About the Film
Adversity dwells in many of our lives, yet few of us facing seemingly insurmountable odds garner the courage to risk our family, and livelihood to stand up for a just cause. Faced with external Governmental laws many would shrink in the cliché that one cannot fight city hall. In rare instances an inner strength wells to stand up for what is right, and just and in doing so impact the lives of people they have never met.
A Rising Tide is the story of Bill and Bob Healey, who in 1963 set out to find their fortune in the real estate market. Through fate, the purchase of a parcel of land next to the failing Petersen Viking Boat Works, in New Gretna, NJ landed a prime parcel of water front property and an opportunity to take control of a bankrupt boat builder. Success followed and by 1989, Viking Yachts was the number one sport fishing yacht in the USA employing 1400 people and housed in two manufacturing locations. Then in 1990, newly elected President George Herbert Walker Bush reneged on his campaign promise of “Read My Lips, No New Taxes.”
The capitulation to Congress placed a luxury tax into effect and crippled the US marine manufacturing industry; Bill and Bob decided to fight to save their business, which had shrunk, to 68 employees. Placing their profit sharing plan on the line to keep their doors open, the Healeys spent the next three years fighting in Washington DC to effect the repel of the Luxury Tax.
Today, the company thrives, back on top of their class of yachts, employing 1500 plus and building pride and integrity into each boat that comes off their production line. In 1997, Bill and Bob were honored by the marine manufacturing industry for they work they did for boat builder across America when they decided to go up against the federal government.
For more information about Viking Yachts visit: http://www.vikingyachts.com
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