Tailgating by Boat

For many, football season means tailgating. Those with a boat—and a nearby stadium that can be visited by water—can take that social aspect of sporting events to an entirely different level.

Nowhere is this more ­evident than in ­Knoxville, Tennessee, where a riverfront stadium, a deep-rooted boating culture, a rabid fan base, and a historically winning NCAA Division I football team combine to make game day one of the biggest and best football-by-boat destinations you can find. That’s why we chose to join a “Vol Navy” cruise on an Aviara 28S to the Knoxville waterfront and bring you this story.

The Tennessee Volunteers, known as the Vols, have played football for 130 seasons, starting in 1891. The team’s combined record of 866–414–53 ranks them 14th on the all-time win list for NCAA football programs. As I write this, the Volunteers have won two straight games so far this season, crushing both NC State and Chattanooga.

The AV28S might be said to perform on the ­water at a level similar to how the Volunteers’ football program performs on the gridiron. It’s a winner, and not just stylish but uniquely styled and finely finished. This 28-foot-2-inch-by-8-foot-6-inch ­vessel is akin to a ­waterborne luxury ­touring sedan—if your luxury ­sedan could lean into turns, offered a head and a wetbar, and allowed your crew to wakesurf en route to the game.

Yes, our crew did indeed wakesurf en route to the game. The “S” designator on our boat marked it as a watersports version of the AV28 series. That means its V-8 430 hp MerCruiser engine turns the propset through a forward-facing Bravo 4S drive. This specialized drive, along with the power-folding ­hardtop, as well as the SurfStar touchscreen system for shaping wakes and waves—courtesy of Aviara sister company and ­watersports experts MasterCraft—provide this versatile boat with the ability to give wakesurfing thrills along with its luxury and performance attributes.

Two other versions of the AV28 round out the series—one powered by a conventional sterndrive and a third version with single or twin outboard power.

As we idled up ­under the railroad bridge, ­orange Volunteers flag flying astern, Neyland Stadium loomed. We rafted up alongside one of the ­dozens of other boats tied together along the ­Neyland Drive waterfront, an easy task given the AV28S’s ­excellent access to bow and stern, and the boat’s sturdy, well-positioned cleats.

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Out came the trays of food. Though our boat ­featured the optional refrigerator and wetbar grill, we brought along a preprepared spread of noshes and snacks. We shared this with other boating and football fans in the Vol Navy as we talked about boats, the game, the kids and more. 

Soon it was game time. Tennessee would face Texas A&M. Into ­Neyland Stadium marched the Vol Navy.

As we left the game, four quarters later, it was dark. The city and stadium were alight. The postgame fireworks looked spectacular from the water

That day, the Vols beat the Aggies 20 to 13. Cruising home in the AV28S, snug behind the protective windshield, we knew that the real winners were those who came to the game by boat.

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