October Events—Four Fine Ones For Fall
Of the four go-fast boating events on tap next month, three fall on the same weekend. Two are brand-specific—one for DCB Performance Marine catamaran owners, the other for Skater Powerboats owners. Event No. 3, the Performance Boat Center Fall Run, is open to all comers who register.
The fourth event—the Fort Myers Offshore 2024/2025 season-opener in Southwest Florida, happens two weekends after the first three.
Here’s a quick look at all four events:
October 3-4—DCB Performance Marine Owners Regatta
DCB will have a full complement of exotic sterndrive and outboard engine-powered catamarans at its annual regatta. Photo by Tom Leigh copyright Tommy Gun Images
OK, you need to own a DCB creation—or have a really great friend or family member who does—to enjoy this Lake Havasu City, Ariz., brand-celebration. Company president Jeff Johnston said he’s expecting 65-plus owners to participate in the event, which includes a lunch run to the Pirate Cove Resort on Friday and a dinner celebration at the London Bridge Resort in Lake Havasu City that night. So if you don’t happen to have a DCB owner in your immediate circle of loved ones, you have a little more than a week to locate and charm one.
October 5—Performance Boat Center Fall Fun Run
For those looking for a casual event on a nearly deserted Lake of the Ozarks, the Performance Boat Center Fall Run is a sure thing. Photo by Jeff Helmkamp copyright Helmkamp Photos
Hard as it might be to believe, Performance Boat Center of Osage Beach, Mo., has organized and hosted spring and fall fun runs for more than 10 years. The spring event has grown steadily—it attracted 97 boats in 2023—while the fall happening typically brings in 40 to 50 boats. That’s likely because winters are long for powerboat owners and create pent-up demand for time on the water, and fall comes after a full summer of Lake of the Ozarks boating. But to enjoy the waterway at its mellowest, the Fall Fun Run is an event you need to attend at least once. Saturday’s stops have not been announced, though the Cave Bar and Grill is a safe bet for one of them. But the run will start and finish at Performance Boat Center headquarters. Said the dealership’s Brett Manire, “The long-range forecast shows perfect weather, and I mean perfect—80 degrees, sunny and low humidity.”
October 4-5—Skaterfest
Utah’s Jim Mellor is bringing the first RP Elite Series Skater 368 catamaran to the Lake Texoma happening. Photo by Tom Leigh
Catamarans of the Skater Powerboats kind have plied the waters of Lake Texoma for decades. And yet an organized celebration of the Skater brand has never happened on the Lone Star State-sized reservoir on the border of Texas and Oklahoma. Ross Ramsey and his crew at RP Elite Motors and Marine near Dallas are changing that next month with their first Skaterfest event, and Skater founder Peter Hledin, his son, Michael, and national sales manager, Tony Cutsuries, will be there to support the cause. (This is the Douglas, Mich., catamaran builder’s 50th anniversary year, after all.) Some 20 Skater cat owners have signed up for the event. If you don’t know any of them, you have a week-and-a-half to meet and befriend one.
October 19—Fort Myers Offshore Season Kick-Off Lunch Run
Fort Myers Offshore begins its 2024/2025 event season with a lunch trek to Boca Grande. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix
Unlike the DCB and Skater events, you don’t have to own a specific brand of boat or be in the good graces of someone who does to participate in the first Fort Myers Offshore Lunch Run of the 2024/2025 season. All you have to do is join the nonprofit scholarship fundraising club in Southwest Florida, and it likely will be one of the least expensive outlays of your go-fast boating life. Fort Myers Offshore president Tim Hill said he is expecting 30 to 35 boats to make the run from the Sanibel Island Bridge (as always) to Miller’s Dockside restaurant in Boca Grande.
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Performance Boat Center Spring Fun—Another Family Matter In Missouri
Skater At 50—An Elite 368
Fort Myers Offshore Releases 2024/2025 Schedule
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