For Them, The Boat Was Less Than a Month Old, He Named It… Lily, of course. The boat was a barn find, introduced to the two of them by FLC member Steve White. It was in pretty good shape. Noah was sure he could get it ready in time for the boat show, thinking it only needed cosmetic work. The thing is, Noah works two weeks on and two weeks off on a tugboat. While he had some pretty definite ideas about what role this boat would play on boat-show-weekend in Skaneateles, he also knew he was in a time crunch.
Photo credit: Anne Sherwood.
The boat hadn’t been in the water for a long time. It needed a good sanding and a coat of varnish. It needed a good cleaning. Noah, who needed sleep, weighed his options and opted out of much sleep at all.
It all came together. Putting a lot of water in the bilge while on the trailer, he and his Dad managed to slow the streams in the seams to a significant trickle before launching. Desperate engine work turned into a good, long cranking of the engine, and then—it caught. It belched, it coughed, and still a little rough, but some work later, and it all smoothed out.
Photo credit: Jennifer Sherwood.
For her part, Lily was more than suspicious; she didn’t know for sure when, over the course of the weekend, something might happen. She says she wasn’t even 100% sure of what that something might be.
Now, it was parade time. At the dock, “God Bless America” was in the second verse by the band playing in the Gazebo. The parade was going to start soon. Noah’s hands were shaking. Overnight, the bilge pump was found not working and the lake was seeping over the floorboards, but relief—it was a bad connection in the wiring that had been hastily put together. Now, scheduled to be the first boat away after the Fireboat leading the parade, the engine didn’t catch right away. It took a minute. It was cranking, turning over and over. No ignition. It was a hot day, but the dampness on his forehead was a little extreme, even for the heat.
Then he turned the key, hit the button again, and the engine roared. (The key issue was something he admitted only in an exhausted state of embarrassed candor.) They left the dock, and the narrator on the public address system started telling the history of the boat and a little background on its occupants (vamping and waiting for the moment).
And just as Lily rounded a bend in the parade course, the engine stopped. Noah stood up, looking shaken (he was), while the crowd thought there might be an issue. He bent down, picked something up, and dropped to one knee while Lily, in her flowered dress, figured it out. It didn’t take long before Noah picked up a paddle painted by Lily’s mom, Sharon. He held it horizontally to the crowd, a smile beaming on his face. The words on the paddle, “She Said Yes!”
The happy couple.
This proposal is a first, it’s believed, for the Finger Lakes Chapter after 47 years of boat shows, 31 of which have been held at the docks in the Finger Lakes Village of Skaneateles. The couple met during the 2024 boat show, and this was the tenth year that Noah Taylor has exhibited. This year he had two, the Chris Craft and an MFG classic.
Lily also had a boat exhibited, Comprami Questo. This is the second year she has had this boat in the show, and the second year she has won an award. Lily is the daughter of the late Rick Nelson, a chapter past-president who died in 2022. Both Lily and her Mom (Sharon) have become even more involved in the chapter in the past few years.
Noah has been a member of the chapter for slightly more than ten years and has also contributed a column to the Finger Lakes Chapter’s newsletter Brightwork, chronicling his restoration projects, his involvement in Antique and Classic boating and his steps from a junior in high school, through graduation, college at SUNY Maritime and now the start of his career. Noah’s boats have also won multiple awards in this judged show.
The couple’s plans for the future aren’t at all set in stone, there are plenty of dreams, but one thing seems certain—they won’t be dropping this boat hobby or a membership in the Finger Lakes Chapter.