2011 Tournament
9/15/11- Look for prize lists this weekend. Weather is looking good. Stay tuned for updates. Like of Facebook page to stay in touch.
5/23/2011 - The planning is underway and we are excited about hosting a 2011 event. New for 2011 is elimination of Snook division. After two years of difficult snook conditions and poor results, the tournament board felt the tournament would be more competitive with a Red/Trout grand slam prize. We are also expanding the Jr.Angler division to encourage younger participants. Follow the site, our facebook page and our new forum to stay up to date on the tournament.
2010 Tournament
9/18/2010- 89 Degrees and mostly sunny! 7 day weather looks inviting. This "cool" weather has the fish chewing. Should be a great day!
9/15/2010- Remember to come early to the CPT's meeting for food and beverages and just general hanging out. Strike Zone will be open during the meeting so you can buy those last minute necessities! We'll start serving around 5:45-6:00
8/31/2010- Coming into tournament month and I'll officially start working harder for all of you than I do for my employer. Probably not a great career builder, but it makes me a good guy, right?
We're in the midst of finalizing the prizes right now, but I can tell you that we'll have a very similar offering to last years prizes. It's a tough market out there, but we've found a way to bring you the same prize package nearly item for item. I'm sitting here looking at 3 new Adventure Technology Paddles and about $4,000 in other prizes that we can't wait to give away and my wife can't wait to get out of our living room!
If you haven't had a chance to check out our facebook page, we're at Indian River Kayak Fishing. More news to follow there.
4/25/2010 - Coastal Charities announces Tournament date of September 25th, 2010. More news coming soon!
2009 Tournament
9/18/09 - Got a pic of our winner in his new yak with a nice little snooker...Thanks for all the emails congratulating Coastal Charities for putting together such a fun and exciting weekend of fish and fishing stories. Looking forward to a great event next year. Check back in near the end of the month as I work to get the forum up and running.
9/12/09 - What a great and wonderful day of fishing. Congrats to our Slam Winnner Alex Gorichky and his new Malibu Stealth. Although the anglers had to deal with some windy conditions, 20 of our 47 anglers brought pictures to the "pic" in. Check out the gallery on the main page to get a flavor of our group.
9/11/09- Thanks to the Melbourne Strike Zone and Gills restaurant for hosting and catering out Captain's Meeting. We have 47 excited anglers looking forward to winning something in out collections of $6,500 worth of raffle items and prizes! They've come from Tampa, Jacksonville, DC and Boston for the event.....Go Figure, huh? Boston took home a new Tilley hat and a St Croix spinning rod, not bad.
9/9/09 - Weather appears to be cooperating. We are a go for this weekend. See everyone Friday night at the Melbourne Strike Zone.
9/4/09 -Still plenty of time to register. I talk to people everyday about the event. We're going to have a good field anglers, so bring your best effort!
9/3/09 - Everything seems to be shaping up. No storm systems to concern our paddlers. While I think everyone will be dealing with very high water next weekend, it appears that weather will not give us any more heartache than some afternoon showers. Make sure you're double checking your safety gear and cleaning out your camera. I don't really want to see pics of your last trip to the Grand Canyon.
8/29/08 - Thanks to Hook1 at kayakfishinggear.com for coming on board as a sponsor for the event.
8/27/09 - Listen for us on AM740 The Game on Saturday morning the 30th between 6 and 8 for news and info. We'll announce a special coupon to keep the entry fee low for another week. $60 is gone, but you can still get in for less than $75 by visiting our sponsors. Thanks and listen in.
8/18/09 - A couple folks have asked about the Forum for the site. It will be live soon. The goal is to have it up and running before the event.
8/17/09 - We're still adding prizes to the event (added Stowmaster Nets last night!) so be sure to check out the prize page regularly as some shuffling may occur to keep the packages balanced and our sponosors happy. After all, what are we without the sponsors? If you have questions or comments, shoot me an email at bryan.cheek@coastalcharities.org
8/16/09 - We added Skwoosh as a sponsor today. Thank you to the folks at Skwoosh for coming in and getting us prizes as well as Cpt's bag items.
8/15/09 After a couple weeks of sweat and tears we have brought our site to life.I
first thought about running a tournament about 7 years ago when I
lived in Jacksonville. There was little
motivation on my part outside of just hosting an event. Fast forward
to 12 months ago and the director of the Brevard Zoo introduced me to
the “No Child Left Inside” campaign and the book “Last Child in
the Woods” by Richard Louv. We were discussing how hard it is for
children to truly experience the outdoors in the same manner we did
as children. You know, “Hey Mom, I’ll be back for dinner” and
off you’d go to play in the river or follow a stick down a creek
for hours on end. I have 6 and 7 year old boys. It struck me as odd,
that for their friends that did manage to get out from behind the
television and computer, their activities were all organized and
generally limited to a soccer or baseball field. They were always
under close supervision. For children today, there is little
opportunity for self discovery and the amazing developmental growth
that occurs when you get out on your own.
That
takes me to Coastal Charities, Inc. While I’m fairly unqualified to
put together a program that allows for unsupervised time in the
Lagoon, I certainly can develop an organization that funds activities
to familiarize children with something other than a baseball, soccer,
or football (nothing wrong with those, my kids play hockey as
well). If we
can open up the wonders of the Lagoon for just one child that hasn’t
been exposed before, we’ll call this a success. If we can get one
kid with a fishing pole in his hand, a paddle on his lap or a pair of
wading boots on his feet, we have started a process that will stay
will him or her for the rest of their lives. We have such a
wonderful “playground” right in our backyard, it’s a shame that
more kids don’t get out and play in it every day.
I
called upon a group of local businessmen and women in December 2008
and shared these thoughts. I asked them to help me start this
organization and use a kayak tournament for the funding. On that
day, we started what I hope will be a long and fulfilling endeavor.
We also decided on that day that 100% of tournament proceeds will
support the Coastal Charities mission. Operating funds for the
organization have and will come from board members, friends, family
and local business’ financial support.
When we created Coastal Charities, Inc. we also decided that running a tournament would be enough work for everyone. For at least the first year, we will focus on running the tournament and allow the board to decide, through grant requests, what programs to fund. One example of the programs we invision supporting is in place at the Brevard Zoo right now. If you’d like to see more about their programs, please visit
and explore the Zoo School and Lagoon Quest programs.http://www.brevardzoo.org/education/partner%20programs
I’m in my 4th year as board member of the Zoo. I know and understand the role these programs play, and I am comfortable they will provide the kind of direction our children need. In time, we hope to develop and run our own programs. But, at the end of the day, none of us make any money doing this and our paying jobs do require some attention from time to time.
I hope this sufficiently answers the questions anyone might have about the Sponsoring entity for our event. Please feel free to contact me atbryan.cheek@coastalcharities.org .