If you’ve seen billy joel, Blood, Sweat & Tears or Diana Ross recently, you have seen, and certainly heard, Carl Fischer, a world-class horn player and avid yachtsman. When he’s not soloing in Joel’s “Zanzibar” in front of 500,000 fans outside the Colosseum in Rome or heading out to a gig with the legends, he’s on the water.
Fischer holds a U.S. Coast Guard 100-ton master license and has run everything from sport-fishermen to water taxis. He’s owned 12 boats and is a fan of rehabbing and selling them, even brokering yachts at Gulf Coast Yacht Sales in his current home of St. Petersburg, Florida, when he’s off touring.
Fischer got his boating start in Long Island, New York, at the age of 5 with an uncle.
At that time, my Uncle Cliff had a 30-foot Trojan full of teak decks, toe rails and such, and as an eager kid you know who ended up doing the maintenance, or at least I tried, he says with a laugh. “I fell in love with boats and fishing.” If you see Fischer on board his refit 30-foot Chris-Craft 76 Fisches, toss him a wave and let us know what her horn sounds like. We bet it’s pretty sweet.
“My Uncle Cliff had a 30-foot Trojan full of teak decks, toe rails and such, and as an eager kid you know who ended up doing the maintenance, or at least I tried.”
Fischer Facts
Q: Where’s your favorite place to be on the water?
A: I have three very special places I like to go: Ocean Reef Club (Key Largo, Florida) in January to chase sailfish, and Montauk, New York, to catch striped bass in the fall. Lastly, running the boat to Atlantique Marina in Fire Island, New York, for some beach time.
Q: What’s your favorite on-the-water memory?
A: When I got married. My wife-to-be and I, at the time, lived in Freeport, New York, on the water, and I had my Chris-Craft slipped in my backyard. I took the boat to a local restaurant, and we got hitched right there with our limo ride home being the boat. It was something to remember: coming back home, dragging beer cans behind the boat in our wake, complete with “just married” flags flying from the outriggers. I am so happy my wife was cool with that.
