We shocked the world a year ago with our “Don’t Go To TickFaw” story which set off a series of events that has seemed to have made Tickfaw bigger and better. Of course the headline was an attraction to in-fact tell everyone just how great the Tickfaw 200 really is, as it’s everything every power boater fantasizes a boating event being. While we expected the event to grow in size, even we couldn’t get over just how many boats showed up. Local law enforcement said our estimate of well over 450-500 boats was conservative. If you weren’t there, then you again missed the chance to participate in a Poker Run that provides multiple card stops over 200 nautical miles of boating. With stops in New Orleans as well as the infamous Blood River, this run brings every variety from big city restaurants to swamp bars only accessible by boat.
Joey Fontenot and his hard working partner Casey Harrison again displayed their over the top hospitality and unique support to all the participants that goes unrivaled by any other run. Don’t believe me? Well just ask one of the big boat guys who got their trailer stuck on a boat ramp. Joey and his crew worked on their own without pay or sleep to un-stick these guys like they had been friends since middle school. But that’s just the beginning, this whole community is so welcoming we were literally stunned. You just don’t see all aspects of a town and its support system welcome boating as you do here, these great, and gracious people welcomed everyone with open arms.
With this many boats, bars, people, and the usual distractions, you would think it could be too big and poised for problems. Well wrong again! With incredible cooperation and coordination from Livingston Parish Sheriff ,Jason Ard, his entire team of deputy sheriffs, local fire, dive rescue, other parish Sheriff’s, and the U.S. Coast Guard, the presence on the water and in the air was HUUUGE… This presence alone was a great deterrent for any bad behavior and with Coast Guard boats at each end of every slow/no wake zone, the massive fleet enjoyed a trouble free weekend. No Accidents, No BUI’s, No DUI’s. Casey points out this isn’t your typical event where all top dogs are set up in groups with a shotgun start. Participants are shown where all the card stops are and wished a happy days of boating collecting them.
The usual Powerboat Nation crew of me, along with Scott, JW, and Brittany, showed up with our new professional photo/video team of Don Heldoorn and Frank Robinson. We worked non-stop capturing tons of video (23 hours worth!!!) and photos (Over 3000 of them !!!) that we already have in the edit room. We were also showing off some or our new performance apparel from IR Designs which makes sure we are the best dressed media team in the business. The Entire PBN staff was privileged to be hosted on board the beautiful 390 Nor Tech CC owned by Mr Chris Bradley, who we can’t thank enough. It’s our friends in this sport that make so much of this possible.
We’ll start off the media parade with the first couple photo galleries of many to come. Always looking for something new, we strapped a 360 Degree “4K” video camera to the side of our Jet powered stunt Chopper and with our Buckwild stunt pilot the crew headed to the Sun Buns Party and this is what we got!
PHOTOS: GALLERY ONE | GALLERY TWO | GALLERY THREE
Make sure you view the below video full screen, use your mouse to control the camera, or if you are on you phone or tablet, just move your camera around to change the view. If you are on a mobile phone or tablet, you may need to view the video in the YouTube app to get the full 360 degree experience. Try this link if the player below doesn’t work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYKCJ51qHyc
