One of the best things about Michigan is being surrounded by lakes. For those of you who have never been, it’s an incredibly beautiful state with gorgeous bodies of water. I had the opportunity to spend a few weeks out there and met Paul DeLano, his beautiful wife Claire and their kids, Matt, 9, and Audrey, 12. spent some time with them on Baldwin Lake, near Union, Mich.
I’m going to use this story to give you some behind the scenes on PDB works. When someone is going to be traveling, we generally reach out to manufacturers and ask for their top dealers in the area. Once we get the dealer info, we ask them to put us in touch with their most memorable families so we can really experience the lifestyle. So when I knew I was going to be Michigan, I got in touch with Jeff Haradine, president of Wakeside Marine in Elkhart, Ind., to see if he had a family in mind.
Wakeside Marine is a Boating Industry Top 100 Dealer, which means that Haradine runs a dealership with a high level of customer service and high volume sales while simultaneously creating an atmosphere that exceeds consumer expectations. To be ranked among this list is a huge honor for dealers and after knowing Haradine for only one day, it was easy to see how he qualifies for this honor. The dealership is beautiful, helpful and he considers a great deal of customers good friends. He referred the DeLanos’ to me because they are a super fun family who really enjoys the pontoon lifestyle.
When my co-worker, Terri Duncan, and I arrived at Baldwin Lake to meet the DeLano family, I was overwhelmed by the whole establishment. The neighborhood was beautiful and sits right on the lake. The family met me at the dock on their golf cart. The whole vibe was a picturesque pontoon lifestyle.
When they got out of the golf cart, I introduced myself and started writing down their names and ages so I would get everything correct before it ran in the magazine. Besides Paul and Claire, there were the two kids and another young adult, Drew. Being that I’m an awesome investigative journalist, I assumed he was another member of the DeLano family. Terri and I choked back our surprise when Drew told he was 26, mainly because neither Paul nor Claire looked old enough to have a twenty six year-old. But being that PDB is a nonjudgmental publication, we just moved on with our adventure.
The DeLano family is wonderful. They own a South Bay MC 5880 powered by a Yamaha 90. We spent the evening skiing and tubing behind their beautiful boat. Paul is a real estate broker and developer who deals exclusively in lakefront property. He personally developed the neighborhood, Baldwin Landing, which he and his family live in on Baldwin Lake. The homes are brand new, maintenance free and breathtakingly beautiful.
“No matter which lake my client is looking at, I always take them out on a pontoon,” says DeLano. “I want them to experience every aspect of lakeside living before they decide on a home and there’s no better way to experience a lake.”
Matt and Audrey are incredibly athletic and made wakeboarding behind a pontoon look like child’s play. They were up quickly and maintained their stance with ease. Both have grown up on the water and watersports are their favorite part of boating.
“We try to get our boat back in the water as soon as the ice melts in March,” says Paul. “I try not to tell the kids beforehand so I can surprise then when I pick them up from school.”
Nine-year-old Matt agreed.
“The day the boats comes in the water is the best day of the year and the worst day is when we pull it out,” he replied.
“Being out on the lake is so fun,” says Audrey. “I love it.”
Depending on the weather, the family has boated through New Year’s Day in past years, which in Michigan, shows a real commitment to the sport.
Uncle, brother or friend?
It was at this point in our conversation when I head Matt refer to Drew as “Uncle Drew.” I thought that was an interesting way of referring to your older brother, so I finally asked Drew if it had been fun growing up on the lake with Paul and Claire. He gave me a weird look and then started laughing.
It turns out Paul and Claire are not his parents and Terri and I had wrongly assumed they were even related. Remember when I told you Wakeside Marine was a Top 100 Dealer for a really good reason? It turns out that Harradine had sent Drew Atkinson, who was clearly wearing a Wakeside Marine t-shirt, over to make sure the boat was running at its absolute best for our photo shoot. Atkinson is the storage manager for the company and knows the DeLano family really well because he been responsible for storing and launching their boat for several years.
“He’s like a member of our family,” laughed Claire. “He taught the kids to wakeboard and ski.”
Atkinson has been a boater his entire life as well and grew up on a lake. He started working at Wakeside Marine several years ago and it’s turned into a fulltime gig that he enjoys going to each day.
“I love pontoons because they are best boat to have a good time on with friends,” says Atkinson. “So working at Wakeside Marine is perfect and I couldn’t ask for a better boss.”
Obviously the mere fact that he was willing to spend his evening working is a great testament to his commitment.
Once we cleared up who was related to whom and how everyone was connected, we got back to boating. Paul and Claire decided to show the kids how it was done and jumped on the tube with Uncle Drew behind the wheel.
“I don’t trust Paul to drive when I’m on the tube anymore because he tried to kill me once,” joked Claire. “I remember being airborne and then spinning through the water. He claims he was going that fast because I egged him on but I don’t remember that.”
Spending quality time on the pontoon is one of the DeLano’s family favorite pastimes. It’s on their South Bay that they have created countless memories and living right on the lake allows them to take full advantage of their boat anytime they want.
