TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Navigating troubled waters

ADVERTISEMENT

BY JOHN TISCHNER

SPECIAL TO THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: November 19, 2008

Updated: 11/21/2008 06:22 am

They can zoom along at up to 80 mph and venture into wet territory where most other watercraft cannot go. They are airboats, a growing recreational, albeit expensive, hobby in Florida.
Tarpon Springs resident Joyce Rondos, a transplant from Ohio in 1983, got the airboat bug from her late husband, Steve. He worked for an airboat manufacturer in Tarpon Springs before the owner moved the business to Inverness, in Citrus County.

Steve Rondos, with the help of Joyce, built their own airboat, which is stored on the waterfront in Tarpon Springs. It has a super-charged Lycoming 480-cubic-inch aircraft engine that can reach speeds of 80 miles per hour.

"We take it out in the gulf but it is much nicer to ride on the rivers like those in the Everglades." The airboat runs on aviation fuel available only at airports and now costs around $5 a gallon. "We didn't run it much lately because of the expense," she said

Early on, Joyce Rondos worked as a graphic artist for the now defunct daily newspaper The Clearwater Sun. With that talent it was a natural transition when she started the national Airboating Magazine last year with husband Steve, who died in August.

"It is like Full Throttle," she said, referring to a motorcycle publication. "We saw an opportunity for a niche magazine."

There had been a similar publication that went out of business, she said. Rondos tapped her friend Laurie Hauke, who was a business consultant and an Internet technology professional, to help with the business end, she said.

"We put a plan together." The slick, 72-page bimonthly magazine proved to be a success. Hauke serves as editor.

Many communities have noise ordinances that require airboats to be off the waterways by 10 p.m.

"Despite reports of some communities that airboat noise is excessive," Rondos says "it is not really any louder than 90 decibels at 50 feet."

The average leaf blower measures 70-75 dB at 50 feet, according the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Besides recreational uses, airboats can be functional, such as for search-and rescue missions.

In September, airboats were used to hunt for a missing child in the Orlando area and to rescue residents in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. One such group, the FL-3 Airboat Search and Rescue group, based in Tampa, is composed of law enforcement officers, firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians. The group recently launched Bark Ark, an emergency pet and animal flood rescue program.

Airboating became popular in the 1940s and 1950s in the Florida Everglades, Rondos said, when smaller boats were used mainly for frog gigging, securing frogs with a spear for their legs, considered by some as a delicacy.

Rondos says airboat use now is more prevalent in Central Florida, near lakes Kissimmee, Wales and George near Ocala, and in South Florida.

"It's a lot of fun. I enjoy being on an airboat. There is a lot of beautiful scenery that can be seen in areas that regular boats cannot go. It is something like having a Harley, but with a boat," she said

Tom Jeffords owns Jeffords Airboats in Lake Wales, in Central Florida. He has been building airboats since 1988. Prices vary, starting around $15,000 and top out at $75,000 for a custom boat, said Jeffords.

That $75,000 will get you a top-of-the line product with a 540-cubic-inch Lycoming aircraft engine. The powerful engine predicates "not how fast they go but where they go," said Jeffords, referring to areas such as shallow and low-lying waters, which regular craft cannot navigate.

Not everyone has that kind of money, says Jeffords, so "there are lots of auto-engine boats being built today. The engines are redesigned; "It's not the engine that comes out of a car. It's big-time modified," he said

Patti Kowalski lives in New Port Richey and works for Pasco County government. She developed an interest in airboating around three years ago when she took her first airboat ride. "It was incredible," she says. "You get to see beautiful parts of the country that you wouldn't see on a regular boat, Of course, there is the thrill of the speed," she said with a chuckle.

She praises the camaraderie of the people she meets. Kowalski, a single woman, says: "I feel safe with them," and "I go anytime I have the chance," which often is two or three times a month.

Airboats require ear protection, lifejackets, flares, paddles and a license from the Coast Guard.

For more information on airboating visit http://www.airboatingmagazine.com>, the Florida Airboat Association at http://www.floridaairboat.org>, the West Coast Airboat Club http://westcoastairboatclub.net/ or contact Jeffords Airboats at jeffordsairboats@verizon.net.

For more information on airboating visit http://www.airboatingmagazine.com>, the Florida Airboat Association at http://www.floridaairboat.org>, the West Coast Airboat Club http://westcoastairboatclub.net/ or contact Jeffords Airboats at jeffordsairboats@verizon.net.

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT