REVIEW: Bill Yeargin — Making Life Better (BOOK)
Bill Yeargin’s new book is titled Making Life Better: The Correct Craft Story. In some ways, the book is an effective blend of the business advice volume and the biography. But it also possesses the inspirational value of the motivational story, with a distinctive, creative nonfiction flavor.
Yeargin is able to be a storyteller, simultaneous to being a reliable communicator of the objective and factual information. “Despite distractions caused by the company’s financial struggles, Correct Craft continued building boats.
When the introduction of fiberglass brought new possibilities to the marine industry, research and development took off. In 1960 Correct Craft entered the fiberglass era with the Classic, a seventeen-foot towboat. A year later it developed its second fiberglass entry, the Mustang, which had a sixteen-foot length and a narrower hull…Continued innovation throughout the 1970s and early ’80s produced an array of runabouts, cuddy-cabin, and center console models, including the Southwind, Martinique, Cuddy Nautique, Fish Nautique, and Bass Nautique.
During the 1980s, enthusiasm for towed water sports surged and the company’s Ski Nautique and Barefoot Nautique pulled many tournaments around the world. The Ski Nautique 2001 made an exceptional debut in its first year of tournament use, becoming the exclusive towboat at the 24th Annual Masters Tournament at Calloway Gardens, Georgia, and at the World Cup in London,” he states. “As research and development continued, the company released better versions of the Ski Nautique, and Ralph ‘the promoter’ took to the road on a scale larger than any of the Meloons could have imagined…These promotional efforts laid the groundwork for worldwide distribution of Correct Craft boats.”
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Life-Better-Correct-Craft/dp/1953655270
Part of what Yeargin does so well is actually make the characterizations of the people involved wholly three-dimensional. He highlights each profile, particularly the company founder — Walter C. Meloon — with a surprising narrative delicacy, if outright poignancy. This instills something personal within the pages of Making Life Better, making even the driest, and most statistical parts of the read crackling and alive. This is particularly evident in how Yeargin introduces us to the elder Meloon at the beginning of the book, rather than immediately highlighting the accomplishments and facets of the company. “Walter C. Meloon was a man of character, the kind of person you couldn’t help but admire.
By all accounts he was humble, resilient, and unwavering in his honesty. He also was resourceful, with a powerful work ethic and steadfast faith,” Yeargin writes. “It was this special mix of qualities that led W.C., as he was known to his friends, down the path to become founder of what is today known as Correct Craft — one of the world’s largest and most successful boat manufacturers…W.C. was a hard worker, and a fast one, with strong New England Puritan principles. Just how strong became clear after he endured two garage fires in the same year with limited insurance. It took five long years to repay suppliers, the bank, and his customers. Working at the foundry owned by his brother Nat, he was able to save enough money to go back and pay everyone down to the last penny, foreshadowing Correct Craft’s response to a much longer economic setback to come years later.”
Colin Jordan
