Outdoors: Sailing/Boating

NEWPORT -- The artist wore a floppy hat and a loose frock as she painted a pretty picture of Newport Harbor. She painted in subdued hues of brown and gray, appropriate for the high veil of clouds that an end-of-summer wind had drawn over the harbor, darkening its waters.

"The thing that amazes me is all the money that this represents," said the artist, Jane Hence, as she brushed in a forest of masts. "Unbelievable amount of money clustered here."

There's something about those yachts that cluster in Newport Harbor every summer that elicits envy, or at least curiosity. Who owns these things? How do they afford it? What's below decks?

Well, according to a guy who owns one of them, the owners of these yachts have the same questions. In fact that's one of the main draws of Newport for the yachtsman, the chance to see and be seen.

"Like women like to look at jewelry, or dresses, or shoes, boaters like to look at boats," said E.G. "Butch" Martin, in his unmistakably Texas drawl. "It's kind of a wish thing."

Martin doesn't actually wish for any other boat; he likes the one that he's got. Still, he likes to look.

"There was one right there, just pulled out, that was really nice," Martin said, nodding toward an empty slip at the Newport Shipyard where he was tied up. "Had a terrible horn though. You'd think that something that cool would have a better horn."

Martin's yacht, Sir Martin II, is nowhere near the biggest or most opulent of the vessels moored in the harbor, but it still stands out. Bill Muessel, the assistant harbormaster, said, "You won't see another one like it on the East Coast. Or the West Coast. It's built in an all different manner than a normal sailboat. He's got a big old rudder on there like the Dutch boats do."

Sir Martin II was custom built in Holland for the German navy as a training ship. Its keel was shaped from three-eighths-inch nickel steel, so thick and so hard that "it's hard to put a bullet through it," Martin said. "Government money is unbelievable. Everything is three-eighths-inch nickel. The floor you're standing on. Even where one-eighths would do, they used three-eighths."

As a result Sir Martin is one heavy ship, with a gross weight of 100 tons. The ship was launched in 1978. Its lines were patterned after Dutch canal barges, hence the high bow, the tall rudder and the rounded shape that makes it look like a sausage split lengthwise.

That tub shape gives the ship more room below decks than you'd get with a more severe V-shape.

"It's nice," Martin said, as he descended below decks for a tour. "I'm real pleased with it."

The ship's salon is a real eye-catcher. The man who bought the ketch from the German navy outfitted it in dark, tropical woods, red leather upholstery, a fine carpet that street shoes have never touched. The salon even features a stained-glass window peeping into the pilot house.

"This guy put a lot of money into it when he fixed it up," Martin said.

The ship has nine air conditioners, two super-cooled freezers, and equipment that can turn 72 gallons of seawater into fresh water every hour. "The water's so pure we need to take vitamins," Martin said.

Stepping into tight quarters with a neatly made bed, Martin said, "This is a guest room. We got a flat-screen TV up there. They can flip it down. We carry about 250 movies on board."

The TV also pulls in 200 stations via satellite. "As long as we're not rocking too much we can watch whatever we want."

Martin does not sail this long and heavy ship all by himself. At a minimum he keeps a crew of an engineer, a deckhand, a chef and a steward. He'll double the crew on long hauls when he needs round-the-clock coverage.

For dinner this night his chef, Buck, will cook filet mignon medium rare, tossed salad, baked potato, asparagus, cheese cake for desert, followed by brandy and a cigar.

"Buck's a good cook and he likes it; you got to have somebody who likes it," Martin said. "And we eat whatever we want."

Martin is married, but his wife won't set foot on the boat. He spends more than half his time on it, sailing wherever he feels like sailing.

"I'm 65 years old and I'm gonna enjoy my life," Martin said. A dozen years ago he traded his twin-engine jet, which he piloted himself, for his first yacht. "I told her: 'If you want to come, that's great. I'd have a lot of fun. But I'm gonna go. Life's short.' "

Martin made his money through his family's firm, Martin Sprocket & Gear. His father founded the firm in Arlington, Texas, in 1951. It's still privately held, and it holds a good market share in the $2-billion-per-year sprocket and gear business, churning out chains and pulleys and gears for all kinds of uses.

"I quit work when I was 50 years old," Martin said. "My dad died when he was 52. After 50, usually, everything's downhill with the body. There's stuff you can get that, no matter how much money you've got, there's nothing you can do. I figure I'll go, and if I run out of money when I'm 75 I'll let the government support me." A twinkle in his eye indicated that that'll never happen.

Martin's gold chain disappeared in the folds of his bull neck. A medallion of the firm's logo dangled on the chain, a medal only family members can wear. He's got stout arms and a broad torso, too thick in the middle for his own liking. A silver belt buckle featuring the Star of Texas hints at his roots.

He dropped anchor in Newport a month ago. Mostly he came for the boat show that begins on Sept. 14. Not that he's actively seeking another boat, but he likes to see what's out there, what's new in technology, and he just likes Newport, its deep channel and the large yachts that gather there.

The way Martin sees it, God put him in a position to enjoy life so he might as well do it.

"I tell you, God made such a beautiful place! Of course we try to screw it up, but we can't screw it up. The only reason we're alive is because we're at the top of the food chain. If he hadn't killed off the dinosaurs, there would be very few of us around because we couldn't run fast enough. We'd be hors d'oeuvres. He made it so beautiful as he did for one reason -- for us. I tell myself God made a beautiful place for us to enjoy, and I'm gonna go out and enjoy it to please Him."

For the Labor Day weekend Martin planned to drive home to Orfield, Pa., near Allentown, to visit his wife. On the boat, he said, "My bed's turned down at night, my dinners are cooked for me, my drinks are handed to me. My wife is [angry], she says, 'I don't have anything like that at home.'

"I say: 'Come out on the boat.' "

He'll drive back to Newport this week. "Then we'll probably go out to Block Island and kind of relax out there, then we'll come back for the boat show. Then head for Nantucket, you know, the islands. Then we'll probably head for home," in Fort Lauderdale. "We might go to the Bahamas or Bermuda then go to Lauderdale. We'll make up our minds as we go."

Martin has sailed the Sir Martin II to Alaska, sojourned the Hawaiian islands, passed through the Panama Canal. He's got auto-pilot, but he likes to plot the courses, navigate, and steer by himself. His next trip will be through the Straits of Magellan to South America's west coast, perhaps putting ashore in Chile.

Martin said, "I was just born right, I'm tellin' you."

Name: Sir Martin II

Type: Ketch/motor sailer

Length: 90 feet

Width: 18.5 feet

Draft: 7 feet

Engine: 450 horsepower Volvo turbo-diesel

Purchased: 1996

Best boating moment: "Our time in Alaska. It was beautiful. Everything was just a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

Worst boating moment: "I lost my steering off the coast of Haiti going into Puerto Rico."