Southwest Florida Summer Ski Fest
Lovers Key Beach Club & Resort
July 16, 17 &18
Fort Myers Beach south
www.sun1.net

As the old saying goes “Time flies when you’re having fun!” And what better way is there to have fun than to be skiing on the warm Florida water with you friends and family.
It seems like we just had Ski Fest 2003, and it’s almost time for SFSSF 2004.
We are anticipating another great gathering this year on Florida’s southwest coast for all PWC lovers. This is a friendly, family type event. We do get a lot of singles and couples that participate. Some spouses elect to stay home but shouldn’t since the host resort is a first class beach club. There are a lot of things for non-skiing family members to do within walking distance of the resort. You can log on to their web page www.loverskey.com to see exactly what I mean. All of the suites offer water views, either of the Estero Bay or the Gulf of Mexico. The sunsets are spectacular and you can watch as the dolphin swim by both day and night. Each suite has its own kitchen, master bath with large soaking tub, living room with a pull out sofa and master bedroom with a king-size bed. Nothing is overlooked here. Once again it will be a full moon on Saturday night so the night sky will be shimmering on the calm water below. This makes for a perfect night for some very tired PWC’ers to howl while enjoying the hot tub poolside with a cold drink.
For those of you who need to work out before or after your PWC workout, there is a gym area overlooking the pool and the bay. The Tiki style restaurant also gives you a panoramic view of the pristine waterways, and also serves some tasteful delights for a very fair price.
This will be our forth year that we have arranged for this event to take place. So if you need convincing about how terrific the weekend is just ask someone who has been there. Basically it is a weekend of riding and socializing with others who love to ski. All makes and models of PWC’s are invited.
When calling to make your reservation please mention that you are a member of the “Naples Ski Group” to receive our group rate on the suites at the Resort Hotel. All rooms are suites and they go for around $110 -- $160 a night. Prices vary depending on the floor that you are on. The resort is on the bay right inside Big Carlos Pass only seconds to the Gulf of Mexico. Our unique area offers a wide verity of riding; open gulf waters, calm bay, winding rivers and our specialty, mangrove trails. With Todd at the helm we weave in and out of those snake trails like an Olympic down hill skier doing a slalom run. Only we stay warm!
With Naples only being a few miles to the south and Sanibel Island only a few miles to the north, we have some of the most breathtaking scenery that can be seen in only a weekend. Last year we just happened to stop at our local Nudie Beach for a quick picture of our gang. You’ll have to shuffle through the photo’s to see who, if any, reveled their tan lines.

Checking the tide charts for our weekend rides, I found them to be ideal! The best riding will be between 9 am and 4 pm. High tide is at noon, perfect for those mangrove trails, unless you are one tall rider. As some of you know, but others don’t, there are some trails that Todd finds that are like little caves and we have to duct to miss loosing our hair. Low tide is at 6 pm, ideal for a ride out into the gulf. It is usually calm before 9am and after 4 pm or so. The early low tide at 6am is still kind of high at about 1.5 feet so. Early bay riding and up the rivers will be just perfect, with the returning tide it’s time to venture into those snake trails we love so much. A ride through the Gulf of Mexico to Sanibel and then for lunch at the Lani Kai is always a possibility.

Hopefully I wet your appetite for some adventure!

Photo of Lovers Key by air.
http://www.loverskeybeach.com/loverskeywedding_images/charles_hester01008-4-28-2a.jpg

Map of the area.
http://www.loverskeybeach.com/images/map_large3.jpg

More information to be posted.
Please call or E-mail me with questions. put "ski fest" in subject line
TJ@sun1.net

To see pictures of all of our events go to www.sun1.net click on a photo or phrase and sit back and enjoy.

Thanks for your time,
TJ

There's talk of a speed alley being set up. Nothing for sure as yet but there is hope.

RIVA why don't you guys join the fun ?

For all those interested The Mangrove Scar Club (TMSC) is allways looking for new members.

OK , I guess it's too early to plan this one or maybe you guys are afraid of our SWFL skis

RIVA , you guys are more than welcome to come over and play.
You never know , you might find a new "test lake" in our mangroves.
Easy to loose spys in the trails.

Just so everyone knows. There are no costs or charges involved with this ski fest. Only normal vacation cost. Like your room and food, etc...... The object of this weekend is to gather a very large group of people together who love to play on their pwc's in a really nice tropical setting. There is one requirement; you must be friendly and willing to socialize.
I will be contacting a local charity, like the "MAKE A WISH FOUNDATION", Just in case some of you don't know this group grants last wishes to kids who are dying. Like a trip to Disney or whatever. You get the picture. Donations won't be mandatory from anyone but would be nice. I think we will get a few more local and bigger sponsors involved if we have a really good cause to associate with our gathering.
Let me know if you need any information. I will be posting more and more as the weeks go by.
PS;I did a trial run today of one of the tours that we might doo. 43 miles total, 10 miles through the Gulf of Mexico to Sanibel Island, where we find pristine white sandy beaches and oodles of beautiful shells. Skied around the causeway and took lots of pic’s of the vacationer. The drawbridge guy was tooting his horn and shaking his finger at me when I was going under the bridge. I was right along side of a 17' boat. Guess he thought my wake was too big. Then I went around the north end of Ft. Myers beach (Estero Island) Idle/slow zone for a couple of miles past those large fancy million dollar homes. Then off into the mangroves that connect two smaller bays. This is where our "Mangrove King" Todd comes into play. He zips right along those snake trails like he really knows what he is doing. You can get lost in there, but i keep my GPS with me to prevent that. Then had to slow down a bit to cross a few Manatee zones, then into shot up the Estero river which is a "Resume normal speed " zone. It's long and windy so you can really open it up. On the way out of the river I took another mangrove trail and zigzagged my way back into the Estero Bay. On my way back to the launch site I found two more mangrove trails and my GPS gave me a "low battery warning" so I turned around and headed out to Jet Ski Beach. 3 hours later and a total of 43 miles on the water, turned out to be a very enjoyable day. I did see a few dolphins along the way. I had to jump in my hot tub when I returned home after flushing the ski. My muscles were a tad tired. The resort also has a
large hot tub to sooth our aching bodies.
I took my wife and daughter to the Lovers Key Restaurant,”Flippers” last night for a very enjoyable meal. They have a gentleman there who looks like Tom Seleck playing the guitar and taking requests. We go there quite often for a nice on the water meal. It is one of those great places that a lot of people don’t know about.

It seems that my web redirection server for www.sun1.net is down. Copy and paste this link for my page of info and pictures.

http://hometown.aol.com/creativede/skipage.html

No takers on this one ????

I was hoping to see some of the fast skis but I guess not.

In the mangroves even a 760 can take the RXP.

You got any arials of those snake runs??

http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/addressimage.aspx?t=1&s=15&lon=-81.8569787620693&lat=26.4310969259501&alon=-81.80692422&alat=26.43783349&w=1&ref=A%7cEstero%2c+Florida
How about this one.
I will look for more but this should give you some idea.

Com'on where's the chatter!Don't be bashful! If your looking for a great time and a really great place you have to join us for the weekend. I promise you,you will love it and will look forward to the following years return trip. This is one of the nicest areas in Southwest Fl. to ride PWC'S.
No excuses, you've got plenty of time to plan.

We just gave a private tour of the local water and mangrove trails this past weekend and logged over 75 miles. A majority of those miles were back in the twisty trails. Did I mention that we stopped at Lovers Key resturant, "Flippers" and had another superb meal?

If you have a ski dolly you can launch right from "Lovers Key Resorts" own parking lot.

Also, I really wish that I had my video cam with me. We caught up to a 30 foot or so yacht traveling in the channel with about 6 to 8 dolphin playing in it's wake. They were only about 6 feet away from the back of the boat. One of them kept jumping out of the water and rolling over before reentry. It was a spectacular sight to see. We were skiing about 20 feet away from them.

WWW.SUN1.NET is up and running again !

WOW!?!?!?!?

No takers ?

Ok guys.
Your loss.
I know the mangrove trails aren't for the weak but I thought there were some tough guys here.

Hello

I will be there with 4-6 other skis.I will put in at mullet creek and ski over from there ,I live in sancarlos park so I wont be staying at the hotel. We are going out to keywaden this sat (5-15-04)if anyone is interested.
MIKE

Im game, my ski is 4 months old and already is missin a good part of its hulls gel coat. Bring the pain!

Ken , go over to sun1.net and check out pictures from last year.
I think there are 4 albums with over 80 pictures in each from the 2003 event.
It was AWESOME , 50+ skis snaking through cannoe trails .

The Resort is realy friendly to us skiers and there's nothing like hanging out in the hot tub after a full day of riding.

For those who want to come down in Jully , 20 rooms booked so far.

This Sunday we headed into the mangroves to discover new trails.
Found 3 really good ones that we started to clear out for future runs and they should be a blast. These new trails are long and tight with endless turns with suprises around every corner.
One has a concrete block close to the entrance and we have no idea how it got there. Maybe this is the place where Jimmy Hoffa is hiding out.
One unlucky mangrove gardner managed to nudge the block when he rode over it with his big manatee(4TECH SC) prooving that it does move.
We will pull it out of the water before we take anyone else in there.

Should be a great "treasure hunt" in those trails for the Ski Fest.

Hey me and my girl would like to attend this event, will there be a good place to put in and pull out of? also how is security for ski's there say during the nite?

Great event we wouldn't miss it. Great fun for kids of all ages!
Launch less than a mile away with plenty of parking. Overnight everyone anchors their skis on beach well viewed from front desk. Outside lights are left on all night. Some people bring cables and locks and lock skis together.
Clear you schedule and DON"T miss this one. Just a bunch of GREAT people enjoying a fun weekend of riding. The only cost is your room, food and gas. I promise you it will be a weekend you will not forget.

Hondamom , hi there.
Hope you are in a better mood and your ski is on the road to recovery. It was a sad thing that happened.

X-treme there is a boat ramp just up the road and is free.
You can pull the ski out for the night or if you like chain up with us. We have steel cables to tie the skis together and we take turns at night to look out for bad people.
The area isn't known for crime but we all love our skis and wouldn't want any of them to get harmed. The front desk is on high alert all night and someone from our group is always there on the beach.
The choice is yours. If you would sleep better knowing your ski is in the parking lot (also being wached) or chained on the beach.
It is a fun weekend and I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Hope to see you down here.

Boris, Honda,

Thanks for the great info, sounds like a plan to me, who do i book the room with? and is there local 100+ octane fuel or is it bring your own? We only have the 1 ski for me and her, so if you guys will let us chain up, that would be much appreciated, first drink is on me!