2012 is gone and of course it went by fast. Our new PowerBoat Nation came on fast and we are now rigging for what is expected to be a incredible 2013. I am convinced you will like what you see and will hopefully be surprised by what we have coming for you.
Looking back at 2012 I am not sure we as a sport/industry had any highs and lows as it all seemed a little flat. The lows were really the beginning of the year; coming out of a horrible Key West we started 2012 remembering those lost just months before. The Miami Boat Show came and went as well as all of the Poker Runs and fun runs.
Individually my personal Powerboating life certainly had some highs and lows. I put the engines back in my boat got ready to leave on trailer boating trip. Tres and I had a busy early 2012 and our U S Navy Special Warfare training remains strong, the balance of the year trailed off to being very slow.
I did spend the month of July trailer boating across the country. I know some of you thought I was crazy to tow a 38 Top Gun all the way from Florida to the Pacific Northwest, down to California and then back on the southern route across Nevada, Arizona, and Texas. Butttttt, it was one hell of a trip and at least in my mind got to the true essence of what Powerboating in PowerBoat Nation is all about. There are so many side stories and takeaways from that trip it will take me years to get the book done. What I can tell you is I needed another 23 months to do all I wanted too. But the theme of the trip remained, I got to go boating in new places with my boat and hang out having fun with friends and family in the way I remembered what boating was all about.
The re-launch of our website and brand giving us the opportunity to bring the essence of the PowerBoating lifestyle back to the WWW is certainly a high and just the beginning.
The low of my personal experience was tearing up a newly rebuilt engine because if leaned out for some unknown reason. But thanks to all of boating friends we seemed to get it back and running in time and have not missed a planned event. As much as having to buy new pistons and rebuild the rebuilt engine sucked and really hurt financially, the whole experience reinforced my true feeling and belief that the trust, friendships, and true spirit of lifestyle is what makes all this what it is and life worth “L I V I N I N”.
I hope you are all ready because as bleak at our government leadership seems to be. My blind optimism and cup half full running over all the time is propelling me to believe that at least what is coming from Powerboat Nation may very well be what the industry high becomes for 2013!
PowerBoat On!!
– Brad
