Our Story

It’s Wednesday, June 3rd, 2020. Chris, myself, and Ally (asleep in the backseat), make our way to the dock. Some already know and most don’t, we are in a very unfamiliar routine this morning. As our current boat sits pretty in her slip, the entire rest of the Destin Charter Fleet races to the Gulf to claim their Red Snapper limit and idle back in. It is the first opening week of the 2020 Federal Red Snapper season, while normally Captain Chris would be 30+ miles in the middle of the Gulf right now, this will be our last time on board our 1971-40ft Infinity. As after today, she will have a new owner. With a very heavy heart we will say goodbye to the boat that has been more than just a vessel to charter fish on. She is the one who Captain Chris engraved his reputation with. The boat that grew our company to the next level and forever branded Destin Offshore Charters & Backlash as a stand out among the world’s largest charter fishing fleet. She is the one who provided us the funds to purchase our home. Today is a bittersweet goodbye to one of the most important chapters of our lives. Now as we take her tackle off rod by rod and wheel them to the truck, I reminisce about all the fish stories we have made on board. I could only imagine if she could talk the crazy things she would say. There were so many good times and some bad. Thousands of pounds of fish caught on her. Each memory a part of the legacy that we hopefully will share with our grandchildren one day. I am honored to have been apart of her fishing team and watch Chris fulfill another chapter of his lifelong dream with her.

I first met Chris on a fishing dock and I’m just as certain now, as I was then, that the man was born with gills. He is the “fishiest” person I know. A true gift given by God. I often tell customers that if you want someone to take your trash out or do your laundry don’t call Chris but if you want to catch fish and experience the luckiest fishing village in the world, then Captain Chris is your man. I was 19 years old when Chris and I started dating. He was 25 and had already purchased his first boat, the Adios, a 22ft Cape Horn bay boat. (see photo) Chris jumped head first into starting his own charter fishing business after being a deckhand for 10 years. At just 25 years old, Destin Inshore Charters was born. When we started dating, I was in college to be a radiologist and boy were my parents thrilled when I told them I would finish my AA, not be returning for the fall semester and that my new plan was going to be booking fishing trips for my boyfriend. Fast forward and after our second season together in 2013 with me handling all marketing and Chris at the helm of the Adios, we managed to save a little money in hopes to expand our business to a larger boat. Another local captain was in the market to sell off his 40ft infinity and Chris couldn’t jump at the opportunity fast enough. We worked the numbers, came up with a budget and decided to apply for a loan. We were turned down at four different banks, two of which laughed in our faces. Frustrated but not defeated we sat down with Capt Jason and told him we were unable to get a loan. He agreed to owner finance as long as we could come up with a large down payment by the end of the 2014 season. We took the deal. We were just two dumb kids with a dream, no credit and a solid work ethic. Guided by God, failure was not an option. 

The 2014 Spring Break season would start out with us running on fumes both mentally and physically. Chris and I discovered the only way we would be able to afford the down payment by the end of the season would be to purchase and expand our inshore company to two boats. With our entire life savings we drove to Mobile, AL and purchased another 22ft Cape Horn, The Amigo. (Adios & Amigo, see photo) We had $86 to our name by the time she was fish ready. I cried telling Chris we would have to decide whether to pay the power bill to keep the lights on or the phone bill to book the boats. We let three late notices show up in the mail before I booked enough trips to pay Chelco. A time in our lives I will remember and be humbled by until the day I die. I talked to God everyday asking him to send me a sign this was the right direction. June and July were a complete blur. When it came to our deadline date for the down payment, we had done it. November 1st, 2014, we walked in, handed Jason the check, and sign our names to the “big boat”. I had never felt a greater sense of achievement. Funny to think, Chris would be driving a boat worth more than our 900 square foot shoebox we called home. November 1st, 2014 Captain Chris took over the charter boat Backlash. A date that set our sails to future we could not have imagined and the name we would brand over the next 12 years to become one of the most sought after charter boats in Destin, FL. (40ft Infinity, the first Backlash, see photo)

Once again we started the 2015 Spring Break season with pennies in the bank, a leap of pure faith, a few thousand prayers and an unmatchable drive. We began our journey with one offshore boat, The Backlash and two bay boats, The Adios and The Amigo. This was the first season I would be booking for three boats. Three boats meant two to three trips a day, four to six passengers on every trip, seven days a week on each. I made a lot of mistakes. I shed a lot of tears. I didn’t sleep or eat. I didn’t have much of a life other than answering the phone, emails and running errands for all the boats. I didn’t see Chris in daylight for three solid months. I lost friends and family time was nonexistent. But we got through it. Because God. That’s Why. By September 2015 we were able to breath again. We looked back on the 2015 season and swelled with pride. We survived it. We would do this over and over for the next two years getting better and more efficient each year. We went through quite a few hired captains and deckhands. We have had some of the greatest work on our decks and a few we could have lived without but we are thankful for each and every one. Charter fishing is not for the faint of heart or weak minded. Our business has blossomed since 2013. We do not take our journey for granted and will never forget what it took to get here. Chris does his job and I do mine. We can agree each of us cannot do the others and we are a team. Owning your own company is not easy. Owning your own business and running it with your husband is not easy. We depend on each other. We depend on God.

While we eventually paid off our debt on the Infinity and could finally state we owned 100% of our company (WOW what a feeling), Chris came to me once again and said he wanted to buy a bigger boat. A boat that would grow our business to the next level. I cried that night while he was sleeping. I didn’t want to buy another boat. I didn’t want to sell the boat that we had built our world with. I didn’t want to go into debt again. But if there is one thing Chris doesn’t take well, it’s no for an answer. (Also one of the greatest traits I admire about him). He is driven and when he sets a goal he is going to reach that goal no matter what. With long conversation and a business model in place he set out to find his next boat. A month later, the corona virus took over our lives. Spring Break 2020 was cancelled and the Destin Charter Fleet was asleep at her dock. An unreal time we will remember for the rest of our days. These unexpected times made us cling to God more than ever. With a new baby, I was thankful to have Chris home with me. Normally he would be gone while I manned the business side of things on land. The corona virus was financially devastating to a lot of people and business’ across our nation but one positive thing was having my husband home when I needed him the most. A blessing in disguise. With being home, Chris had time to research more boats. He once again stumbled on one that was dreamy. The pictures he showed me online were of a boat called “Boys in Blue”… a 57ft Gillman sport fishing yacht. I took one look at her and the price and rolled my eyes and said no. But Chris being Chris he called and lined up a showing anyways. It was only a few days later when Chris, one-month-old Ally and myself walked on board the Boys in Blue. Incredible, Clean, Great Bones, Powerful…. A few words that crossed my mind immediately while taking the tour of her. There was a sense of comfort and rightness I felt from the moment we stepped foot on her.

We finished up and while I was loading up Ally in her car seat Chris said he was going to make an offer. I felt like passing out. But I took one look at Chris and knew that I wouldn’t change his mind. It didn’t matter what I said, he was going to do this. He marched back to the broker and made his offer and Greg said he would send over a formal, official offer later that day. The whole way home from Panama City I thought about how we would be going back in debt and with the corona virus already suffocating our income, the money we had put away was even more crucial and limited now. We spent the next couple weeks calling our banks to get in touch with the right person about a commercial boat loan. Talk about a nightmare. Every bank we spoke with was dealing with the hundreds of Paycheck Protection Loan applications and didn’t have two seconds for any other kind of loan. It would take us two months, six different banks and putting 50% down to secure a loan. Not to mention having to sell our current boat. I have never been more stressed out in my entire life. I was so mad at Chris for putting me through this but I didn’t want to let him down. We had to file an extension three times, even went out of contract to avoid losing our deposit. It was May 27th, 2020, bottom of the 20th inning and us hanging onto a prayer, driving home from Wal-Mart when we received news that we had been approved for the loan. I cried so hard. It was at that moment I was able to tell Chris he would be getting his yacht. I will never forget that drive home as long as I live and I thanked God over and over and over.

Our 2020 season would start full steam in June with a new boat and a new baby. (The Gillman yacht, see photo) There was no time to sit around and cry (even though I wanted to). In just 2 days we got her back to Destin, filled her with tackle and prayers and sent her out on her first official charter. Her name on the back still read Boys in Blue. Chris fished her that way until we could schedule a Nascar pit stop to get the name changed along with props tuned, trim tabs fixed, cut less bearings changed, rudders sealed etc. Another huge thank you and blessing to be surrounded with helpful strong hands who put other jobs aside to help us get it done in order for us not be down anymore days during snapper season then absolutely need be. With a new boat comes a new obstacle. Chris had fished on the old boat for 5 years and knew the way that boat handled and could drive her as easy as breathing in and out. With the new boat there was no coaching or history between the two. He was learning just as much from his machine as the machine was from him. With just 1200 hours on the CAT engines as he took over the helm, the new Backlash had no idea she was about to get her sea legs. Full steam (diesel actually) ahead, Captain Chris Kirby would stretch them for her and put another 1300 hours on her engines in just a few months. Daylight to dark, seven days a week, 16+ hours to make up for down days and replenish our savings account with a bigger picture at the end of the tunnel. With God guiding us we made it. Once again we finished another fishing season amidst the trials and not-so-easy times. Hello November, it is so good to see you.

Captain Chris would reside at the helm of the 57ft Gillman for the next five seasons. He would add another 6,000 hours to her along with catches equaling over thousands of pounds. Too many memories and customers to count that have been apart of her story. After dedicating himself to a boat of such magnitude and an unmatched reputation, Chris came to me once again and decided he is ready to retire. At 40 years old, he has been taking customers out on the Gulf for 25 years. January 2026, we put our yacht up for sale with a plan to retire and be out of the charter industry for good. It didn’t take long for multiple buyers to be interested and we found ourselves signing away the Gillman to someone new. A bittersweet end to another remarkable chapter of our lives. Since buying the Gillman back in 2020, we have had two more children, sold our inshore company, sold our tackle shop, and opened a waterfowl guiding outfit (Black Sheep Waterfowl) in Saskatchewan, Canada. After selling the Gillman, Chris continued to have his regular and new customers reach out about fishing trips. Just when I thought he was out of the charter business for good, he has bought another boat, Ha! This time, he picked out which one he wanted, we didn’t have to ask a bank for approval and he is able to fish when he chooses. Now semi-retired, Chris is fishing a few exclusive trips per week which allows for more custom experiences for his anglers and we get to enjoy him more at home. The newest Backlash is a 36ft yellowfin center console (see photo). The new boat allows Chris to travel faster having a wider range in a shorter amount of time than any of our boats before. Swordfishing on the yellowfin is an absolute dream.

If you would have told 19 year Shelby what her world looks like today at 34, I might have cried less but I certainly wouldn’t have been less thankful. Faith is a funny thing you know. You can’t really see it but you can feel it. Having faith has molded our world beyond what I could have ever imagined it to be. Looking back at the trials and triumphs we have endured over a decade is humbling to sat the least. To every person who fished with us over the years we cannot say thank you enough for being apart of our dreams and continuing to share them. Chris didn’t graduate high school because he was fishing. He had a lot of teachers, family members, co-workers tell him he would never make a living being a fisherman. I am humbled to have held his hand through all the good times and especially the bad to get us this far. I hope one day our children will be proud of their parents and the sacrifices we made. I have learned that anything is possible if you work hard and keep your faith in God. It’s not easy being in the charter fishing industry. It’s an industry that separates the mediocre and will chew you up and spit you out any chance it gets. To us reputation means everything. It has been our goal to have every customer leave our boat with the best fishing experience of their lives and continue to want to come back for years to come. Here is to the future built on the struggles and triumphs of the past. Here is to the next chapter of our business’ and the short version of how we got here. 

God is so Good!

~Shelby Kirby