It's been said "Early to bed, early to rise. Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise". If that holds any truth then on September 17, 2016, Pirate Cove Resort was flooded by genius level boat Owners and Drivers. I began my morning at 7am. Pulling in to Jack Smith Memorial Park in Needles, CA. I was thinking I might catch the beginning of the precession down to Pirate Cove. Maybe some early hot laps. Instead I only found a lot full of empty trailers. After ten minutes and not even hearing a boat engine, I beat feet for Pirate Cove. I arrived at Pirate Cove and by the look of the trailer queen hot rods in the parking lot I knew it was going to be a
good day. Down by the water the Cove was packed full and boats were strung down the south side of the channel.
At 8am I counted no less than eighty boats!


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So many nice sleds sporting crazy hardware, I didn't know where to begin. Some of the coolest and most unique boats were right in the cove. Being a Billy B event you know there were some killer paint jobs

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Continuing around the cove, I was able to enjoy the diversity of the V-Drives in attendance. From family boats to weekend hot rods; Classic wood deck boats to full blown Race boats. The morning was progressing nicely.


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By lunch time things were in full swing. The regular Saturday river crowd came in to mingle with River Rocket participants making for a great cross section of boats and people. I was able to hitch a ride for some off shore
scenery as things were building steam.


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Then it seemed as if someone began venting the steam; slowing the momentum. Taking the "early to bed" notion to heart the River Rocket crew began to pack it up around 1pm. With the heard thinning quickly I rushed to get
some additional admiration time with the remaining boats.


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This event is such a great time. The opportunity to talk with tons of awesome people and even reconnected with some I hadn't seen in years was fantastic. Hope to see you all at the 7 th annual event next year!