Page 54 - MARINAOFTHEYEAR

All I wanted to do was intercept Jerry when he got back from his meeting BEFORE he saw the forklift in the lake.
Nope. Too Late! I walked around the corner and there he stood… calm as can be, just staring down the ramp at
our new in-water display. When I did get to him, all he said was… “we need the BIG tow truck”

And that was the official pause of National Marina Day.

That’s why we hesitated on hosting the 2017 edition of National Marina Day. But we really want to win the honor
of Marina of the Year and yes, it’s a good event, but you have to understand how traumatic the lore of this event is
to us!

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So after that conversation in Jerry’s office of “Our National Marina Day Event will be July 29 ” it only took 24
hours for the curse to rear it’s ugly head.

WE’RE NOT KIDDING.

On the marine radio a frantic voice cried out, “Get Jerry over to Warehouse 3 now”
we didn’t ask, we just ran.

Not knowing exactly what we would encounter, we just prepared.

Our brand new 24’ boat
club pontoon was teetering
on the top storage rack in
the warehouse. The
hydraulic hose on the
forklift ruptured causing
the forks to just drop. The
rd
pontoon was 1/3 of the
way off the rack. The
weight of the motor was
pointed to the ground and
the bow of the boat was in
the air wedged to the
ceiling beam via 6” of the
cushioned foam of the seat
top.

The boat hung for about 15
minutes, long enough to
get the back up forklift
underneath it and safely
lowered.

We went forward with 2017 National Marina Day
and we broke the curse.

It was a beautiful day and a beautiful event.

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