Gratton Run Caps A Casual Week On The Water

Last Saturday’s Fort Myers Offshore Holiday Fun Run didn’t just attract a record-setting 91 boats to the Riviera Bar and Grill in Punta Gorda, Fla. It kicked off five days of hang-loose lunch runs, which ended yesterday with the 13th annual Joey Gratton Memorial New Year’s Day Fun Run, from Cape Coral to St. Petersburg.

Chris LaMorte treated Ron Muller of Electronics Unlimited and his son, Ethan, to a little air-time in his 36-foot Skater catamaran. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

“This all started a long time ago with the New Year’s Day run in Sarasota,” explained Chris LaMorte of New Jersey, who ran his well-traveled 36-foot Skater catamaran with friends all week, during dinner two nights ago. “It was a long way for most people to travel for just one day of boating, so lunch runs and photo shoots were added and it grew to where it is now.”

LaMorte paused, then chuckled.

“I’ve heard a few people say this week could be ‘better organized,’ and it probably could,” he added. “But no one pays to be here. There’s no registration or registration fee. It’s all very casual.”

Had there been a “big-air” award for the week, Erwin Grant and Troy Hannon would surely have claimed it.

The notable exception to this laissez-faire approach to event organization? Shaun Torrente led a group of his STR customers throughout the week. But that was the only such formal effort.

The rest of the group relied on social media announcements, text messages and phone calls. And that meant staying fluid with plans, because lunch destinations changed last-minute with the size of the group and departure times shifted with the morning fog.

Short version? If loose plans and light organization make you itchy, the holiday week on the water in Southwest Florida isn’t for you. But if you’re comfortable with spur-of-the-moment change and a little improvisation, you’ll be fine.

Enjoy more images from the 13th annual Joey Gratton Memorial New Year’s Day Fun Run.

To that end, LaMorte didn’t feel like running all the way to Bradenton yesterday on the protected Intracoastal Waterway to Bradenton in his 36-footer.He was joined by Erwin Grant and Troy Hannon in Grant’s canopied 36-foot Skater catamaran and Devin Wozencraft in his 34-foot Victory cat, he headed to sporty Gulf of Mexico water for the final leg of the run before it turned up the Manatee River.

You have to go with the flow, so to speak, to fully appreciate the experience. Just ask Nikki Mueller. She didn’t expect to return to Wisconsin engaged to Jordan Hart, who owns a 36-foot Statement Marine catamaran. But she did.

With the author along for the ride, Devin Wozencraft called an audible and headed into the Gulf of Mexico during yesterday’s Gratton event.

As it always has, the Gratton run started in Sarasota. For the past several years, it has ended at Caddy’s restaurant on the shores of the Manatee River in Bradenton. Caddy’s is no more thanks to the hurricanes of late 2024. So the group headed to Woody’s River Roo Pub and Grill, which is just a few miles up-river from the former lunch destination.

The calm before the storm at Woody’s River Roo restaurant.

Dock space was tight, even tighter than it was at Caddy’s. Still, the 60-ish catamaran, center-console and V-bottom owners and their guests managed to make it work.

Most out-of-towners who came to enjoy the week leave today or tomorrow. Nothing is planned for today, yet that won’t stop a few folks from hopping in their rides for one last blast, maybe even with a lunch stop, before they head home.

That is the beauty of this annual gathering. All you know is that a group of performance-boating fanatics will be in town for a week. The rest is mostly up to you.

And if you wake up one morning with a plan of your own, you don’t have to question it or worry about having to be somewhere for the sake of appearances. You just go.

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