Dam Boat Run On Lake Murray Completes Southern Event ‘Series’

Though it’s anything but official—much less formal—the Southern United States now have a go-fasting boating “series” of their own from mid-May through late-June. It starts with the Kuttawa Cannonball Run in Kentucky (watch the new video), which is followed by the Hartwell Lake Charity Run in South Carolina, the Binks Fun Run for Addiction Awareness in North Carolina, the Lake Cumberland Thunder Run in Kentucky and the Dam Boat Run At Lake Murray in South Carolina.

New York’s Bill Sestak hosted Chad and Ashely Shutter and other friends for the day on his 42-foot Flight Line catamaran from MTI. Photos by John Boozer copyright No Limits Photography LLC

The final event in this informal string, the Dam Boat Run happened last Saturday and attracted 82 registered boats. Last year’s run brought in 78 registered entries. That is solid growth for a once-popular run that had dropped to roughly 30 boats by 2022.

The resurgence is largely due to organizers Bret and Alli Laso. Their home-water event was dying, so the husband and wife took on the run’s organizing duties and—with a little help from their friends—have resurrected it.

“Alli, Brett and the rest of the team have done a great job getting the run back up and going,” said Chad Shutter of North Carolina-based BRP Marine Custom. “Having Lake Murray Marina and Liberty On The Lake restaurant on board as the host marina and restaurant was great. The marina was large enough to handle the boats and Bret and his team went out of their way to take care of everyone.

“All in all, it’s great to see this run coming back so strong and attracting great hardware from local powerboaters as well as out-of-town guests,” he added.

The Lake Murray Marina and Liberty On The Lake restaurant combination was a big hit.

Just one week earlier, Shutter had helped his friend Kurt Binkley organize the Binks event on North Carolina’s Lake Norman. Binkley, who piloted his 35-foot Donzi in the Lake Murray run, agreed.

“Bret and Alli did a wonderful job putting everything together, and Liberty is the perfect place to hold an event,” Binkley said. “It has plenty of dock for the space, and plenty of restaurant for all the participants. And there’s a launch ramp there.”

The Lasos, who were thrilled with the turnout and plan to expand the event next year, were quick to credit the participants and sponsors including a local Interstate Batteries distributor for its success. Though the final number has not been tallied, the event raised approximately $45,000 to benefit Big Red Barn Retreat—a nonprofit veterans services organization in South Carolina—and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

Chuck Stark and company were among the few participants in last weekend’s event who beat the heat.

“The overall energy was buzzing,” Alli Laso said. “We had such a big early arrival that we are going to add something on Thursday next year. The Friday tie-up at Sandy Beach was incredible. We’ve only done this for two years but people were telling us it was the biggest Friday tie-up they’d ever seen at Lake Murray.”

Added her husband, “The biggest compliment we got was how well-organized everything was. And we really have to thank the entire staff at Lake Murray Marina and Liberty on the Lake. I have to call out Chris Bellinger, the marina manager. He did a great job.”

Per typical South Carolina weather in late-June, last Saturday’s conditions were brutal. The heat index, a metric combing temperature and humidity, was 107 degrees or—by the Binkley weather scale—“hotter than the hounds of hell.”

Enjoy more images from the Dam Boat Run on Lake Murray.

Participant Chuck Stark, who owns the canopied Outerlimits SV 43 V-bottom Crypto, said he’d never been more happy to be inside an air-condition cockpit during a powerboat event.

“As soon at the hatches opened, the sweat began,” he said, then chuckled. “We could not close them fast enough.”

With their Mystic Powerboats C3800 catamaran in tow, the Lasos are headed to this weekend’s inaugural Tip Of The Spear Poker Run in Virginia. The open-cockpit 38-footer does not, of course, have air-conditioning and the weekend temperatures for the area are predicted to reach the low-90s.

But even that will be a relief for the couple.

“We’re going there to cool down,” Bret Laso said, then laughed. “It’s only supposed to be 90 degrees with 63 percent humidity.”

With the successful 2024 Dam Poker Run on Lake Murray in the books, the organizers are already pondering ways to make next year’s event better. Photo by Chad Shutter/BRP Marine Custom