It seems like the monitoring of double-dippers on the chip dip had just barely come to an end and the PDB Forum members were already starting to talk about the next gathering. Last September, forum members came together from all across the country to put a face to an avatar and other than a bad storm that blew through on the last day, the event was considered an all-around success.
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Moors Resort on Kentucky Lake hosted the gathering and one of the biggest concerns was how could this party possibly be topped? At the time, it had that impossible-to-improve feeling that the quarterback who followed Joe Montana on the 49'ers must have felt when he had to replace the NFL legend. Oh wait. It was Steve Young who followed Montana by winning the league MVP twice as well as being named the Super Bowl XXIX MVP. And I guess it's worth noting that this southpaw also ended up in the NFL Hall of Fame with Joe Cool. Okay, so it was a bad analogy. But the point is, it's not easy to follow success, or in this case, a successful forum party.
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But as daunting as this task seemed, the first step was to appoint a new leader or someone to take charge if we were going to do this again in 2009. So before anyone was allowed to sneak off or run to their boats, the group began its hunt to fill the shoes of Dave and Alma Richards, AKA Looney Toons, who organized the 2008 event. This couple had a lot of fun, but there was no way we could possibly convince them to do it again. However, someone would need to be our new leader, but who? In the middle of asking the question of who would be crazy enough to volunteer to be the next coordinator, Dan Williams (WoodenPontoon on the forum) came forward and said he'd be glad to organize it. I nearly fell out of the boat when I heard this, but my instability might have had more to do with the third-degree sunburn on my back.. Our search was over; we had our man!
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Williams is based in Vermont, and even though he was willing to travel to Kentucky for last year's party, his first order of business was to get this year's party closer to him. With a plan to attract even more members by shifting the party to a different region, he suggested Lake Raystown in Pennsylvania, and from that point the wheels started turning.
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The next step was to find a resort that would be the ideal place to host the event, and that's where Lake Raystown Resort and Marina (www.raystownresort.com) comes in. If there is a better place to hold a forum party in this area, I'm not aware of it. Camping, lodging, full-marina, rentals, food, etc.-the list of amenities and features that this resort has to offer is nothing short of amazing.
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The secret to making everyone forget how good the 2008 forum party was is to take it to the next level and Williams has done just that. He struck gold when he found a connection to Eric Malone, the seven-time IJSBA freestyle world champion jet skier who is planning on putting on a private exhibition at the party. If you've never seen what this man can do on his PWC, Google him or get on YouTube and do a little search. Your boss might be sorry, but it's worth your time away from your work to watch Malone fly through the air as he does flips in front of cheering crowds.
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For updates on the PDB Forum Party, check back to the forum page at www.pdbmagazine.com as this year's event is sure to be memorable.
