Escape From New York—Quality Time On The Water Ahead For The Mahieu Boys

A longtime performance-boat lover, Shane Mahieu, a 52-year-old financial advisor who lives in the small community of Niskayuna, N.Y., doesn’t travel often for boating events. Forget his trip to the 2023 Key West Poker Run with Florida Powerboat Club head Stu Jones—that was a road-trip anomaly produced by the being the winning bidder on an auction item during the 1,000 Islands Charity Poker Run in Clayton, N.Y., in 2022.

Shane Mahieu and son, Blake, will run their 28-foot Skater catamaran powered by twin Mercury Racing 300XS outboard engines on Wisconsin’s Lake Winnebago during the first-year Bago Big Bet event. Photo by Tim Sharkey copyright Sharkey Images.

“Other than that, most of our poker runs are no more than five hours from home,” Mahieu explained. “That was the first one we traveled to outside of our area.”

When Mahieu says “we,” he is referring to himself and his 18-year-old son Blake, who he also describes as his best friend. They share the same passion for speed on and off the water.

“We love doing motorsports together,” said Mahieu, who owns a 2007 model-year Skater catamaran and currently is snowmobiling with his son in Quebec, Canada. In the summer, our sport is poker-running.”

This summer, they’ll do their first poker run together outside of the Northeast together. The father-and-son duo is signed up for the inaugural Bago Big Bet event presented by Mercury Racing, which is set for June 20-23 in Oshkosh, Wis.

Asked why they chose Wisconsin as an escape from New York, Mahieu chuckled.

“We wanted to help a new run through our participation, as well as see Mercury Racing,” he explained. “Additionally, one of my closest friends, Kelly O’Hara ,will be there. Doing runs with him just makes the events that much better, as will the Midwest hospitality.”

Mahieu does not take time with his ambitious son for granted. The teen’s future appears to be bright. In the meantime, he will savor every moment he can with him.

“Blake is an honor student graduating military school this June as a captain and has two businesses,” said his proud father. “One is a landscape company. The other is a tick-and-mosquito-control business that uses all natural essential oils and no pesticides, so it is pet and family friendly.

“I’m a proud dad, for sure,” he added.