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This year, alongside the launch of our new annual guide that you’re hopefully enjoying, we’ve also introduced Marlin’s Person of the Year. We created this honor to recognize an individual whose work has made a clear, measurable impact on the sport, whether through angling achievement, product innovation, advocacy, conservation, or some artful combination of all the above. It’s not just about being visible; it’s about moving the sport forward in a meaningful way.
This year, we’re proud to announce Patrick Healey as Marlin’s Person of the Year. A household name in the big-game fishing industry who hardly needs an introduction, Healey continues to produce the preeminent sport-fishing boat on the market at Viking, while its Valhalla line has elevated the center-console arena to a new level. Beyond running the most successful boatbuilding company in the big-game space, Healey is a passionate angler and leader of the highly competitive Viking Demo Team, which has enjoyed decades of success in tournaments around the world. Healey is also a three-time recipient of the prestigious Master Angler John Rybovich Award at the International Masters Angling Tournament and serves on the board of directors at The Billfish Foundation.
But Healey isn’t being recognized this year for once again splashing dozens of high-end sport-fishers or unveiling a state-of-the-art service center in South Florida. He’s not being highlighted for leading the Viking Demo Team’s latest tournament run or personally releasing hundreds of billfish this year. Patrick Healey is Marlin’s 2025 Person of the Year because he spearheaded the fight against what was arguably the greatest threat our sport has faced in decades: NOAA’s proposed vessel speed restrictions.
When NOAA’s 35- to 64-foot vessel speed restriction proposal surfaced in late summer 2022, Viking moved immediately. Within 48 hours, the company submitted a formal request to extend the public comment period. Soon after, Viking organized a major press and industry briefing at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show that drew several hundred attendees—boatbuilders, engine manufacturers, tackle companies and marine-industry executives. That event became the spark that ignited a coast-to-coast movement. In total, Viking’s effort generated an impressive 90,000 public comments, a key factor in delaying adoption, prompting deeper review, and ultimately contributing to the proposal’s withdrawal.
Healey and Viking also pushed NOAA to take a constructive approach. They requested a technology workshop to bring marine-industry experts together to evaluate which innovations hold the most promise for reducing whale-strike risk. From there, Viking formed the WAVS (Whale and Vessel Safety) Taskforce,a collaborative campaign that built momentum throughout the industry. The company further urged NOAA to allocate a portion of Inflation Reduction Act funding through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, ensuring resources would reach private-sector innovators advancing detection systems and safer navigation technologies.
“Pat Healey and Viking Yachts took the lead in opposing this rule, organizing the marine industry, and educating the public and lawmakers on the impact it would have,” says Randy Ramsey, industry icon and thought leader. “Pat’s team offered alternative solutions to protect against whale strikes—including how today’s technology can be used.”
However, Viking’s advocacy didn’t begin with this fight. The company has a long history of defending both boatbuilding and boating freedoms. When the luxury tax of the early 1990s nearly wiped out American boatbuilding, Viking helped lead the charge that ended it. Whether challenging unfair taxation or unrealistic regulation, Healey and Viking have consistently stood up for the livelihoods of those who make, sell, service and enjoy boats.
Healey’s leadership ensured the fight wasn’t just about saying no—it was about offering real solutions. The WAVS initiative, developed through public-private partnership with marine scientists and technology companies, uses AI-assisted detection, advanced risk modeling and thermal imaging to detect whales in real time and feed that data directly into onboard navigation systems. Rather than imposing blanket speed limits that would paralyze boating from Maine to Florida, WAVS provides a pathway to actively protect whales while keeping anglers and boaters safe on the water.
It’s not hyperbole to say that without Healey’s leadership, NOAA’s vessel speed rule might be law today. Thanks to his resolve, a dangerous regulation was halted, an industry was galvanized, and a practical, science-based solution was set in motion.
“At a time when our industry needed clarity, courage and conviction, Pat Healey delivered all three,” says Jeff Angers, president of the Center for Sportfishing Policy. “He’s not just a builder of boats; he’s a builder of consensus, and a defender of access and opportunity in America’s public waters.”
That is what this award represents—not popularity or politics, but real, meaningful impact. In 2025, that distinction belongs to Patrick Healey.
