Catching Up With Tim Hill—Fort Myers Offshore And The Art Of Helping Others. – Speed on the Water
A few days before the 10th annual Speed On The Water Key West Bash last month, which raised a record-setting $200,000 for the locally based Samuel’s House, Tim Hill called to ask if he and his wife, Cyndee, could volunteer to help out with the Thursday night celebration. The offer couldn’t have come at a better time. A party is just a party until you throw one for a few thousand people during the Race World Offshore Key West World Championship and a local shelter for women, children and intact families relies on the money it raises.
A couple of extraordinarily generous and dedicated event organizers, Cyndee and Tim Hill never fail to pitch in when needed. Photo by Jeff Helmkamp copyright Helmkamp Photos.
Full disclosure? The gesture brought a few tears to my eyes and a deep exhale from my lungs. Like fellow Speed On The Water Key West organizers Jason Johnson, Yvonne Aleman and Greg Harris, the Hills know how to get things done. Tim Hill is the president of Fort Myers Offshore, a nonprofit powerboating club in Southwest Florida that raises scholarship money through its own events. Cyndee is a Fort Myers Offshore board-member who handles much of the outfit’s merchandise sales, which also feed the fundraising effort.
Together, the Hills are a true power-couple in the powerboat event-organizing world. Both have full-time jobs running various businesses they own but they are dedicated to their own community. So when Hurricane Ian devastated Fort Myers Beach and portions of Naples and Cape Coral, they wasted no time volunteering and raising much-needed recovery funds.
With two events down on the 2023/2024 Fort Myers Offshore event schedule and one more to go this year, I caught up with Tim Hill yesterday and asked him a few questions. Here’s what he had to say.
Fort Myers Offshore has grown a lot in the past few years. You must have seen some challenges with that growth.
Yes, Fort Myers Offshore has grown leaps and bounds in the last four to five years. For example, our run to Boca Grande in 2017 had 13 boats attend and this year we had 33 boats. Our largest run of the year, the Holiday run at the end of December in 2017, had 28 registered boats and in 2021. Pre-Hurricane Ian we had 106. While this growth has been great for our charitable scholarships it does not come without logistical challenges including dock space, venue space, and safely starting 50+ high performance boats simultaneously.
There are several factors that have helped our rapid growth over the last several years including COVID, social media, and our geographic local. We saw a large spike in membership in 2020 during COVID as many people were buying boats and other recreational vehicles. Social media has helped Fort Myers grow by vastly expanding awareness of the club and our events. Our geographical location certainly helps as well, who doesn’t want to be boating on the Gulf of Mexico in January. Also the adaptation of high-performance outboard motors by many owners has made boating much easier in the salt water playground of Southwest Florida.
Even before Hurricane Ian, securing dock space for events was a challenge. How is it now?
The biggest logistical challenges of our events are venues and dock space. In the early years of Fort Myers Offshore with 10- to 30-boat fleets, there was a broad number of venues with adequate dock space, staff and entertainment space that could accommodate us. Now that we have tripled our boat count at events dock space has become a huge problem.
Then factor in Hurricane Ian and we are left with very few options that can accommodate us. Ian took away forty percent of our event venues that still have not built their docks back so we are having to return to some venues twice in the same year so that we can accommodate all of our members.
This season will be our first full season since Hurricane Ian. Last year we had a very abbreviated season with many members not brining the boats to Southwest Florida due to losing their own docks and boat storage. We have added a new venue for our February run this year and look forward to returning to some of our old favorites next year as the rebuilding continues.
Fort Myers Beach nearly vaporized during Hurricane Ian. How is the recovery coming?
The clean-up and rebuilding of our beloved Fort Myers Beach is a slow process. There are still many buildings that are in shambles and have not been cleared up. The residence and businesses of Fort Myers Beach are resilient and doing what they can with what they have. Many of our favorite bars and restaurants were just as you described it, “vaporized.” It’s not like they lost their roof or had the windows blown out, the buildings are gone, washed out to sea with nothing left but the tile flooring where they once sat. Many of the business and homeowners have plans to rebuild but with FEMA and permitting it is going to be a long road to recovery. In the meantime many places have set up temporary tents and shipping containers as make shift bars and restaurants so the party can continue on Fort Myers Beach.
Though the Fort Myers Beach pier was destroyed in 2022 by Hurricane Ian, offshore powerboat racing will return to the Southwest Florida venue in 2024. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
A Fort Myers event is back on the OPA calendar for 2024. You must be pleased.
Yes Roar Offshore is poised to have the biggest comeback offshore racing has ever seen and will be back October 10-12. The fans, the teams, the county and most importantly the town and residence of Fort Myers Beach need this race now more than ever. Roar Offshore will be the largest event held on the beach post Hurricane Ian and we plan to give them the show they deserve. It is the intentions of Roar Offshore to once again be the American Power Boat Association Offshore National Championship Series Race and we are working with APBA and all sanctioning bodies to make this happen. The landscape of Fort Myers Beach has unfortunately changed dramatically but in terms of space needed to produce an offshore race it has made the logistics a little easier as there is a lot more vacant space available for pits and other operations.
As we get into the new year Cyndee and I will start the planning process for the largest party on Fort Myers Beach since we last produced Roar Offshore in 2021. Sponsorship opportunities for what should be the largest national championship race of the year are available including the title sponsor.
Scholarship fundraising remains at the core of Fort Myers Offshore. That has to be gratifying.
Yes, Fort Myers Offshore is a not-for-profit corporation consisting of a group of offshore boating enthusiasts in Southwest Florida, dedicated to raising funds and awarding a number of academic scholarships each year to help worthy individuals graduating from high school continue their education at institutions of higher learning including college, university, and trade schools. It is gratifying to read the thank-you letters from all of the young men and women we help every year.
As you have told me several times, between Fort Myers Offshore and Roar Offshore what we do is a thankless job, but being able to contribute to the community and help these boys and girls makes it all work while. There are days I ask myself why we put all the time and effort into this when there is no personal financial gain. But at the end of the day we get to go boating and hang out in paradise with extraordinary people while helping others. So how can you complain about that?
Through a series of go-fast boating of lunch runs, Fort Myers Offshore helps deserving students meet their higher-education goals. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
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