In 22-year-old J.R. Bellis, speedonthewater.com doesn’t just have its youngest contributor to date. It has its first editorial intern. Bellis has written two articles— “Spring Fun Run Kicks Off Performance Boat Center Event-Season” and “A Leadership Trifecta: Meet The Presidents Of Fort Myers Offshore” for the 17-year-old daily news site covering the high-performance powerboat world.
The son of Grant and Nancy Bellis, who maintain residences in Southwest Florida and Central Missouri, J.R. Bellis grew up around the water. His parents have owned a wide range of boats including a 44 Sea Ray Sundancer, a PlayCraft pontoon, a 35 Statement Center console and a 32 Glasstream center console. They currently have a Nor-Tech 390 Sport center console.
“My mom jokes that I was born wearing a lifejacket,” he said, chuckled.
In December 2026, Bellis will graduate with a degree in communication from Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers. But with his role at speedonthewater.com, he already has a considerable leg up on his would-be media competition.
Like many of his peers, Bellis has dabbled with posting photos and videos on social media.
“I’ve been doing social media work such as taking videos and photos from my phone as well as a DJI camera and upload those videos and photos to various social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook for Nor-Tech,” he said. “Something I also did at Nor-Tech was event coordination. I organized four ‘Nor-Tech Owners Social’ events where Nor-Tech owners would meet up at a restaurant and congregate together.”
Great experience, for sure, but all of that it is a world away from what happens every day with a daily news site. Bellis is learning to report and write, which means he’s learning to observe and pay attention to details. He’s learning to take all the information he gathers and form it into something people will read, a task that gets more challenging every day with the shortened attention spans that come from voraciously inhaling social media.
He’s learned about deadlines, and how unpleasant an editor can get if they are not met.
Despite that he works for this often ill-tempered publisher/editor, Bellis is digging the work. What’s more, while he has much learning to do if he wants to tell stories for a living, he has an aptitude for it.
And always a plus for a reporter, he enjoys talking to people. Better still and far more important, enjoys listening to them.
“My favorite part of working for Speed On The Water is simply being out in the field connecting and meeting top level individuals in the industry as well as their clients and customers,” he said.
Next up for Bellis is coverage of the inaugural Vivi Jo Barbie Poker Run at the Lake of the Ozarks in early June.
I’m expecting great things. Strike that. I’m demanding them.
Bellis will be out college soon, but his education is just beginning.