Thomas Wood’s 56-foot boat may not be the newest at the Morehead City waterfront, but it certainly has the most unique name.
To understand where the Crystal Coast captain found the Dancin’ Outlaw moniker for his vessel takes some knowledge of Wood’s youth in West Virginia.
“When I was in college, there was a popular hillbilly dancer named Jesco White,” Wood said. “Jesco basically became a legendary cult figure among the college crowd and was known as the ‘Dancin’ Outlaw.’ Somebody even made a television documentary about his life.”
Some time later, when Wood decided to become an offshore captain, his brother was his first boat partner.
“We were arguing about what name we should give the boat,” he said. “We couldn’t agree on a girl’s name when we saw a documentary about Jesco. After that, Dancin’ Outlaw was the only name we could agree on.”
The Dancin’ Outlaw III, built in 2002, is a custom C&L Boatworks creation.
“The C&L represents Damon Coe and Jim Luxton,” Wood said. “Jim used to work for Jarrett Bay Boatworks. They built the hull in Farmville, Va., then hauled it to Harkers Island … where they finished it in 2002.”
The first Dancin’ Outlaw was a 34-footer, followed by the Dancin’ Outlaw II, a 45-footer.
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