Shelbyville Illinois, July 31th to August 2nd 2015

[Boat Crazy]

Sure is lonely here now ...

Only till next year!

 

[Boat Crazy]

The water patrol are here, QUICK, put on your life jacket.

 

[RiverRat]

 

[RiverRat]

 

[Bruce]

View attachment 26578

Did you tie die your own flag?

 

[Bruce]

We just arrived home. We had such a wonderful time. Thank you to everyone that made it possible and especially for the warm welcome on such short notice!

 

[RiverRat]

@Bruce I did. a few weeks ago my wife and some friends were dying some shirts and stuff and had left over dye...

 

[Bruce]

@Bruce I did. a few weeks ago my wife and some friends were dying some shirts and stuff and had left over dye...

@Rana made plans to tie die one as soon as she saw yours!

 

[Boat Crazy]

We just arrived home. We had such a wonderful time. Thank you to everyone that made it possible and especially for the warm welcome on such short notice!

@Bruce, @Rana Glad to hear your long journey home was safe. It was great meeting you both and family. "Come back now, you hear"

 

[GTBRMC]

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

Got home about an hour ago. Great times. Thanks to all!

 

[jcyamahariders wife]

We are the last 3 families still at Shelbyville had to take advantage of a night ride !

 

[bobbie]

well...morgan and i made it home after a short flight. i want to first thank @jcyamaharider and @sx210owner for telling us how much fun the shelbyville gathering is when they visited us in the northwest last fall. both morgan and i agreed that the experience exceeded all of our expectations and are making a return trip next summer. literally, we came into town knowing two people and left three days later with making dozens of friends.

i expected to have three days of non-stop surfing, but instead we were treated to so much more. hearing the stories of each of you i had the pleasure of talking with brought the beauty of this forum to light. ( yes, @Boat Crazy i'm talking about you) i look forward to meeting more of you next year that i unfortunately didn't have the opportunity to talk to over the last few days.

@OperationROL ....you guys put on a hell of an event. you and the original crew should be very proud of what you've created. thanks again everyone.

 

[MutherTucker]

I have four words. "I love this group." That is all.

 

[buckbuck]

3925 pictures to go through. Hopefully in a few days I will have some available.
The back to back raft up really worked out well.

 

[GTBRMC]

@Aaron Stammet

It was great meeting you this weekend. Per our discussion at the top of the ramp, this is the winch I switched into:
https://jetboaters.net/threads/the-...-jet-boat-today-thread.2661/page-7#post-55653

Others have gone with the two speed Fulton F2, they might chime in.

 

[mattschepker]

@RampRage what fulton winch do you have on your trailer? That was extremely easy to winch up the boat even though the handle was broken off

 

[OperationROL]

THANK YOU!

2015 Friends & Family Gathering was incredible! I would argue that "incredible" does not do it justice. It was great connecting with all the folks that have attended before and it was an honor and pleasure meeting and connecting with first time attendees. As I said over and over for the last couple days, the event is what it is because of the people that attend. We have a great group of people that are connected by the Love of Boating! How cool! There are lots of people to thank and I am sure I will not get it totally right. If I forget anyone, I apologize. Know that I really appreciate you.

Where do I begin?

Preparing for this event takes a lot of planning and coordination and many people to execute. As usual Jeff (@007) and Jim (@jcampbell) were right there with me as we planned and coordinated the event activities. Additionally, this year Renee (@MutherTucker) also worked hand in hand with us to ensure the events were successful. As the event attendees all know, @MutherTucker also donated her reception facility (Spruce St. Studios) to host our traditional family dinner and put a lot of time and money into making sure the place was excellent for all attendees. The venue was top notch and beautifully decorated. I would never have expected to have such a nice facility in Shelbyville to host our event. The Spruce Street Studios staff should be thanked as well, as many of them willingly and happily volunteered to work our event. Thank you team!!! Thanks to our official photographer @buckbuck , you will soon see some pictures of the venue (as well as all the event). Thanks, Jim!

I would also like to thank all of our spouses that happily jump in and help in any way they can. Andrea (@OperationROL's Wife), Angela (007's Wife) and Kim (jcampbell's Wife) have always been the game time heroes. When it comes to execution, these ladies know how to do it. MutherTuckers's husband, Tucker, was also a tremendous help and a wealth of knowledge about Shelbyville and its rich history. Thank you Spouses!!! We also put our kids to work and they all did so without hesitation. Thanks, kids! Neil, Braxton, Zach, Allie, Cassidy, Marley, Sadie. Thank You!

Additionally, Everyone, picked up and pitched in anytime they saw something that needed to be done at the event.....and people kept asking me if they could help.

I would also like to extend a special thank you to our Sponsors. Our sponsors donated lots and lots of items and some even donated money to help with the expenses.

Thank you JetBoaters.net. Without jetboaters.net, most of us would not know each other or anything about this event. It was an honor to have Bruce in attendance.

Thank you @JetBoatPilot . Your continued support is well appreciated. We always anticipate your sizable and significant product contribution and are always impressed.

Thank you St. Charles Boat & Motor. The dinner that you fully funded was delicious! Your contribution makes it possible for us to have a family style dinner without having to worry about preparing the food while on the road.

Thank you Nielson's Enterprises. The products that you supply are great. You have been there from the beginning.

Thank you Lake Springfield Marina. We appreciate you product donations and look forward to many years of your involvement.

Thank you Gantlin Products. Your financial contribution was needed and well appreciated. You made it possible to add additional goodies for all our attendees.

Thanks you Spruce Street Studios. The venue was terrific and everyone enjoyed the beverages you provided.

Thanks you WakeMakers.com. Your products donations (all things ballast related) are always sought after, since most of our attendees are participating in water sport acitivities.

Thanks Hammertime Sports and Lithia Springs Marina for the last minute product donations.

Thanks to every attendee that donated items to the raffle/giveaways pool. There were lots of them. It is appreciated!​

I would also like to point out and publicly thank the Shelbyville Chamber of Commerce for greeting all of us with goodie bags. We appreciate the wonderful items that the local businesses donated to support our event. I will writing a special letter to The CoC on the behalf of all the attendees to thank them for everything. It was also wonderful that the Spigot Sports Bar greeted us with signs as we all drove into Shelbyville. A number of us were sure to patronize their establishment.

Last but certainly not least.........................I would like to thank all the attendees! Without you we have no event. From 4 boats in 2008 (007, OperationROL, Julian, Sheboat) to 35 boats with over 145 people in 2015 is awesome. The greatest part of it is that it continues to be a warm inviting place, where new attendees fit right in and feel as they have been a part of the group for years. We hear the same story each year. "My wife thought I was crazy for wanting to spend that much time with people I met on the internet. Now she looks forward to the trip each year!" That is cool.

So..........................to sum it all up........................THANKS EVERYONE!!!!

BTW...............this is not my recap message. I simply wanted to thank everyone. Recap to come!

 

[OperationROL]

We just arrived home. We had such a wonderful time. Thank you to everyone that made it possible and especially for the warm welcome on such short notice!

@Bruce and @Rana, we certainly appreciated you making the trip up to attend this event. I hope you can see that the decision to start this forum was a great one. There are bonds out there that were made possible through your vision. I count it an honor to help you administer this forum and look forward to many, many years of friendship!

 

[thcole]

I am trying to talk my wife into going next year already, I think the picture are helping. The 9 hour drive is going to be tough to get her to bite onto though. Looks like all that attended had a good time.

 

[aarons1k]

@Aaron Stammet

It was great meeting you this weekend. Per our discussion at the top of the ramp, this is the winch I switched into:
https://jetboaters.net/threads/the-...-jet-boat-today-thread.2661/page-7#post-55653

Others have gone with the two speed Fulton F2, they might chime in.

It was nice meeting you 2! The strap fought us the whole way home , as it kept slipping of the spool for some unknown reason .... This is on my list as I never want to be left like this lol