Adelaide Point Powerboat Weekend A ‘Good Time’ Despite A Deluge

Early as it is the 2024 go-fast boating-event season, two recurring themes already have emerged. The first is weather, as in the stormy kind that scrubbed the eighth annual Kuttawa Cannonball Run’s main event in Kentucky and almost scrubbed last weekend’s inaugural Bago Big Bet Poker Run in Wisconsin. The second is the importance of having something other than speed on the water to fall back on when weather intrudes, as it also did last weekend for the first Adelaide Point Powerboat Weekend in Muskegon produced the West Michigan Offshore group.

Last weekend’s West Michigan Offshore Adelaide Point Powerboat Weekend run on Lake Michigan was not for the faint of heart. Photos by Brian Caswell copyright SpeedShot Photography.

For the Adelaide Point affair, formerly Muskegon Powerboat Weekend, salvation came in the form of the venue itself, the first new marina to be built on the shores of Lake Michigan—and in the entire state for that matter—in 30 years.

“Adelaide Point is such a cool place,” said Scott Otterbein, the president of West Michigan Offshore. “It has lots of docks, plenty of space and cool facilities. We could see the future for that event.”

Dockage at the new marina is outstanding and bodes well for future West Michigan Offshore events.

The present, however, was less clear thanks to Saturday’s driving rain during the multi-stop, 90-mile run on a hostile Lake Michigan. A brief weather window after the mandatory drivers’ meeting was enough to encourage 30 captains to head out on the water after noon. But the window slammed shut with curtains of rain. Soon most participants headed back to the marina.

“I think 10 or 12 boats ended up doing the whole whole run,” said Otterbein. “It just dumped.”

Among the West Michigan Offshore gamers was Justin Snook. The owner of a sexy 42-foot Fountain sportboat, Snook was joined by a few brave friends.

Justin Snook and a few of his buddies were among the hardy souls who ventured into open water during last Saturday Lake Michigan outing.

“Lake Michigan was sporty as usual,” said Snook. “I think we spent as much time in the air as in the water.

“That’s Melissa’s favorite kind of water,” he added in reference to his wife, then laughed.

Adding insult to injury, Friday’s conditions were flawless.

“Friday was really nice, really hot,” said Otterbein, who came to Adelaide Point from Grand Haven on his Sea-Ray 320 Sundancer with seriousoffshore.com online community owner Paul Rose. “And there were just ripples on Lake Michigan.

“But it was still a good event,” he continued. “Everyone had a good time. Dinner and awards wrapped up a little early as a lot of people went home Friday when they saw the forecast and some also left when they got back in on Saturday. And a lot of the people remaining were completely soaked and were ready to throw in the towel after dinner. I was home by 9 p.m.