Last summer, when my 7-year-old grandson, Will, was down from Birmingham for his annual two-week visit with me, he saw a bunch of sailboats out on the bay and asked what was going on. When I explained it was a sailing camp held at the Fairhope Yacht Club, he said, “ I want to do that next summer!”

Boat building has a rich history around Mobile Bay. As in most communities that rely on the water, boats were built to serve practical purposes. They were tools. Lawrence Stauter, whose Stauter Built Boats are synonymous with Mobile Bay and the Delta, designed and built his boats to be optimal fishing boats for our local waters. Nothing more, nothing less.