My Boat, My Life: Viking 92 Sky Bridge

I’ve been running the Viking 92 Sir’ Reel for Joey Accardi since 2022. 

The boat was built in 2018. When we first looked at the Viking, it was like stepping aboard a spaceship. At first you’re a little overwhelmed, but once you get a handle on it, it’s just like any other boat.

Sir’ Reel is the Sky Bridge model. I used to run it from the flybridge because that’s what I was used to, but now I’m in the enclosed bridge unless we’re fishing. It’s like a living room, so quiet and comfortable. We’ve got five screens to monitor everything, and there’s a wing station for maneuvering and docking.

A lot of people ask if you can really fish a boat this big, and the answer is absolutely yes. You’ve got great visibility, and the boat handles extremely well. When we hook a fish, I go back to that aft station, and it’s like driving a Jet Ski. We’ve been fishing the sailfish tournaments in Florida without any hiccups. We’ve caught plenty of fish and won some money.

We fish a lot of live bait, and the boat has plenty of live-well space. We converted the transom into a big well that probably holds more than 200 gallons. We use that one to transport bait because it’s so big. We’ll put 20 dozen goggle-eyes in there, and you can barely see them. They just sit on the bottom. We use two on-deck wells when fishing.

As far as fishing, the 92 is no different than any other sportfish. You can still have an angler fight a fish from the bow if you get multiple hookups. It’s very stable, very safe up there. But it’s a far way to go, like being in a different area code. We use headsets to communicate when fishing. I fought it for a long time, but I’ll never go back. You don’t have to yell or raise your voice, and for me, being up top, it’s nice to be involved in the conversation below.

Our focus is sailfish from mid-November through April, and then we’ll start gearing up for family trips. We usually go to the Bahamas for a few weeks, then come home to Lighthouse Point, Florida, and do our maintenance. We’re talking about bringing the boat to the Gulf of Mexico next summer.

The boat holds about 4,000 gallons of diesel. We can pretty much go anywhere on our own bottom. I normally cruise at 28 knots. The fastest I’ve had the boat was 37 knots. We have two generators, watermakers, a Spot Zero water purifier and a Seakeeper gyro-stabilizer. We’re like a self-contained, little city.

I can make everything work when it comes to the internals, but anything major on the MTU V16 M96L engines goes to somebody else. They’re under warranty, so you can’t really fiddle with them too much. My mate and I can do an oil change on the mains and generators in a couple of hours.

Washing the boat after fishing isn’t as bad as you might think. We start washing when we come in the inlet. I’ll do the Sky Bridge, one of the guys will go up front and hit the superstructure, and everybody else is in the cockpit rinsing and soaping. If it’s our full tournament crew, we’re done in 20 to 25 minutes. If it’s just the mate and me, it’ll take about 45 minutes.

Sir’ Reel has six staterooms, including the crew cabin. That’s the main reason Joey went for the 92. When we travel, everyone stays on the boat, and we need the space. Joey is an entertainer and loves to cook. You can tell how the fishing is going by when he starts making lunch. If the bite is slow, you start smelling food at 11 a.m., but if the fishing’s hot, it’s well past noon.

We’re constantly on the go. If we’re not fishing a tournament, we’re traveling somewhere with Joey’s family. We use the boat as much as possible.