A successful man once told me that he would prefer to be lucky than clever. I had the luck when I arrived in NYC to have as my neighbor a man who became my friend. He had an understanding and passion for American art and through his eyes this European painter saw American painting and found his path. Later my friend bought a beautiful 40 foot wooden yawl, and as his wife suffered from chronic sea sickness, he and I learned to sail together. We sailed the northeast American coast. On those trips I saw the America that became essential in my art. This is a painting of my friend and his boat.