Happy New Year and 2021 Reflection
Greetings ROFFS™ friends, clients and supporters, 2021 has flown by, but not without making its mark with several noteworthy events and successful stories. There were certainly some similar challenges as 2020, but for the most part our partners, anglers and tournaments all continued to be strong and supportive with record numbers contributing to another highly successful year for ROFFS™. So we love to take this opportunity to acknowledge and praise our wonderfully dedicated clients, partners, staff and friends. THANK YOU for all your support and business in 2021, we are blessed to have you all on board. We are also proud to announce that we have surpassed the 10,000 mark for total tournament winners over the past 35 years with over 650 winners and placements this past year. See our 2021 tournament winner’s list (https://roffs.com/tournament-winners/) where again our clients won a combined millions of dollars in tournament prize money while experiencing priceless memories. Furthermore, we continue to appreciate all our clients’ feedback and photos during the year and get enjoyment from your stories of how ROFFS™ assisted in your successful fishing trips, so please continue to do so in 2022. We pride ourselves on customer service and personal relationships that sets us apart from everyone else.
Above: AJ, Matt, Sharon, James, Laura, Greg and Tony
Other 2021 Highlights:
- We hired a new analyst Anthony (Tony) Cianciotto in April with a Masters degree in Marine Biology from FIT and worked for Florida Atlantic University, Harbor Branch Institute, and said goodbye to longtime successful analyst Daniel Westhaver.
- New online client accounts and database system all synced and linked to our updated website.
- Continued value added partnership with Fathom Science integrating their state-of-the-art cloud-free SST and Ocean Color/Chlorophyll data into our daily analysis for an improved fishing forecasting product when it is cloudy.
- Continued partnership with mazu/Skymate and their sport fishing app and Gulf of Mexico charter for-hire program (https://www.mazu-marine.com/sportfishing/) making our hot spot locations georeferenced, and our analysis more accessible on their system and on iPads for anglers.
- Were present at the Big Rock Blue Marlin tournament and returned in person to sponsor the MidAtlantic tournament that had record breaking blue marlin action.
- Added two areas for better coverage, Florida East Side North and Spanish Cay, Bahamas.
- On Dennis Friel’s “Connected by Water” podcast in December.
- All employees are vaccinated and most were back working safely in the main office by May, 2021 from working remotely.
- Goodbye to European Space Agency (ESA) Metop-A SST satellite data, and hello to improved Metop-C SST satellite data.
- New and improved satellite data processing in-house customized software.
We also want to take time and thank our supporters who have contributed to ROFFS™ success in 2021 and hopefully continue to do so in 2022. These include Dr. Matt Oliver and Matt Shatley from the University of Delaware for satellite imagery support and our advertisers South Jersey Yacht Sales, Saltwater Euphoria and Chip Berry at Maps Unique. We continue to remain involved in the oil and gas offshore rig monitoring and ship routing services and are continuing to improve our data and analysis and thank our partners DTN and schaudt.us for another good year as we expanded coverage for Equinor work sites. We want to give appreciation to South Jersey Tournaments for a longtime valuable partnership. Special thanks to continued friendships and supporters Lenny Strobel of Reel Time USA and The Billfish Foundation. We also thank new friends and partners, James Acuna from the Hooked offshore fishing group and Wounded Waters that provides Military Veterans, Active Duty Military, and First Responders fishing adventures for free.
We are proud to continue to be involved in the research and science community and keep updated with fisheries oceanography, climate change impacts and satellite remote sensing technology to give our clients the biggest advantage. We continue to be active and supportive with NASA, NOAA, and specifically within the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) community, and remain members with the regional associations SECOORA, and MARACOOS. We hope that our white marlin tagging programs get funded for 2022-2026 as it was disappointedly not supported in 2021. We also remain on the board with the Florida Ocean Alliance (FOA) and a supportive participant with the Saltwater Sportsman Magazine National Seminar Series and thank George Poveromo for his continued collaboration.
Our early 2022 travel will include being back at the Miami International Boat Show (Feb. 16-20) at the Convention Center on Miami Beach and also at the Atlantic City, NJ Boat Show (Mar. 2-5). ROFFS™ will also be in Cabo San Lucas, MX (Feb 1-6) doing some fishing/client meetings and hopefully a seminar at the New Orleans Big Game Fishing Club in the spring but PLEASE keep track at our Instagram and Facebook platforms @roffsfishing, website (www.roffs.com), and News Reel Newsletter for updates and announcements.
As we say farewell to 2021, we already have 2022 plans for new partnerships, updated networking, new computers, chart improvements, Hawaii and maybe Costa Rica area additions, hiring a new front office member, incorporating newer satellite data from NOAA 20 VIIRS, and new fishing projects in Grenada and Indonesia. We pride ourselves in providing you with the most comprehensive real time ocean conditions analysis on the planet to improve your fishing/operational efficiency. Please contact us if you have any questions or comments on our service.
We hope everyone had a safe and joyful holiday season and we look forward to a healthy and successful 2022.
Matthew A. Upton
President ROFFS™
