht as soon as I saw it, and I hit it off with the crew from the first day we met. The experience with the crew for the last three years has been amazing. Having a great crew is like having a great wife; they are part of the family. I got their approval before committing to a new FD100. This is a good time for us to do it; we have our health, the energy and the means. As I said to my wife, life is short and you only live once.
The interior space is amazing. And I love Horizon boats for the fit and finish, the quality and the fact that you’re able to remove every panel and access every inch. But the most amazing part of the brand is the people. The E88 was 10 years old when I bought it, but they treated me like I had a brand-new 200-footer. They really make you feel welcome. I couldn’t be happier and I am just counting the days until the boat’s delivered.
First published in the June 2025 issue of BOAT International US Edition. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.