Until Tim and Cyndee Hill, my landlords in Cape Coral, Fla., and general partners in go-fast boating shenanigans, persuaded me otherwise I was done with on-site event coverage for 2025 after last week’s Key West, Fla., affairs. For coverage of the upcoming Toys Tour event, December 4-6 in Palatka, Fla., my phone was going to get a workout from wherever I was that those days, which also happens to be my birthday weekend.
You wouldn’t know it from social media because I don’t check in at airports to announce my pending arrivals—a popular though decidedly self-aggrandizing practice I never understood—but I covered 35 boating events on scene this year and another 30-something using phone and email. I have a ton of personal travel ahead—San Diego for Thanksgiving, Chicago for Christmas and out of the country for New Years—so I was content to let that be the last of it for the year.
But that wasn’t enough for the Hills, the power-couple behind the Fort Myers Offshore scholarship fundraising club in Southwest Florida. They lobbied me hard to join them for the 25th annual Palatka affair and I immediately folded like a wet taco.
OK, they didn’t have to lobby that hard. The chance to run with them again in their Skater 32B catamaran on the St. Johns River next at least helped convince me. That boat is immaculate.
They weren’t alone. DCB Performance Marine M37R catamaran owners Kelly O’Hara and Kiran Pinisetti—another pair of friends I count myself lucky to have—have been selling me on the Toys Tour for years. So, too, have Chad Shutter of BRP Marine Custom and performance-boat enthusiast T.J. Bailey—two more longtime buddies of mine—have been urging me to go.
So I caved.
And it looks as if I caved in an optimal year. According to organizer Scott McCormick, it’s going to be a banner one for the Toys Tour, the point of which is gathering and distributing holiday gifts for children in need.
“We’re already in the range of 80 to 100 boats and 230-plus participants” explained McCormick, the owner of Velocity Boats in Sanford, Fla. “I decided, screw it, we’re not capping. Anyone who wants to come deserves to have a good time with their friends and family.”
The party is on.