That's when I pretty much knew-no, I absolutely knew-we were going home with a boat."
While Carter was growing up, he used to look through a photo album of his father Bobby's cruise as a boy to the Bahamas aboard a lugger named
SHAMROCK. "I dreamed of taking a cruise like that," he says. "At one point
my dad introduced me to his favorite movie, Captain Ron," he says. "I was hooked. I wanted to have a family adventure like that, bringing an old boat back to life."
The lugger that Carter has renamed LILY FAITH, after his youngest child, is a former shrimpe1· (ex-MA CHERIE, ex-SHRIMP Q EEN) built by Covacevich in I 954. Her previous owner, Andy Fountain, had her completely rebuilt over three years, ending in 2016, at Kennedy Marine in Gulfport, Mississippi. LILY FAITH is 47'LOA, 53'with her swim deck. Her frames and planking are red cypress on a pine keel. Like so many other Biloxi luggers, she has a GM 6-71 for power. And, no question, today she looks elegant.
"I didn't know owning a boat would be such a process, but I should have guessed I was in for a marathon when trying to buy the boat started with a serious interview with Andy and his wife," at McElroy's Harbor House Restaurant in Biloxi. '"There were other interested buyers, and the Fountains wanted her to go to a good home. I think what might have sealed the deal is when I told them I wanted to make memories with my kids on the boat."
Carter works with his father. They organize major sponfishing tournaments, among them the iconic Mississippi Gulf Coast Bill fish Classic (www.ClassicFishing Events.com), where as many as 90 anglers compete
for millions of dollars in prizes.
"I thought it would be cool to make the LILY FAITH a centerpiece on the tournament docks, .. Carter says. "The competitors have really fancy boats, but they all grew up with simpler ones. I think the LILY FAITH reminds them of their inner child. They all want to come aboard and tour her. She was basically a clone boat when I bought her. All she needed was a personal touch to make her really classy."
Just about the first thing Carter did was to hire painter Byron Lopez to work his magic.
"He was incredible," Carter says. '"He painted this boat with Tenceur an paint brushes, which we bought in bulk. He said the secret to a good paint job was patience. I learned so much from Byron. This whole evolution of the LILY FAITH has been about patience."
With patience as his new mantra, Carter and his family went in search of details to make their Biloxi lugger sparkle. He wanted the paint and fabrics to reflect the blonde, blue-eyed appearance of his daughter Lily Faith, so he went to Southern Stitch Canvas & Upholstery for just the right fabrics and cushions. Release Marine, one of the tournament sponsors, provided an elegant helm chair for the steering station and a saloon table with an inlaid fleur-de-lis. Carter has acquired state-of-the-art Garmin electronics, and Bob Fuller of South Shore Boatworks in Massachusetts is making a custom wooden steering wheel.
But when Carter talks about why he loves LILY FAITH, he never talks about her custorn accessories, fine finish, or how much he has spent to make a showboat out of a shrimper. What he talks about is his kids: "When school gets out on Friday, we all jump aboard and go for a ride," he says.
Sometimes LILY FAITH and her crew do an evening tour around Biloxi Bay. Sometimes they go for an overnight at Horn Island or Ship Island, where Boogie Carter and KING ARTHUR might be shrimping. They may even head southwest to FRANKA's home waters in the Mississippi River Delta or up through Lake Borgne and the Rigo lets strait, to Lake Pontchartrain and New Orleans.
Top-Robbie Carter runs sport fishing tournaments, and although he uses LILY FAITH as a company office, he conceives of her more as a family boat. He often takes spur-of-the-moment outings with his three children, and he named the boat after his daughter. Second Picture - Andy Fountain spent three years rebuilding a shrimping lugger launched in 1954 and repurposed her as a pleasure boat. Two years later, in 2022, he sold her to Robbie Carter, who changed her name from MA CHERIE to LILY FAITH.
