Commentary—Working Ground Zero
Now that I live in Florida full-time—I just moved to Palmetto this week, though I’ll spend May through October in Fort Myers Beach house-sitting for Fort Myers Offshore leaders Tim and Cyndee Hill—I have just one question.
How did I handle the travel for this job from California for so many years?
For a writer covering the hiigh-performance powerboating world, Florida is the place to be during the winter. Photo by Matt Trulio.
I spent something like 200 nights in hotels and 200,000 miles in the air last year. When you’re on the road that much, the road hits back. But slowly. It’s a grind. Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and Comfort Inns aren’t the worst places on earth to spend time, but they aren’t home. Not even close.
Some people were born to be true nomads. I wasn’t. I have to work at it.
So now I have landed in Florida full-time and I will bounce across the state at moment’s notice for work or play—because I can. I did that a lot in 2024 and I’m already at it again.
In year’s past, tackling the Miami Boat International Boat Show and the Florida Powerboat Club Miami Boat Show Poker Run required 6,000 miles of air-travel and 12 nights away from home. This time around—thanks to Randy Sweers who opened his home whenever I needed it—I had to travel all the way from Fort Lauderdale for both events.
Likewise, Devin Wozencraft gave me a place to land for Fort Myers Offshore events and the entire week of boating fun leading up to this year’s Joey Gratton Memorial New Year’s Day Fun Run.
A few days ago, I published a story about the new Valor 27 Widebody catamaran currently at Manatee Marine Unlimited. I had to drive a mile-and-a-half to get there. That’s how far it is from the place Reese and Sara Langheim of Jackhammer offshore racing team tame (Sara also co-owns the marine business with Jackhammer throttleman Julian Maldonado.
The day before that, I published a story on some of the ever-exceptional work being done at Grant’s Signature Racing. I had to drive 17 miles for that one.
When I traveled to England to cover the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes endurance race off the Isle of Wight last August, it took eight hours instead of 13. The time difference between Florida and United Kingdom is five hours. You can arrive in London and be functional without having to spend two days in zombie-land.
To all of you who have welcomed me here, thank you. Outside of the Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri, the Sunshine State—at least in the winter—is ground zero for the world I cover. But I will make sure I’m out of here as often as possible this summer.
The road isn’t all bad.
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