rednecks yacht club

The Redneck Yacht Club – No Boats Allowed

When my father was Sports Editor of the newspaper in Punta Gorda – it was fishing, hunting, and football …. then fishing, hunting, and football. Not anymore.

Charlotte County has the Redneck Yacht Club – one of the largest and wildest off-road parks in the world. It is a Mud Park with three lakes, one larger than most similar parks.

Danny Kelly grew up in the Southwest Florida area and started Kelly Brothers, a marine contracting firm. He found enough room in massive Charlotte Harbor for his boating interests, but the area lacked a place to race his multi-terrain vehicles.

So in 2007 he obtained a lot of land 17 miles out CR74 (44570 Bermont Road), 3 miles past Bermont (which was the real Boonies of Charlotte County). In a few years, he created a weekend monster of a destination.

Bring your ATV, your Jeep, and any Rugged Terrain Vehicle and Swamp Buggy, but don’t bring your boat! There is always events going on from races to music festivals to wild holiday celebrations.

The Redneck Yacht Club has 227,000+ Likes on Facebook. So many people show up, the park has put out a call for more vendor food trucks. If you are visiting Southwest Florida, here is a fun place to look up on the Internet.

Share this:

About floridatraveler

Leave a comment cancel reply, blog search engine, recent posts.

• RATING THE LATEST WALT DISNEY WORLD RIDES AND ATTRACTIONS
• The holidays are the time to have fun even with those you won’t see in person.
• APPROPRIATE CHRISTMAS LAWN DECORATIONS IN FLORIDA
• FLORIDIANS JUST LOVE TO “HORSE AROUND”
• A lot of old favorites but some new WDW food spots.

Recent Blogs

Categories of blog posts.

• adventure vacation (79)
• aerobatics (2)
• attractions (123)
• bed&breakfast (3)
• business (4)
• civil war (4)
• conservation (34)
• dining (36)
• disney (25)
• disney springs (11)
• environment (66)
• extreme sports (9)
• Florida animals (4)
• florida education (33)
• Florida Food (40)
• florida history (348)
• florida nature (3)
• Florida parks (78)
• Florida sports (19)
• florida vacations (130)
• flyboarding (1)
• Historic Buildings (81)
• Historic Forts (10)
• Historic Hotels & Inns (36)
• Historic Lighthouses (3)
• Hurricanes (6)
• marco island (2)
• mcbobleonard (84)
• museums (38)
• panama city (4)
• ponce de leon (1)
• railroads (5)
• Recreational Experiences (74)
• Restaurants (55)
• small towns (27)
• speedboat (2)
• Tiffany (2)
• travel (106)
• Universal Studios (7)
• Walt Disney World (30)
• Wierd Florida (10)
• Entries feed
• Comments feed
• WordPress.com

Florida Topics

• Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
• Subscribe Subscribed
• Copy shortlink
• Report this content
• View post in Reader
• Manage subscriptions
• Collapse this bar

Discovering The Real America

Stories about places seen and people met as Moragh travels solo in the USA

• At Reni’s Redneck Yacht Club, Yulee

July 27, 2018 by Moragh Carter Leave a Comment

An afternoon at the Redneck Yacht Club

On one of my earlier trips to the States, I went to stay for a few days in Yulee, Florida, with my friends Mike and Wanda. The year was 2009. While I was there, Mike took me to visit Reni’s Redneck Yacht Club on US-17. This was a venue where he often played with his band. We set off in his truck to travel the four miles or so from his home to get there.

Just before the road crossed the river, we turned down onto the unpaved parking lot. Ahead, I could see the red wooden building that was set to one side of the highway. In front of it, a dozen or more motorbikes and some trucks were parked up. As we got out of the truck, we could hear the sound of the music from the band that was playing that day. Some people were seated at an assortment of tables outside the club. Others were standing while listening to the music, or chatting among themselves as they drank their beers.

Outside Reni’s Redneck Yacht Club.

This Riverside Bar

The Redneck Yacht Club a small bar situated on the river front of the Nassau River. This is a meandering river that weaves its way through the Nassau County countryside towards Jacksonville. There were some tables and chairs on the wooden deck in front of the building by the entrance door. A couple of large, straw-covered parasols gave some welcome shade for when the sun was strong.

A notice, fixed to a post alongside the steps leading up to the deck, read, “If you B.Y.O.B, you will be asked to L.E.A.V.E – and don’t come back”. The bar owners obviously weren’t planning on losing any sales of their own beer.

In spite of it’s name, I am not sure how much sailing was done from this place. I never saw any yachts in the vicinity. It was, however, a popular haunt for rednecks and bikers. Mike certainly came under the latter category, being a keen biker. He is also a brilliant musician. However, the day we went there was his day off from playing. I didn’t know the name of the band that was there, though I’m sure Mike did.

The band was set up on an raised outdoor platform, under a car-port-style roof, which passed as a bandstand. This roof gave them some shelter from the sun, or rain, depending on the weather on the day. I’m glad to say, it was a bright sunny day for my visit, though cool enough for me to be wearing my thick red cardigan.

About Fred, the Cockerel ‘Guard Dog’

Fred, the cockerel ‘guard dog’.

Weaving his way in and out of the legs of people and tables legs, was a large cockerel, or rooster, named Fred. He was a magnificent looking bird, with shiny russet plumage. He was perfectly content to mingle with the crowd as they drank their beers or other beverages. However, so I was told, he had a character change at night. Woe betide any intruder who tried to enter the premises after closing time as they would find themselves being viciously attacked by a large ball of beak and feathers. Fortunately, I didn’t have to witness this spectacle.

The band playing that day were a six-piece group: four guitarists, a drummer and a vocalist. They were playing loud, up-beat, rock-style music. I don’t recall being familiar with any of the songs they were singing. Behind the open-backed stage, the reeds alongside the river banks and a large tree could be seen. Unfortunately, because the band were in the shadow of the stage roof, and the sky behind it was so bright, the photo I took of them was very under-exposed … my apologies.

Musicians at the Redneck Yacht Club

The crowd were evidently happy with the bands offerings, as they listened and chatted among themselves. Mike knew a number of people there, though they were all strangers to me, and he spent some time talking with them.

We had a couple of drinks each while we were there – mine was a non-alcoholic root beer. Later, when we felt we’d been there long enough, we headed back to Mike’s home to have a meal that Wanda had prepared for us.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Recent Posts

• Partying at the Dumas Walker House
• My 2007 trip to Boston, Massachusetts
• A Near Miss … or Two
• More Visits with Cowboy Jack

OUR MEMBERSHIP WINDOW IS OPEN!

CHECK OUT OUR PUBLIC EVENTS CALENDAR

THE BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP!

Make lifetime friends!

Get involved with the lake community

Learn new boating skills!

Be a part of something special!

Public Lost & Found Lost and found listings f or public posting and use to recover it ems fro m any lake or waterway. No sign up or membership is required. If you have lost an item while boating just send us an email, give us a description of the item, date and time of loss, suspected lake or waterway area or cove where item went missing and your contact info.  If you would like to add your local lake to our free and public Lost and Found Pages please sen d an email to [email protected] including your name, email address, lake name and state. Your contact information will not be displayed publicly.

A few of our favorite moments from the 2023 season.

Join Our Mailing List

Get the latest news and updates from Redneck Yacht Clubs of America. Be among the first to know when we open our membership application window delivered straight to your inbox.

Thanks for Subscribing!

• © Roadtrippers
• © Mapbox
• © OpenStreetMap
• Improve this map

• Punta Gorda

Redneck Yacht Club

44570 Bermont Rd, Punta Gorda , Florida 33982 USA

• Independent
• Credit Cards Accepted
• More in Punta Gorda

“no chainsaws allowed”

More Mud. More Fun. More of YOUR Friends! The Redneck Yacht Club. The World's Most Exciting Off-Road Park! You Bring The Party, We'll Supply The Mud! Danny Kelly was been born and raised in Southwest Florida and feels proud to call the area home. Growing up the son of a potato farmer, he carried on the tradition for several years in Charlotte County until about 10 years ago when he decided to devote a majority of his time to his primary business, Kelly Brothers, Inc. Kelly Brothers, Inc is a marine contracting firm that has been in business in the area over 30 years and specializes in both governmental and commercial work. While the marine business is Mr. Kelly’s main line of work, his passion has always been his toys. In addition to boats, he has owned several buggies over the years, most recently the award winning custom built buggy featured below.

Reviewed by redfool27

Unfortunately we showed up when there was nothing going on. We got to drive around anyway it was pretty fun, huge space. Just plan it with events.

Be the first to add a review to the Redneck Yacht Club.

Problem with this listing? Let us know .

Has RV parking changed? Let us know .

• Check Parking
• Unknown Pets Allowed
• Unknown Restrooms
• Unknown Wifi
• Unknown Wheelchair Accessible
• Check Credit Cards Accepted

Nearby Hotels

Click to discover a great deal!

Related Trip Guides

The ultimate guide to biscayne national park, the best-kept secrets of disney world, the top things to do on an i-95 road trip, the top things to do on an i-10 road trip, keep exploring with the roadtrippers mobile apps..

Anything you plan or save automagically syncs with the apps, ready for you to hit the road!

Connect with us and hit up #roadtrippers

Tall tales, trip guides, & the world's weird & wonderful.

• Roadpass Digital
• Mobile Apps

Business Tools

• Partnerships

Get Inspired

• Road trip ideas by state
• National parks
• Famous routes
• Voices from the Road

Fresh Guides

• The ultimate guide to Mammoth Cave National Park
• The Ultimate Guide to Badlands National Park
• Route 66 Leg 2: St. Louis to Tulsa
• Route 66 Leg 1: Chicago to St. Louis
• Route 66 Leg 3: Tulsa to Amarillo
• Top 10 things to do in Ohio
• Offbeat Road Trip Guides
• Road Trip USA
• Scenic Routes America
• National Park Road Trips
• Terms and Conditions