Intro

Brian 0:10

Well, welcome back to the Vero Beach Podcast. I'm Brian.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

And I'm Shauna.

Brian 0:13

And today we are sitting here with Chris Woodruff from Vero Tackle and Water Sport. Now, did I say your last name right, Chris? Yeah, that's correct.

Who Is Chris?

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Woodruff. Yep.

Brian 0:21

Wow. I was gonna say it nailed it. Like, that's not normal. And usually, if people pay attention, they'll realize I only say the first name, not usually the last name, because I'm like, I'm not even going into it.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

You got brave and you went for it.

Brian 0:31

I went for it. We're so glad that you're joining us today for the Vero Beach podcast. So why don't you go ahead and take about 30 seconds to tell us a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_00 0:38

My name's Chris Woodruff. Uh, I own Vero Tacklin Water Sports. We do most things on the water in the area, uh, from fishing charters to boat rentals to tiki boat to sightseeing boats, howderboarding kayak, beach chairs, and cabanas. I'll do pretty much anything not to have to wear shoes.

unknown 0:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

I miss my hauling.

Roots and Water

Brian 1:01

Oh my gosh. We're gonna share a little bit of our experience because we did we did rent one of your boats recently when Shauna's mom visited, and I know now we're like, we're gonna do it all the time. Before we moved to Vero, we've lived in Florida for I don't know now, what, 13 years? But we've always, whenever we visit somewhere, we always rent a boat. So once we moved here, I was like, we gotta find a place to rent a boat. I want to get out on the water. There's just something different about getting out in the water, which I'm sure we'll talk about. So, Chris, how did the water become such a big part of your life?

SPEAKER_00 1:28

So I grew up in San Diego on the water, uh, surfing, sailing, doing all the things you do in Southern California. And so that was just always in my blood, just always be near the water. It's just what I always did. And I moved here in 2004. My uncle worked for Harbor Branch is doing fish research, and I came here on vacation. And so I came here visiting him in January, February, and was like, wait, you can wear shorts and flip-flops in January, February. Because even in San Diego, they're really good at making you think that it's warm, but it's really not. And right, they're good marketing, but uh is not true. Um, and so I was like, wait, this is amazing! Like, you know, we could do that uh, you know, water activities year round, and then you have the lagoon, which is just wonderful exploration and so many different types of water activities, which you really in California have surfing, scuba diving, sailing, fishing. That's about it. Like there really isn't a whole lot else to do, which is all those things are wonderful, but but here they just the lagoon in general sandbar hopping, powderboard and kayaking exploration, fishing, it's just phenomenal.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

So we're trying to work that out too, as far as when we lived in Ohio, we always would come to Florida for vacation, always because we love Florida. And then when we moved here, we're like, okay, now we're gonna explore other parts of the country, but we still haven't. We're still like we go all over Florida because we love the beach so much.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

And I know there's lots of beaches, but I we love Florida, like we were meant to live in Florida, and there's so many different parts of it too, like South Florida, Central, and Northern are completely different areas. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

Going to the springs or so many cool things.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

You can go from the keys to the springs, like that is a totally different vibe, and both amazing.

Sandbar Hopping

Brian 3:06

Now we have not drove to the key keys yet, but we've talked about it. Right, we heard it's just amazing.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Just the drive alone's fantastic.

Brian 3:14

That's what we've heard. That's what we've been told. So, like, we're definitely gonna put it on our to-do list for sure. You said sandbar hopping too. Uh so tell us a little bit about that. Like, what do you mean? Because there might be people listening going, what do you mean sandbar hopping? What is that?

SPEAKER_00 3:26

It's one of the great Florida treasures, actually, is the Indian River Lagoon uh in this particular area, and then you have the inlets which forms these little sandbars and crystal clear water, and they turn into a place where people meet and hang out for the day, and you know, barbecue, or just generally hang out on floaties, and it's a whole day event. And it's it's like I think Florida version of tailgating in a way.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Yeah, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Yeah, yeah. So you show up at the sandbar, you grab an anchor, or you know, beach it, and just spend the day and just hang out, and and it's just absolutely beautiful and fantastic experience. And that's actually what a lot of our boat rentals do is that's their whole goal is to rent it for a half day or a full day, and they go right to the cove or the Sebastian sandbar and they just park it and just hang out.

Brian 4:09

When we rented the boat, they were telling us about this the sandbars or the little islands and stuff. So we we found one and we're like, uh, let's pull off here and we'll just see what it's like. And I was like, this is cool, but then I found there was a trail and it took over and there's this picnic table, it's got its own little private beach. I was like, Whoa, this is incredible. This is not what I expected at all. So very cool.

Why Vero Beach?

SPEAKER_00 4:30

That exploration, that's it. Finding a new island that's your new favorite island. Like, I have my own camping island that's my favorite. Um yeah, a little either boat to it or uh powderboard or kayak out to it. You could spend the weekend on it in the wintertime and gets a little buggy in the summer. Sure. Um, but in the winter, it's fantastic. Just throw up a tent, spend the weekend, go fishing.

Brian 4:49

That's pretty cool. I never really thought about that. Like, so you can kayak to like some of these islands and just camp out. That's right. Oh man, I think me and Ashland's gonna have to plan a trip here. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, okay, so what led you to Vero Beach then?

SPEAKER_00 5:02

That's a good question. So I was working in Fort Pierce, uh, in a totally different industry as a service advisor at a BMW dealership. So, but I I had a lot of interaction with Vero because we were in Fort Pierce. We had Vero and Stuart, right? Like we were right in the middle of the two, which was funny. Vero people always wanted a dealership and Vero and Stewart people always wanted one in Stewart, but the distance you couldn't have both, so they put the dealer right in the middle with some just upset both and the most mutually beneficial for yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

It was really right, right.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

It was so funny to look at it on the back end of that. It's like, well, yeah, that has to be here, or I can't do both, right? Like, you know, because there's a mile gap between dealers, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:38

Oh my goodness.

I Bet I Can Make a Living Doing This

What Is A Slip?

SPEAKER_00 5:38

So it was really funny. Um, but yeah, so I had a lot of interaction with Vero, and then um I ended up coming up here a lot to just hang out, and then I I just uh I got a lot of opportunities. I actually started a meetup group while working at BMW and I started giving paddleboard lessons on the weekends, right? It was just like a hobby, you know, trying to get back to my water roots. And so I started doing that Saturdays, Sundays, uh, occasional weekday sunsets in the summer, and I did that for a year and towards the end of the year, and and it wasn't a business, it was a hobby. And and at the end of the year, it was like, wow, I actually did pretty good money on this. Like, there's some cash in this account. Like, I did not expect that. And then I'm starting to get as the year goes on, I'm getting kind of burnt out from doing both two, and which didn't help either. And so it was like, I kind of don't want to do the car dealership thing anymore. I'm kind of over it, I've been doing it forever, and so like, I bet you I can make a living doing just this, and it's not gonna be a lot, but it's gonna be just enough to get by. And the other part of that, I'm seeing a lot of really wealthy people that are miserable every day, too. Yes, right. So I was like, wait, money really isn't the thing. Like, I would I like kind of be happy and make just enough and and be really stoked on what I'm doing every day. And so I quit my job and I rented a slip at Riverside Cafe in the marina back there from Vero Tackle. And it was just a slip, and I put a floating dock in it, and we were the first mobile, and then part of that moving to Vera was that opportunity, right? Like um, I rented a slip, we're the first kayak location that had an address that wasn't just doing mobile drop-offs, you know. So you could go to us, you had a place to go, we waited for you to go and come back. Like it was run like a business, you know. Um, and so we did that for a couple years, and then um Kimpton asked us to do water sports there, and we ended up doing uh cabanas also to make it kind of make sense because you can only do beach activities for um, you know, the summertime, really. So it's like, well, I bet you I could be here year round if we do cabanas, and then that kind of snowballed into like, well, I bet you I can do beach chairs, and then all the other resorts started noticing what we were doing, and it kind of snowballed into doing the the beach activities. And then in 2018, I got the opportunity to buy the tackle shop and the marina.

Brian 7:45

So let me ask you about what do you mean by you rented a slip? What is a slip?

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Just a boat slip, so just one little slot in a 30 slip marina. I just rented one little parking spot basically. Okay, and then I I I put in a floating dock in it, and uh, we have this really cool kayak launch too. It's like a cradle that it sits in. So uh you set the kayak in it.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Have you seen that? I have seen that so nice, it makes life so much easier for watching.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

So do you do like for new kayak users?

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Yeah, so you let them get in the kayak and then you just drop them?

Brian 8:13

Is that what you do?

SPEAKER_00 8:13

Or no, and it's a plastic, it's like part of the floating dock, it's like an extension at the end and it's a cradle. Uh, we set the kayak in it, you stand on the kayak, sit down, and then there's little that's almost I call it ninja warrior, where you just go back to the next notch, and so it's completely self-serving. Like you once you're in the kayak, you can just slide yourself out or slide yourself back in.

Chris' Entrepueneral Journey

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Oh, you remember like how hard it is to get yourself into a kayak without flipping over.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

That's right. Yeah, and getting out's the worst because you've been sitting for a couple hours, you're kind of stiff, and like you just you have no mobility, there's no graceful way to do it.

Brian 8:44

Yeah, what got you started as an entrepreneur here in Indian River County then?

Opportunity Handled Well, Leads To More Opportunities

SPEAKER_00 8:49

For many years, I actually wanted to start my own business. Um, I'd always kind of had that entrepreneurial spirit, I just didn't have a direction to focus it on. I actually thought it was gonna be a pizza place. Um, I I ran a pizza place in high school in California, and so I'll commonly answer the phone with my friends, Papatoni's Pizza Impasta, pick up her delivery. So I said it a million times, you know, and I ended up becoming the manager in high school. Right. So, like I know pizza well, but there's also a ton of pizza places in town. I just really didn't want to get into that. So, and and I honestly really wasn't trying to be an entrepreneur, I just didn't want to work in the car dealerships anymore, which was interesting though, because that taught me all the things I need to know, right? Like as a service advisor, you have all the responsibility and none of the authority, right? Like, I can't make the parts guy order the right part, I can't make the technician do the work, I can't make the the you know, car wash guy not scratch the car or do it faster. But I also have to report to the customer at every step of the way exactly what's happening, when it's going to be ready, why things are not going well. And so, you know, you you ultimately, you know, you're the buck stops, but I got to get people to do what I need them to do without any authority. And it really kind of taught me how to run a business.

Brian 9:52

That's I love that you're sharing that too, because I I wrote this down real quick as you were talking about that. Was I think that's first off, it's interesting to hear that you never really had like in your mindset, like, hey, I'm gonna be an entrepreneur. Uh, but you knew this wasn't something that you wanted to continue to do. But to look back and realize that part of that journey was actually helped teach you and prepare you for where you are today.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Brian 10:15

And I think that's one of the things I know for myself that I started being able to look back and realize it, but man, at those times I'm like, why am I doing this? Why am I here? But then if you just trust the process, like you don't know where you're gonna end up in the next 10 years, five years, whatever it might be, and how that's gonna play away.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

Yeah, is it sounds like you just took the next step, like you just made the decision, like I don't want to do this anymore. So you just took the opportunity that came to you, and then you just expanded a little, expanded a little, expanded a little. I love that. That's exactly it's a smart way to do it too, really. You know, not like take on so much right at once that then you're like, what am I doing? I'm overwhelmed. This is not gonna work.

The Marina Then Vs. Now

SPEAKER_00 10:53

Too much, too fast. But and I also firmly believe in like good opportun or opportunity handled well leads to more opportunity. And I think that's this is like this business is a really good uh example of that. A little bits at a time and and just handling it well. Like, for example, getting the to buy the marina, um, it really wasn't even for sale, but I always kind of ran the whole marina like I owned it anyways, right? So, like water pipe break, I would just fix it. I'd text the owner and let him know, like, hey, heads up, we did this. Um, but it when it came up for sale, it was like, oh, well, Chris kind of knows the whole thing, right? Like, I could just hand it off to him and it's easiest exit for me. And it worked out really well for both of them.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

So cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

So just kind of taking a little ownership early, you know, even though you didn't really have it, it really wasn't even part of the plan. Never thought it was gonna happen. Um, but it felt like the right thing to do.

Brian 11:38

So, how much has changed there since you purchased it?

Seasons Flipped

SPEAKER_00 11:42

A lot, actually. So when I got it, there it was very disjointed as far as water sports activities, right? Like, so the boat rental was a different company, the boat tours was a different company, um, fishing charters was a different company, and then the tackle shop. And if you walked into the tackle shop in 2017, you asked to rent a boat, they would just say, I don't know, the guys in the back. And it was like no connectivity whatsoever. And they might hand you a rock card, maybe, you know, but they would tell you to go walk down the dock and go look for somebody. Which, if you've been there, like that exploration could be if Riverside's busy, like that could be difficult. Yeah, yeah. And so none of the businesses were really doing very well in general. We were all kind of just getting by because the location's phenomenal, but it just never really connected. Um, there's no synergy between everything. And so that was something that we did is really kind of connected everybody together, brought the boat rental guy together, but the boat tours together. And then now it's like you walk in, you check in, you get escorted to the back, you go right to where you're supposed to go. So we have like a process now that we really never had. Yeah.

Brian 12:44

It was really cool too. Like when we when we docked after we came back, uh, when we pulled up, it was I was like, man, why did I didn't realize there was like a restaurant or something like that there too? And I was like, man, there's all these people sitting around. I get off the boat and I'm like, now I smell food and I'm hungry again. We had a picnic out there, but now I smell food. I see people having drinks. I'm like, why didn't next time we're just gonna have to plan on just getting off the boat and just grabbing a bite and hanging out for a while? 100%.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Yeah, it's one of the greatest parts for sure. Yeah, that's cool. He's right there at Riverside, you know. If you do like come back the midday or you come back in the evening, you show up for dinner, and you know, sometimes there's bands, and it's it's actually really cool to come back.

Brian 13:19

I'm curious when it comes to like the firework season, do you have like a lot of boat rentals during that time? Or how does that work? I can't.

Paddle to The Wreck Event

SPEAKER_00 13:25

Yeah, fourth of July. Oh, yeah, oh yeah, for sure. It's funny. Our season is uh flipped from most, right? Like in so like Destin, Florida or Northern Florida, they're busy in the summer only and they're really slow in the winter. We are busy in the winter. Uh so from like Thanksgiving to Easter, we're really busy, and then it kind of slows down um on the river, and in the summer, the beach gets really busy, which is one of the reasons we do the different so many different things. It yeah, it balances our year, which is why I say like anything to not have to wear shoes, which means like I don't want to go get another job. Like, I want a steady income year round, so it means different activities. But um, for 4th of July, we have the paddle to the wreck. Um, have you guys heard of that?

Brian 14:04

We we yeah, we actually I think we're interviewing the person that's in charge of like putting the whole event together coming up later this year.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

The swim part, I think, is that is it by run by a different person?

Brian 14:14

It is okay. So we were we just learned about it. We have not been to it yet, though.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Oh, you got it. It is one of the coolest events I've ever been to. Just having hundreds of people out on the water at one time. It's just this really cool vibe of it, it's just a great experience.

Brian 14:29

And what is the shipwreck that they're going out to?

SPEAKER_00 14:32

So it is a 300-foot iron steamship that ran aground in 1894, and it's been sitting there since 1894. So there's old, old photos of it actually just sitting above the water, but now it's broken down where you really can only see um the boiler that sticks out. So you at really low level tide, you'll see this little uh pole sticking out. That's the boiler of it.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

We've seen that, remember?

Brian 14:53

Oh my gosh, yeah, we're like, what is that?

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Yeah, but like it looks like a pole or something. That's right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

So how how deep would you have to dive down to like see a good view of it?

SPEAKER_00 15:03

10-15 feet. Really? Yeah, so the bow is still there, but doesn't really expose, but that's where the flag goes to. So they actually mount the flag around 4th of July. That's a different group than the swim people. And I'm not really sure how they're all connected. I've heard many, many different stories about how the whole thing started. And we'll try to clear that up. Whatever that is, it's an amazing event, either way. So yeah, they do a wonderful job of it, and it's just a cool place to be. Um, but whoever puts a flag up, I think, is different than the swim people. But but you'll see that, and it makes a really great landmark. Um, but that's also why we we also have nicknamed it the boiler wreck. So the boiler room that's nearby there, there it's named after the boiler, um, or the the Breckenshire is is the proper name of it. Breckenshire.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

So I'm gonna have to prep from now until July 4th to be able to get up that early.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

Yeah, it's early it's sunrise.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Yeah, that's what that's why I didn't do it. Share I'm like, there is no way. No, but I'm gonna prep because I really do want to do that. That sounds amazing.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Let me know if you guys do you guys have watercraft or anything. Uh hit me up before and uh we'll hold you guys up. Yeah, yeah. We usually bring a bunch of stuff and yeah.

Brian 16:06

Oh, that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Are those little mics you got uh waterproof?

Brian 16:10

Uh I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

I don't know about that.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

I was thinking that could be interesting to like document our uh paddle out there.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

Do live podcasts from the shipwreck.

Brian 16:20

We might be able to it might be talking about it.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Talk to the people that actually swim out there. How are you feeling down there?

Location History

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Yeah. And it's grown exponentially over the last so like 10 years ago. I we remember like the 4th of July we'd be setting up the beach. We're like, what are they all doing out there? And it was just swimmers, right? The first couple, like maybe 10, 11 years ago, and it's like, what are they doing? Let's go paddle out and check it out. And we paddle out and they're like, Hey, can we hold on to your crack for a minute? Like, yeah, no problem. Like it's good. And then like next year we're like, oh, this is what they're gonna do. Let's go check it out. And then you know like then we tell a friend, and you tell a friend, and the next thing you know, it it really did start out as a swim only event. Um, but I remember us like paddling out and like, what are you guys doing?

SPEAKER_01 17:00

So you kind of hit on this a little bit, but your your location has a lot of history tied to it, right? Can you tell us a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yeah, so it was originally a fish camp. So that um I don't know if the dock or the house that the tackle shop in was first, um, but I have photos. The oldest photos I have are from 1933. Uh yeah. So the dock is the exact configuration that it is now in those photos. The tackle shop is a little bit different configuration, but the core is the same. It had a patio on the south side instead of the east side. Um, but that was really the biggest difference. Um yeah, and they they would do commercial fishing out of there. They actually had these like stand-up rowboats. Uh, I'll have to send you guys a photo of it. Yeah, yeah. Uh, and they would cast net fish out of the lagoon, like Snook and Redfish, like they were literally cast netting these things and selling them. Uh, the foundation that Riverside's on are these cement vats that they would use to sell the fish. Um, that's actually the foundation for parts of Riverside now.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Whoa, um, which is kind of cool. Do you see them?

SPEAKER_00 17:58

No, not really. Yeah, it's all kind of been like cemented over now, but yeah. I'll show you some photos. Uh there's like, oh yeah, there's no way they move some. Oh, yeah, I can see that's actually part of the corner of the building now. There's like uh where the part of the kitchen is for Riverside was an ice box. So it's like this old cement structure that's actually the kitchen now.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

You if you don't think about it, you just see what's here now, and you just think this is how it's always been, but it's never the case, you know.

Legacy in Vero Beach

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Yeah, it wasn't until the 90s that we started doing more there. Um the bridge, that's what actually Vero Tackle was actually on Royal Palm Point when the there was a wooden bridge. That's why that Royal Palm Point in River Um Boulevard right there, it was kind of a funny intersection. Yeah, yeah. That dead ended there, and you had to go uh east onto Royal Palm Point to get over to the island. Oh, and it was a wooden bridge that went across. Oh wow. And from Viro Tackle in 1978, Jack Johnson started it. He was on Royal Palm Point, so he was on the main thoroughfare, really smart business guy, like knew where to be, and he noticed that the bridge was moving and they started building a temporary bridge, and then he saw plans for the new bridge that that ended up being done in '93, '95, something like that. Okay. Um, and that's when he started looking for a new location. And he's like, I gotta move, I'm about to get cut off and become on a dead end. And so he found the tackle shop that it is now, um, which was the old fish camp. Um, that's so cool. Yeah, yeah. It was something else. There were other businesses before that. Um, I think it was actually a boat dealer at one point. Um, but yeah, but he saw found it and was like, If I'm gonna make this my new tackle shop, and uh it was about the same time that Riverside got formed with a different owner than it is now. I can't remember his name.

Brian 19:33

So you got a pretty good legacy to continue to carry on. How much does that what does that mean to you?

How Your Vision Changed

SPEAKER_00 19:38

I think it's it's huge. I'm the third owner of it. I bought it from Brian, um, who bought it from Jack. And so it's really cool to keep it going and growing it and keeping the name. That was a big part. Uh, we really just because we do so many different things. It's like, man, do we do we keep this name? I've always had a bit of a branding crisis, but I just can't change it. Yeah, it's so cool. Yeah, it's so much history.

Brian 19:57

I think it's it's a good name. I like it. I like it. I mean, it was very easy for us to find. It was like, okay, you know, I I want to ask a couple more questions. First off, is your vision for Vero Tackle and Water Sports? How much has it changed since you've started? Or what's been the biggest change for you?

SPEAKER_00 20:14

It's a really good question. I'm actually kind of toning it down a little bit and like offering less things. Uh, we're actually really looking at you know what gives us the most value to our guests and and how can we effectively help them? So in some areas we're pulling back, and then some areas we're expanding. So we actually do less beach operations or less beach locations than we've ever done. We're only at one location and then mobile.

Brian 20:37

Okay.

What Has This Journey Taught You About You

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Um, but now we've added um, we're using some of those resources to go to Round Island now, which were you saw them the other day. So it's actually kind of coming back to our fundamentals of doing the mobile part and lessons. Uh, we're actually swinging back around our core foundation or what we started with uh of doing like the Round Island mobile lessons. And we're actually talking about starting another meetup group. Um, fine. Yeah. So it's kind of fun just coming back to how we started.

Brian 21:01

Um that's cool. Yeah, which I didn't expect. All right. One more question, Chris, as we get ready to wrap up this part. When you think about, when you think back on everything that you've learned as a business owner, what has the journey taught you about yourself?

SPEAKER_00 21:13

Oh, it's a good one. Patience is a huge one as a business owner, right? When you have many employees and really the biggest one, I think, for business owner in general is just understanding your day is never gonna go the way you think it's gonna go. And being okay with that. Embrace it. Like just jump in where you're needed and not have being stuck to an agenda for a day, like because it's just not gonna work. You're just gonna frustrate yourself unnecessarily and it's gonna trickle down. So embrace the randomness that it is owning a business and jump in. That's that's really good advice.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

Really good advice.

Brian 21:41

I'm like taking notes, like, yep, it's so right. Like, there's things I can look at myself and go, yep, I guess gotta go with the randomness of it and understand like things aren't always gonna go according to what you plan. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Find the problems, yeah. Find the problems, embrace them, and jump in and have fun with it. Make it a puzzle, have fun with it.

Brian 21:55

With that, if you guys have enjoyed this part of the episode, make sure you guys leave a review and share it with your friends so other people can find your local podcast here in Bureau Beach.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

And with that, catch you next time, neighbor.