Fort Myers Offshore Saves The Best For Last In A Day Of ‘Firsts’

Chris Fisher and Christy Foote won’t soon forget yesterday’s 44-boat lunch run to the Riviera Bar and Grill in Punta Gorda, Fla. And that’s not just because it was the Vermont couple’s first Fort Myers Offshore event in the two years they’ve been club members, as well as their first Southwest Florida event in their DCB M37R catamaran.

“We have boated 300 miles in the last two days,” said Fischer, a broad grin taking over his entire face. “The water is perfect. The weather is perfect. The people, the water and everything, I can’t say enough.”

The last event of the Fort Myers Offshore season was a first for Chris Fisher and company. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

Nor will Fort Myers Offshore members Erik and Julie Breckenfelder soon forget yesterday’s run from the Sanibel Island Bridge to the lunch spot tucked away in the mangroves. As Cape Coral, Fla., locals, they didn’t have to travel 1,500 miles, as Fisher, Foote and their guests Damon and Lisa Petrie did to be there.

But it was their first Fort Myers Offshore event of the year in their 28-foot Skater catamaran that Erik Breckenfelder—against all odds and with a little help from his friends—successfully repowered with twin 400-hp ROS engines developed by Mercury Racing for the X-Cat racing series in the Middle East.

A bit of a unicorn, Erik and Julie Breckenfelder’now boasts a pair of Mercury Racing ROS outboards.

“It is 100 more times amazing than I thought it would be,” said Breckenfelder, who replaced the cat’s twin two-stroke Mercury 300XS engines with the ROS four-strokes. “Obviously, it’s faster because with 200 extra horsepower in the boat, but with the shorter midsection the boat is 10 times more stable. It’s a safer boat altogether.

“There are so very few of these engines, I think there are like eight in the United States,” he continued. “They are very unique and so there are very few people who know how to work on them. I am blessed that two very talented individuals who have worked on ROS outboards, Grant Bruggemann and Shaun Torrente, live in my backyard. They helped me immensely helpful this project.”

Organizers turned participants, the Florida Powerboat Club’s Stu and Jackie Jones caught a ride on a 40-foot Nor-Tech.

For Florida Powerboat Club head Stu Jones, there are very few firsts left in the Sunshine State. Jones has been organizing poker runs for 31 years. In town for the Nor-Tech dealer meeting, he and his wife, Jackie, stuck around for the Fort Myers offshore happening.They rode with club member Bobby Macatee and friends aboard his new 40-foot Nor-Tech center console, the first to be powered by four Mercury Racing V-10 400R outboard engines.

And yet the Fort Myers Offshore happening still delivered something new for the couple.

Enjoy the slideshow above for more images of from the final event of the Fort Myers Offshore season.

“I have never been here before—it’s a new place for me, and I like it” said Stu Jones. “And I’m riding on a brand-new Nor-Tech 400 SS with friends. It’s comfortable. I’m capturing video and taking pictures. It’s great.

“Any event where I don’t have to work is the best event ever,” he added, then laughed.

For Dave Burgess, yesterday’s run his first organized event in his 42-foot Doug Wright catamaran.

But of all the firsts delivered by yesterday’s event, the hands-down coolest belonged to Dave Burgess, a club member who lives in the St. Clair, Mich., area with his wife, Susie, but has a second home in Southwest Florida. Last month, Burgess, who lost the use of his legs in a snowmobile accident, took delivery of a 42-foot Doug Wright catamaran built out and adapted to his physical needs by Waves And Wheels of Osage Beach, Mo. (The build was the subject of a recent video called “Product Adaptation” and produced by Speed On The Water and Scrapyard media.)

The lunch run to Riviera Bar and Grill was the first event for Burgess in his 42-footer powered by twin Mercury Racing 500R outboards. The boat also is his first catamaran.

The 44-boat turnout was a record for a Fort Myers Offshore season finale.

“I loved it—that was a nice, long and fast run for us,” said Burgess. “The entire package is amazing. The boat handles really well in rough water, and I have always loved rough water. I love cats. I took Susie out in it last Thursday and, thank god, she loves it too.

“I’ll still probably always have a V-bottom,” he added. “I’ll have 32-foot Sunsation down here, someday.”

Hill called the Riviera Bar and Grill “the official home of Fort Myers Offshore.”

The season finale for Fort Myers Offshore, the event was presented by Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats, which had finished its annual dealer meeting a day earlier in Cape Coral. Thanks in part to its dealers and vendors, the Nor-Tech donated $5,000 to the Fort Myers Offshore scholarship fund.

That was anything but a first for the company, and the yesterday’s experience was special. And it didn’t matter.

“Fort Myers Offshore is amazing charity we work with, and we love giving back,” Trond Schou, the president of Nor-Tech. “Toss in all the new and old boats here, plus all the new and old friends, and this is an absolutely fantastic event.”

And of course, the Fort Myers Offshore season finale has hardly a first for club president Tim Hill. But thanks in large part to the lunch destination, which deftly handled menu orders—rather than putting out a buffet—for 200-plus particapnts, his event-organizing year finished note on a high note.

Hill and his wife, Cyndee, enjoyed the run in their updated 32-foot Skater.

“One of the great things about this venue is that it feels like ‘old Florida,’” said Hill. “We’re back in the mangroves. It has a nice tiki bar. And this venue actually wants us here. This is the second time we’ve been here—they bailed us out when we had a last-minute venue cancellation.”

Hill paused to survey good times and memory-making happening all around him, and he grinned.

“The Riviera has kind of become the official home of Fort Myers Offshore,” he added.

The author caught a ride for the final Fort Myers Offshore event of the season with Devin Wozencraft and a mutual friend in his 34-foot Victory catamaran.

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