Cabo 45 Express owner Mike Hayden started building his own boats when he was in high school in Northern California, but for Mike, laidback fishing and boating wasn't enough. He started drag racing in boats and in fact, introduced drag boats to Alaska where he's lived for the last 25 years. When racing, Mike was competitive and passionate about his boats and at one time, clocked speeds of up to 206 mph over the water.

Today, Mike is no longer racing. Now, having discovered Cabo San Lucas, he prefers to fish and of course he needed a boat that was up to the task of getting him out to the fish, fast and in comfort. Having so much experience on many different types of boats, Hayden's knowledge base is large. It didn't take him long to determine that the Cabo 45 would suit his needs perfectly.

Mike left Newport Beach in December and ran his new Cabo to San Diego, fueled up and headed for Cabo San Lucas 1,000 miles south. Hayden now homeports in Cabo San Lucas at the southernmost tip of Mexico's Baja Peninsula “We raised almost 200 marlin last season. That's not counting the hundreds of wahoo and dorado. In fact, we caught 21 wahoo in a single day. So there's no question that the Cabo raises fish,” says Mike. You'd think that dropping back from 200 mph to cruising at 28 knots might be tough to take. But according to Hayden, speed is relative. “We usually leave the dock about an hour after everybody else and pass them all on the way to the fishing grounds. We can fish an honest 10 hours and still beat them all back to the dock.” Mike also appreciates his Cabo's agility, despite its 45' length. “If you get a fish on, you can spin the boat as fast as the fish can move. Consequently, you can get away with using much lighter tackle. I use 20-pound where other boats on the same fish might use 50- or 80-pound gear.”

Beautiful though it may be, Cabo San Lucas is 1000 miles south of San Diego across some brutal desert. As you'd imagine, such a remote place doesn't carry parts just down the street. Hayden picked the Cabo for its reputation for durability and reliability as much as for speed. “This first season, we put over 700 hours on the boat,” he says. “So far, the only thing that's gone wrong has been a water tank gauge needing to be replaced.”  

Hayden owns a heavy equipment paving and construction company. Rebuilding big diesels has become second nature to him. Owners with professional crews might not realize that the Cabo is probably the easiest boat in its class to maintain. “The wiring couldn't be better either. For example, when I put the tower on the boat, the wiring was all there, ready to run up the tower leg - every wire clearly labeled. And that's throughout the boat. Believe me, I have a hundred mechanics that work for me. I see heavy machinery of all types and nothing can compare to the engineering and execution of the Cabo. I'm happy enough with my Cabo 45,” says Hayden, “that I call the factory every month to check in and tell them what a great job they've done.” In a world where you rarely hear anything unless it's a complaint, those calls speak volumes.