Fort Myers Offshore Season-Finale Leaning Toward Lighter Turnout
Just five months ago at the Fort Myers Offshore Holiday Fun Run to Riviera Bar and Grill in Punta Gorda, Fla., Bob Barnhart and Eric Belisle, two former presidents of the nonprofit scholarship fundraising club, gazed wide-eyed into the throng of 400-plus-participants. Neither Barnhart nor Belisle had seen a crowd that large during their tenures, much less 107 boats at docks designed to accommodate half that number.
Nor-Tech is returning as the title sponsor of the final Fort Myers Offshore event of the season. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
“I think the most boats we ever had at one of the events I organized was 30,” said Barnhart, who founded the organization 2005, in an awestruck tone.
Club president Tim Hill and his unstoppable wife, Cyndee, have produced plenty of record-setting events for the club during the past years—enough so that they are hoping to finish the 2024/2025 Fort Myers Offshore season will mellow one. And with tomorrow’s FMO Season Finale Fun Run to Riviera Bar and Grill presented once again by Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats, they might just get their wish
With less than 24 hours to go before the group meets for the start of the run at the Sanibel Island Bridge, just 50 boats are registered.
“This should be a very nice, laidback run,” Tim Hill said, then chuckled. “Although all of our runs are very casual, sometimes it can feel like organized chaos.”
A trio of Fort Myers Offshore originals, Eric Belisle, Lori Lemanske and Bob Barnhart have watched club become a powerhouse under the leadership of Tim and Cyndee HIll.
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