Tom Brady: The G.O.A.T. Goes Boating

When legendary NFL quarterback Tom Brady guided his Tampa Bay Buccaneers to victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2021 Super Bowl, his most impressive pass completion did not occur on the playing field but in the epic celebratory boat parade on Tampa Bay three days later. That's when Brady — who later admitted to having enjoyed several adult beverages — lofted the actual 7-pound, 22-inch-long sterling-silver Lombardi Trophy presented to the winning squad from the deck of his 53-foot powerboat into the waiting arms of a teammate on a nearby vessel, Cameron Brate, who luckily was a sure-handed tight end.

"I wasn't thinking at that moment," Brady later told talk-show host James Corden during an appearance on "The Late Late Show." "I found out later, had that been an incomplete pass, that would have went down like 80 feet! I'm so happy that Cam (caught it)!"

Not for the first time, though in far different circumstances, a video of Brady's famous passing proficiency went viral. Equally impressive was his ride, a Dutch-built Wajer 55S called Viva a Vida — Portuguese for "live life" and the name of Brady's supermodel Brazilian wife Gisele Bündchen's environmental organization. A family-owned business, Wajer (pronounced "why-er") was founded in 1992 by Dorus Wajer in the Netherlands; the company's current managing director is his son Dries.

As profiled in Robb Report, "Holland makes the largest number of superyachts above 250 feet in length, so the Dutch have created smaller-yacht brands like Wajer, Zeelander, and Mulder as tenders and standalone cruisers. Wajer is arguably one of the most beautiful, even though the brand is not highly known in the U.S."

Powered by a trio of 435-hp Volvo Penta IPS engines, the "S" in the 55S stands for "sport," fittingly enough for one of the world's most recognized sportsmen. In addition to some serious velocity — the boat will zip along at a tidy 40 knots — other amenities include a spacious deck for lounging and parties, augmented by a handy outdoor galley.

Brady's own boating experience began far more modestly. As a kid growing up in the Bay Area of California, he was into football and baseball, and fishing every summer with his cousins in Browerville, Minnesota, which perhaps lit a spark he pursued later in life.

In his previous stint as quarterback for the New England Patriots, Brady, his wife, and three children lived in Brookline, Massachusetts, close to the renowned public sailing center on the Charles River called Community Boating. Its executive director, Charlie Zechel, told us Brady would stop by to rent a sloop from time to time, and that he once had to turn him away when he requested a kayak to take his son, who unfortunately was too small by the organization's rules at the time, for a spin. "He was very nice about it," chuckled Zechel, recalling the encounter with Brady. "And he's very tall!"

The kayak is in Brady's figurative rearview mirror, and for that matter, so is his 55S. He's moving up to a sparkling new Wajer 77, also to be called Viva a Vida, powered by triple 900-hp Volvo Penta IPS motors with a cruising range of 400 nautical miles. Just the ticket for off-season jaunts.

"I enjoyed the waters of New England, but when we moved to Tampa, with its beautiful bay, I said to myself, 'I need a boat,'" Brady remarked in a video presentation at the announcement of his commissioning of Viva a Vida. "I think the 77 will be a little bit more suited for what we need it for down here, which is more day trips and weekend trips. We spend a lot of time in the Bahamas. So, going from the east coast of Florida across to the Bahamas would be a really great trip for us as a family."

Spending time in the islands on a boat with the family? Maybe professional football's so-called G.O.A.T — the Greatest Of All Time — is more like us than it might seem.