Back to Business June 28th

As life returns to normal in Huntsville after the G8 madness we include today some pictures of our Team Huntsville Marine in their 202 Tournament Crestliner. Ivan at the helm fishing the tournament series mostly Pickeral. You got to like the Mad Fish wrap on the sides! Ivan had a G III last year powered by a Yamaha. Ivan had the G III suffer a major structural problem which put him on the sidelines for over two months as they tried to sort it out. Want to get a pro fisherman excited...take away his boat for mechanical problems for two months during the tournaments. Ivan needed reliability and durability. Changed horses and is now a Crestliner Mercury Optimax runner. Ivan is very impressed with the fuel mileage he is getting with the 250 Optimax.

Last week Huntsville Marine added another member to our Team Huntsville Marine. The Waldock's will be running a Crestliner 1650 Fish Hawk with a 90 Mercury Four Stroke in the local tournaments. Good luck guys!

As we end the month of June and come into July, Huntsville is ready for one of our busiest months of the season. We still have a good selection of new Four Winns, Monterey, Stingray and Crestliner boats in stock. Our new Manitou Pontoons should be arriving very shortly. Huntsville Marine is offering a number of promotions on remaining stock. Rental operations get going big time this week as the vacation cycle begins in Ontario.

The sun has broken out here today and it is a great day in Muskoka. Nice to see some of our regulars back after laying low for a week with the G8 in town. Some of you have read some of my comments on the G8 madness here in Huntsville complete with pictures as it unfolded right in front of my office window. Huntsville was a love in for the security personnel and the town.

As I watched the news from Toronto for the G20...how lucky was Huntsville not to have the G20 here as well. Downtown may have ended up looking like an artillery barrage just happened!

I watched some of the coverage especially late Saturday and I am shaking my head! I just don't get it with the boys and girls in the black outfits. Protesters playing to the media...if the media was not there in mass...does the same destruction and insanity happen? One of my favourite media moments was Ken Shaw reporting. He was hiding out in his camera truck as he was in an unsafe situation surrounded by the protesters he said live. Could not get the mobile camera out the truck! Live the crew put the truck mounted camera extended up out of the top of the truck and...oops there was no protesters within 300' and the ones you saw were just standing around. Spiced that alone up a bit too much!

Tyler would have looked good in a Maple Leaf jersey. Must have been hard for Burk to watch that. Toronto is doing an outstanding job of building the Bruins. In goal Rask...Toronto first round pick. At center Tyler another Toronto first round pick. Coming next on defense one of our best puck moving defense men?

Ouside the Red Zone G8 Awards Banquet

Welcome to the end of the G8 Madness! The Huntsville Event that never was is just about over as the movers and shakers are bugging out to join the big party in Toronto. We had a couple of major motorcades leave just before noon. One was rumoured to be the big man himself The President of US...Obama. Definitely a fast mover with top cover supplier by a green chopper with open doors and most likely bad stuff inside ready and looking for trouble.

The very first picture is our new recreational center also know as The Summit Centre. This was originally going to be the 17 million dollar media center for the G8 till we were pushed aside by the fake lake in Toronto which only cost 2 million.

To celebrate the end or near end of the G8 Huntsville Marine hosted today a lunch presentation. The first ever and last Huntsville G8 awards... The Outside The Red Zone Awards Banquet. Since we spent all that money on The Summit Center we figured we might as well get some use out of it...as it was not busy...in fact empty.

The Outside the Red Zone Awards Banquet

Having the event on short notice and with my son Taylor in the US we needed a master of ceremonies. So Ben Allan got the call was ready willing and eager! We really wanted Ben anyway as the first choice as he is X military and a licenced chopper pilot. Ben managed to fly in under the radar using a cloaking device (top secret stuff) and land just in time at the center. Ben came dressed in his full military uniform so he fit right in...nice helmet by the way! Just saluted acted like a general and walked right into The Summit Center. He wisely left the engines running as we figured the best and brightest would start asking questions at some point and we would very quickly be in deep shit. Anyway here are the awards as presented by Ben...read quickly as this whole thing is going to self destruct in 60 seconds. Huntsville Marine its owners, staff and customers have no knowledge whatsoever about this or anything else about the G8. We deny or make no comment...we were not here...we were actually in Scotland the whole time checking out boats and eating Hagis...really we were!

Best Motorcade

June 26 around noon. Pictures are enclosed. I really liked the guys in the black SUV with the guns hanging out the windows. Rumour has it that it was Obama!

Best Fly Over

Whoever was flying the F18 before the event doing the low passes over Fairy and Penn Lakes. Man were they loud! That little event must of resulted in a few phone calls as whoever that was never was seen again. Only very high top cover on the 24th.

Best Protest

Hands down the Buddhist Monk! Anyone who walks here from Toronto beating a drum the hole way stands out. I got a headache just form him walking by.

Best Unscripted Event

The British Prime Minister going for a dip in Penn. No word yet if he had trunks. Hope so as there is very big Pike in there as well as a very large snapping turtle.

Best and Most Expensive Photo Ever

The leaders of the G8 standing on the grass (it was AstroTurf) in front of the Deerhurst docking bay. We spent 16.5 million on flowers for the two events and this was the best we could do?

Dumbest Photo

The leaders of the G8 trying to paint on a picture being completed at Deerhurst. Who thinks up this stuff! Apparently we paid a consultant $165,000 to get the art work just right!

Best Boat

The 25' twin 300 Verado inflatable at about $325,000 each and yes there were several. Way over the top for Penn Lake!

This brings to a conclusion the G8 coverage from Huntsville Marine. I see several guys and a lady in uniforms chasing Ben. Thank Ben...Exit stage right!

Where Did All These Choppers Come From?

I live just on the southern border of Deerhurst or about 1 kilometer away. Last night starting at around 7:30 the air lift started. Top cover supplied by an F18 above the clouds, below that some prop driven spotter plane and just below that the green Helios. Just after 8:00 PM and continuing till midnight the choppers just kept on coming mostly in pairs. Could not miss them at they came in and exited right over the house. Very very loud and the dogs did not like them. Wonder which neighbour we borrowed the choppers from?

Yesterday we had the Council of Canadians protest here at the marina. Brenda and I watched the CTV National news at 11:00Pm with Lloyd Roberson anxious to see us on the national news. Huntsville Marine is going to make the national news....this would be a first. Nope did not happen...no way...we were ripped off. We had a puff piece from the Deerhurst balcony about the Huntsville love in to date. That guy had nothing to noteworthy to say just dead air time waste. As I mentioned the media here is like a pack of hungry wolfs circling just waiting to strike their prey. They are absolutely starving for news here to report. Potentially hundreds of thousands spent by the news and not a good story yet to report. The only comment on CTV we got was that a peace full protest by the council of Canadians took place and that left form the Huntsville docks. Nothing like getting the story right!

The motorcades passed us by around noon and the total number was three. Motorcycles screaming at the lead...not much of a highlight event. Chopper overhead of the procession for top cover protection. Lots of media trying to take a picture of a car travelling in excess of 80 kil. difficult to get a good shot...I tried...probably why they move so fast...safer if someone is pointing something at them other than a camera.

Russian diplomats in today for a boat rental to see the sights...obviously not going to the meeting which was in progress at that time. These guys have special cards exempting them from all sales taxes...nice! Couple of customers in today saying not much going on downtown today...protesters apparently our of gas or stayed in Toronto. Huntsville is much happier if they did.

Delivered two new Crestliner fishing boats today! Had to throw some marine talk in here somewhere. Next week I will have to talk more about the actual marine business...I will be just like the media looking for something interesting to say.

I understand my blog is now being read in Australia. Hello to the land down under and by the way George misses you and the baby. If Australia has a boating story send it my way and I will put it on the blog. Pictures are good too!

June 24th Huntsville Marine In the Spotlight

The G8 has arrived at Huntsville Marine. Well a small protest anyway. Today Huntsville Marine was the starting spot for the protest or message to the G8 and G20 by the Council of Canadians. The Council rented our pontoon boats and took some of the media on a tour of Fairy Lake and in particular to the mouth of the canal where boat traffic is blocked. I swear we are under surveillance as within 5 minutes of the Council arriving the OPP was here and questioning intent. Commissioner Fantino the head of the OPP arrived in full dress uniform as was put out to sea in an OPP boat to guide the troops. The Commissioner was there to watch the Council trying to breach I believe the canal security. It is all about spin and who controls it! Someone please explain to me how we got here. Style and spin over substance...the protesters, the politicians, the media and life in general. Two rental boats plus a couple of canoes surrounded by a flotilla of OPP boats....a great photo opportunity. At one point we had some 100 plus camera crew and journalists here at the marina all looking for that elusive 6:00Pm sound bite for us to chew on. It to date has been so quiet here in Huntsville that the national media desperately needs something to happen. The OPP is doing a great job. There is literally an OPP officer at every corner, in cars, walking around or on a bike. If you are a bad OPP officer they put you on a bike in the pouring rain. Now with the headlines at 6:00 and 11:00.....the dreaded dead air syndrome. More puff pieces to fill the hour...anybody got a good dog story. It is just like the Don Henley song about the bubble headed bleach blond who comes on at five! Too bad I could not see what happened on the lake. And yes I was asked to be filmed the answer was still no!

I did get waved at last night by the sniper on Brown's road who was very very wet! The soldiers on brown's road looks like they are being punished. A crappy pup tent on a muddy hill in the middle of 1 million mosquitos. They are unfortunately just out of the no fly zone! Lots of rain here last night and this morning.

I included some pictures of Fantino loading up and yes he was wearing a life jacket with the media horde trying to get just the right picture. You can also see one of the interviews taking place.

Other than that still somewhat quiet on the protest front. Tomorrow big day at the bridge with two scheduled protests. Might be our last chance to make the news at 6:00.

Earthquake in Huntsville & G8 Stuff

At about 1:45Pm today the marina was shaking for some 5 to 6 seconds. Turns out that we had a special G8 earthquake in this area. Apparently it measured 5.1 on the Richter Scale. Was this a planned event by the protesters? Speaking of protesters, I have now seen my first one passing the marina. The Budish Monk passed here about 1:00 Pm banging his drum and chanting. i was told this guy walked all the way from Toronto. Not that is some determination on his part to get his point across and peacefully at that! Recent update on the earthquake is that it was actually a 5.5 and was centered 34 kilometres north of Ottawa. Strange but the quake happened almost to the second when the G8/G20 Chinese group landed in Ottawa. More great stuff for conspiracy theories.

I have included some pictures of the task force boats protecting the Deerhurst site in for fuel. Twin 300 Mercury Verados....very nice about 300K a piece. Lots of guns very serious stuff. Nothing like having a police officer all dresses in black in your showroom with a 9 mm machine gun. All new meaning to peace and serenity in Muskoka!

So far it has been pretty quiet on the trouble front here in Huntsville with the G8. Thursday and Friday should tell the tale here for what bad is going to happen. Scary stuff as I just heard they arrested a guy in Toronto with bombs!

You can get to the marina there is one checkpoint across from the water treatment plant which will let you into the marina with photo ID. Just had a conversation with a potential boat buyer in North Bay. they felt the earthquake there too! Huntsville Marine does get alot of boat shopping form North Bay and farther north as we are a Crestliner dealer and almost always better priced.

By the way...we are selling boats this week on our G8 sale! If you are in the market...give me a call. I see alot of you are on our site looking at our stock. Mercury Ouboard 5 year included extended warranty free program ends June 3oth.

On Saturday Brenda and I escaped the marine business for a few moments to go to Waterloo for my son Shayne's convocation. Shayne graduated from the University of Waterloo in Mechanical Engineering. Getting his math smarts from his mom, Shayne made the Deans Honour List plus graduated with distinction. The included picture is Shayne with his proud mom.

My daughter Jaclyn and her significant other of some 900 years Ben came home for the weekend before the G8 madness. I ws paroled early from the marina for Father's Day. They made me me supper too and just for the record Ben did more work than Jaclyn! Jaclyn is just finishing up her CMA this week so she and Ben have not been able to make it home for awhile.

My other son Taylor and Shayne are off to Coopersville in Pennsilvania were shayne has accepted a job and will most likely be there for the next 5 years. Taylor is helping with the moving and will be returning on the weekend.

On the G8 front somewhat quiet till Sunday when they opened the check points at Deerhurst. Traffic on Highway 60 increasing daily. Lots of military today with armoured personnel carriers all headed to Deerhurst. We had a flyby of a couple of Blackhawks gunships guns ready to roll.

It is official we have our first confirmed sighting of the subs in Penn Lake.

Tuesday and Wenesday apparently we have all the military and police coming out of the bushes and front and center. Either going to be great or very scary! Police and fire departments are here from throughout Canada.

Ramping Up to the G8

Sorry no pictures today as I left my camera at home. Looking our over Highway 60 everyday you can certainly see an increase and a big one at that in G8 traffic. All the security guys are hustling back and forth along with the buses carrying you knows what staff. Right in front of Deerhurst just past Canal road they have installed an additional traffic light to regulate traffic I assume. This is forcing waves of traffic past the marina every 5 minutes.

Yesterday we had a fly over from a F18...Canadian I hope just to wake everyone up. Did a good job too...no afterburners or broken sound barriers. The tanks and armoured personnel carriers are ready, the missiles are ready, the subs are ready...just waiting for our leaders.

Huntsville Marine will be open as usual through the G8 madness. We had a nice visit yesterday from Petro Canada. He wanted us to know that we may be picketed as a Petro dealer. Apparently it is suggested that we wave a phone number in front of any protester and not say "no comment". Apparently this is bad for press coverage. I truly hope as the business owners and home owners of Huntsville dig their slit trenches, consider boarding up their windows and stringing barbed wire....that those who want to protest are at least respectful of others. Huntsville Marine is not the problem, nor is the Esso gas station just sown the road. I know the owner of Three Guys and I do not see any problems there.

On a positive side Huntsville Marine is going to have a G8 Madness sale on Monterey, Crestliner and Four Winns boats. This will be are only sale of the summer season! If you do not want to visit we can send pictures.

Next week should be one of the most interesting weeks in the 24 years my wife and I have owned Huntsville Marine. I hope it is a positive experience! I should be able to post some interesting pictures. No photo ops for the political elite...just the sights and sounds of the G8 going right by my door.

Mysterous Sighting off Antler Island Fairy Lake

This picture on the bottom has been passed on to me secretly of coarse, as one of the three (3) mini subs witnessed recently being launched at Avery Beach. Quite the site...I wish I was there. Getting into the spirit of this event, one business in beautiful downtown Huntsville is selling T shirts. Nice way to cash in on an event that local business is not making any dough on! No word yet whether these are nuclear powered and how many torpedo's on board. The picture on the top is more of the mysterious fog over just the side south side of Fairy Lake this week. Are the two connected? Why is the CBC and Global not covering this? Is the fog to hide the subs and Navy Seals protecting the world's leaders? More G8 madness and some if it is by me.

Just because I am being watched for sure by security for the G8 or should be none of this is true I think...maybe...sort of...don't ask don't tell! The picture rally is of a 1904 submarine purchased by the Japanese from the Americans to start up there U boat fleet. More followed in subsequent years and a few decades latter all this good neighbour policy was used against the United States and British Empire including Canada also know as the mess called the Second World War.

Quite a bit of rain here last night at the marina looks like more than one inch. Cloudy today and cooler today with temperatures in the 60's. Still very busy here today with people picking up their storage boats before the G8 lock down starts a week Monday or the 21st.

As you can most likely tell I like to make some fun of the G8 madness. Not so much the event as face time between the world's leaders is a good thing. I do have a problem with the waste for the photo ops which is our fault as well as it affects our thinking and therefore how we choose to vote.

One of our long term customers from Alberta called today and is coming this way after the G8. He had the pleasure of being a resident in the town when Alberta was selected to host this event some eight years ago. He most definitely said you will be very very very glad when it is all over. at times it was not pretty and from the business side there was no upside except for a very few. Time will tell! Taking or being given the day off tomorrow. Lots to do at home including the garden.

June 11th A Very Strange Mist

Good morning form the centre of the universe also know throughout the land as the focal point for much concern over the world's most expensive party. Bye the way I still do not have an invitation!

Following the reports that are not confirmed of bug spraying in the Deerhurst area ( I have n0 first hand knowledge that this actually occurred) this is for the benefit of CSIS/RCMP/OPP who are doing a great job of hiding in the bushes right now. Actually I will have to give them credit as there is pile of them in town but they are doing a good job of being low profile before the actual event. Anyway they have a job to do and it is important protecting the world's leaders from those looking to make an statement and not a good one at that.

This is a picture looking south towards Twin Sister Islands of a strange mist or cloud over just the south side of Fairy Lake. The date stamp in the lower right hand corner is actually wrong by a day...I will have to fix that. This type of mist is not unusual in the months of October and November. Very...Very... strange! Conspiracy of some sort? Left over Mustard gas from the First World War? Maybe we have borrowed the Klingon clocking device that Captain Kirk was always trying to steal in Startrek.

Life is definitely busy here this week at the marina. Just ask Kristin at the waterfront who has her hands full trying to get the storage boats and new delivery boats cleaned up and ready for the weekend. Our waterfront staff of Kristin, Jamie and Emma are doing a great job!

It has been an interesting week, my wife Brenda is in Iowa at a snowmobile meeting in a town I believe called Corralville or something close. This is a nice little town in the middle of a corn field.

Chris our new boat prep technician stepped on a tennis ball the wrong way on the weekend at home an twisted his ankle. Took Monday off but swollen ankle and all back to work on Tuesday to make sure the new boat deliveries are good to go. Huntsville Marine is fortunate to have the best staff in the Muskoka's....real dedication.

At this time of the year all the staff including myself is running on fumes. We will get a rest shortly during the G8. We expect to use this time to clean up some loose ends, do some maintenance and yard work. We will be here and available during this event.

Huntsville Marine and in many cases myself continues to take calls from storage customers looking to have their boats taken out of storage and placed in operational readiness on 24 hours notice or less. I realize that most of you do not realize the amount of logistics and preparation it takes to place your pride and joy into summer readiness. Huntsville Marine stores some 500 units in three locations. All boats must be moved to the highway 60 main location for service, water testing and detailing. Huntsville Marine is the only marine facility that water test all of it storage boats in the lake under actual operating conditions. This takes considerable time but we feel it is worth the effort. Our competition in Huntsville and the immediate surrounding area are all dry land operations. One of our competitors does not even have any inside storage space and shrink wraps all of its storage boats of which Huntsville Marine does not recommend on newer boats. A true situation of less for less although not much less. Anyway in order to do the job right we continue to ask for a minimum of two weeks notice. You demand of us good service as you should...give us the opportunity to serve you and your family the right way. Huntsville Marine was chosen as the areas best marine/a center. Doing the job right is one reason you the boating public chose us for this award over the competiton. During the months of May and June priority for us is boat storage and delivering the new boats we contracted with you to have ready for particular dates. Regualr service coming in the front door during storage periods sometimes will have to wait for the loyal customers who paid their storage fees in the fall.

Nice sunny day here at the marina...lots to get done before Saturday...more latter! Have a great weekend and go boating!

Exclusive Dealership For Huntsville Marine

We have broken our seemingly uninterrupted cycle of July weather in April and May and for the last week our normal early June weather has prevailed. It was raining here this morning but now as the day progresses the Sun has peaked out and blue sky is the order of the day. I had commented earlier that the mosquito and black fly situation here at the marina and immediately surrounding area was extremely low for this time of year. When you travel out of this area for example to Moon River near Mactier or to the Dorset area the bugs seem to be more normal.

Huntsville Marine is proud to announce that we have been selected to represent the award winning line of pontoon boats from Manitou. We are now the exclusive agent for a large portion of Ontario including Muskoka, Haliburton over into Greogian Bay and up to the North Bay area. More to follow on this in the near future on this exciting addtion to the Huntsville Marine boat lines. Our first product is ordered and will be arriving late in June. This has been an event full year for Huntsville Marine with the Reader Choice Award, the awarding of the Stingray Powerboat Dealership and now Manitou. We are definitely on a role and have perhaps the best boat lineup bare none in Muskoka and perhaps Ontario.

For those history buffs today is a very famous day! June 6, 1944 also know as D Day the Allies attack on Normandy on the coast of France took place. The movie Saving Private Ryan does an excellent job of showing the carnage on the beaches especially for the Americans on Ohama beach. The Canadain's suffered too and showed great determination on this bloody day and where the only forces to achieve their objectives. Lots of brave men and women lost...could we still make the sacrifices if we had to? Lots of hard fighting followed with many many young Canadians never returning.

The G8 rumour mill is active with one of the latest information surrounding mysterious spraying of insecticide at night in the Huntsville and Penn Lake areas. No confirmation on this strictly a rumour...most likely our government would never admit this for liability reasons. There was also a periscope sighting of Twin Sister last week as well as a collision with a boat and underwater object in a previously okay area near the canal I have been informed. The presence of the army and security forces increases daily as we approach lunch with the Prime Minister. I for one will be glad when it is over! I hold out hope that for 1 billion that something good comes from this other than a few good pictures. Lots of negative letters to the editors in the local press over the costs involved with this event and the G20. Politics is a blood sport and getting to power and keeping it is everything! Our federal representative has apparently handed out some 70 million in grants in this area for the G8 party. We the people even gave 400K to the restoration of the Bigwin Island Fairy. We continue to be bribed with our own money collected in taxes. Huntsville Marine is a tax collector as is every other business. I think we all realize that some taxation is necessary but it is just the prudent use of this hard earned money is what we expect. I do not blame the Tories for spending this money as the Liberals would do exactly the same if they had the chance and did it for years when they were in power. Unfortunately until voting patterns change and we hold our elected officials to a much higher standard...it is business as usual. By the way the press is up to their necks in this mess as well..when it changed years ago from news reporting to entertainment the truth and a good means of a counter check on excess were lost. A week ago I had a major news service here at the marina and man was he mad and rude when I would not go on the air on camera and say something negative for them. had a bad experience and they can edit comments to anything they want. Besides I have said enought already about this party and I am sure there are listing devices in the marina. If I am not here when you visit us this is most likely caused by me being locked up as a trouble maker in the Baysville Area...the world's coldest area by the way.

This was another busy week here at the marina continuing on with continuing to splash storage boats out of storage for the summer. We will be done with storage in a couple of weeks and life here at the marina becomes a little more sane. it has been an unbelievably busy year so far which has pushed the facility and staff to the absolute limit. For those who have not worked in this industry in the spring...many don't survive...it is too much too fast with huge weather and logistical issues.

The Blue Jays are hanging tough against the Yanks....good for them. Attendance is starting rise again as they show they can compete. Big Ben made it to training camp without getting into more trouble...maybe there is hope in Steeler world. I still think he is gone during the season when the first QB starter goes done on a contender.

Yesterday there was a Penquin sighting near the Wallmart plaza in Huntsville! Jaclyn does not belive in this or owls either. By the way this group of Penquins at Wallmart does actually work, each has its own computer and they all pull their weight equally...no slackers allowed! This is an inside joke for my daughter just finishing up her CMA in Toronto.

The sun has returned to Muskoka! Anyone seen a mosquito in Huntsville lately? Just asking not making any claims here...there are missles pointed at me as I speak from the other side of Fairy Lake. Someone pushes the button and I am a piece of charcoal!

And The Sun Just Keeps on Shinning!

Hello from the former beautiful Huntsville in the heart of Muskoka. It has been so hot here...I think the equator has moved north to the 62 parallel. We have been fortunatel to have recieved about an 1' of rain in the lst week which has fallen in the evenings. The fire ban continues as we are still very very dry and dusty. Compared to last year the blackflies and mosquitos have taken a holiday.

Huntsville Marne has placed some 160 boats in the water in the last 20 days. we have accomplished this in many days of 90 degree weather. If you have every opened a boat top on a day like we have been having..it is very hard on the staff to work inside the boat where temperatures are over 100 degrees.

The picture shows our planting which we are continuing to work on. Flowers to be planted this week...got to get the boats done first. As I sit here today we have 10 new boat units going in the water on Saturday...should be be quite the day!

The countdown to Tofino contiunes with 116 days remaining. Apparently small planes crash here or along this coast more often than we normally here about. I will be scratching this off my list of things to do.

The inventory shortage continues and in fact is getting worse. If you are considering a new boat this year...now is the time. Boat prices are rising again sue to shortages and the weakening of the Canadain dollar.