We began as a single-page basic HTML site on the free Angelfire hosting service. Originally, Scream And Fly had a very basic design and it was essentially a website for posting photos of Hydrostream boats. The idea for the website began at a time when there was always a big performance boater turnout at Tanner Park in Long Island every week (which still takes place). My friends and I all owned Hydrostreams, and most of the boats that turned out were indeed Hydrostreams, although there were also Allisons, and an occasional STV. We knew all the boats and their owners, and the weekly racing around on the Great South Bay became a ritual every year.
Remember that this was a time when people were only just getting acquainted with the internet, and almost everybody connected using a painfully slow dial-up modem. Cable modems were not yet available in most locations and many people were paying for internet access by the hour of usage. It was a very different time for sure.
The Hydrostream company website had a new message board and it was becoming very popular. The fact that like-minded boaters were exchanging information from all over the country was intriguing and fun and as soon as our boats were washed and put away, we logged on the message board to talk about how fast our runs were or who blew their motor and other things. For the first time, we were venturing outside our circle of performance boaters and from there, events began to take shape. It was the Hydrostream message board that inspired me to create Scream And Fly.
Many people have asked over the years about our name and where it came from. It is a rather funny story, actually - Scream And Fly was the name of a song that my cousin and I wrote, which was coincidentally, about the thrill and dangerous feeling of running at extreme speeds in a boat. When I signed up for the Angelfire website I just chose that name for it because I thought it was pretty funny and somewhat catchy-sounding.
My new online magazine's first editorial features included a feature boat, and our first article - a step-by-step instructional on how to properly winterize an engine. Very quickly the website began to gain popularity, so I decided it was time to register our domain name and create a new website that would be able to support the Scream And Fly's growth.
Using Microsoft Frontpage and learning as I created, www.screamandfly.com was born. We would no longer be a Hydrostream feature site, but a website covering all aspects of outboard performance boating.
Our first logo was created at this time; I wanted it to be simple and bold, like a good magazine logo should be. I remember the excitement of being able to create and expand something out in cyberspace that anybody could see. People would still look at me funny when I would tell them that Scream And Fly is an online magazine, but to me, the idea of such an enterprise made perfect sense; news and event coverage could be instantly published. There were no editorial limits, and the people that sped around outside Tanner Park would see photos of themselves that very night. Seeing ourselves on the computer screen and knowing that other viewers were seeing us as well was exciting. Digital cameras were only just starting to become popular, and the timing could not have been better. We were on our way.
Time To Expand..
Up until fairly recently, Scream And Fly had its home page, or the "magazine section" as I called it, and the message forums as two separate sites. At the time, this made sense to me since each site would maintain the scope of its purpose. This worked well for a time, but then I came to realize the importance of bringing feature articles into forum discussions more easily. After setting up a Scream And Fly development site to test new ideas, we elected to use the VBulletin publishing suite. After highly modifying it to suit our needs and after a lot of work, Scream And Fly's home page and message forums became one site.
With the new combined magazine and forums sections nearing completion, we will be going back to our roots, actively searching for outstanding boats from our readers to feature in detail. Our feature articles would ideally include running photos as well as detailed photos of the boat and an interview with the owner. This site is all about our member's boats, and that will never change.
In 2012 we added a completely new server to meet the growing demands of Scream And Fly as well as to sustain future growth. We are always monitoring the site's performance and while our traffic increases every year, 2012 saw an unusually large jump in site-wide activity. We will also need this extra headroom since video is fast becoming as popular and easy to share as photos. Indeed, this year I added several GoPro Hero video cameras to my event field kit. In addition to photo, members attending events will have the option to have these small video-cams mounted to their boats, giving forum members a perspective of performance boating rarely seen.
For 2013, we will also be focusing on delivering more photos and especially videos. Facebook has also become very important, and as such we have created a new Scream And Fly Facebook presence, which is here: www.facebook.com/screamandfly. On our Facebook page, we will be posting photos from events in the past, as well as more a more inside perspective on how we run Scream And Fly.
Our collaboration with Freeze Frame Video has allowed members to have photos of their boats printed right at the events we attend. Jeff Girardi has a mobile photo studio, complete with a large-format printer. In the eventing, we would present the photos we shot during the day, and people could select the photo they want, and it would be printed and framed right at the site. This was a huge hit at the River Ranch, and we will be there again and at other events. Make sure you get involved when we arrange photo shoots!
I would also like to thank our Supporting Vendors and Team Members. Everybody is considered an equal on Scream And Fly, however extra gratitude and appreciation goes to those of you that have supported Scream And Fly financially throughout the years. Put simply, without our Supporting Vendors and Team Members, Scream And Fly would cease to exist. Of course, becoming a Team Member is not only about Supporting Scream And Fly; upgrading your account has many benefits, including more storage space for messages as well as special giveaways.
And that brings me to my final subject: Scream And Fly giveaways. Through photo contests we all had a lot of fun with product giveaways, and it is important to me that everybody has a chance to join in on the fun. We will certainly have more contests for some really cool prizes, such as the Android tablet we gave away some weeks back. Supporting Vendors are welcome to participate in offering products as well, and I will think of some fun and unique contest ideas. If you do not win a particular contest, do not worry, you will have plenty of chances.
More than ever, it is a great time for performance boaters!
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