Hundreds, maybe even thousands, are expected to hit the St. Johns River on Friday for “Boater Skip Day,” an unofficial annual holiday where people play hooky for a day on the water.
Last year, Sky4 flew over the gigantic party and saw hundreds of boats.
Boater Skip Day has quickly become one of the most anticipated and well-attended boating events of the year in NE Florida with hundreds of boats in attendance and growing each year.
Boaters of all types “skip” work on the first Friday of every June and head to Marker 24 at Bayard Point in Clay County to celebrate this fun, unofficial holiday on the water.
Evolving from the Friday Poker Run Raft Up, Boater Skip Day slowly became a small party on the water when more and more people and organizations got involved. Over the years, live music and floating food trucks were added. Soon, the event took on a life of its own very quickly, and North Florida Marine Association member, Jill Haskell, came up with the name “Boater Skip Day.”
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office has a few tips for boaters ahead of the big event. Don’t operate your boat while under the influence, pack smart, park in the proper designated space and don’t park in the spaces used for people with trailers.
More than 4,000 people have marked that they were “interested” in the event on Facebook.