Outboard Skaters Overachieve In The Rough Stuff

The open-water leg of the last Fort Myers Offshore Lunch Run got sloppy as the fleet headed from the Sanibel Island Bridge to Three Fishermen Restaurant in North Fort Myers Beach, Fla. Conditions weren’t horrible—just semi-sporty on the wonderfully ambiguous “sporty-water scale”—but the 1 to 3-footers came from mixed directions. That made the ride a little rowdy for some of the 56-boats in the event.

But for Fort Myers Offshore leaders Tim and Cyndee Hills and a guest in their Skater 32B catamaran, the conditions posed no challenge. With the exception of one unexpected launch and landing, they sped along at 60 to 70 mph in comfort.

Flash forward to last Saturday during the final lunch outing during the weekend-long Invitational Outboard Skater Fun Run from the Sarasota Hyatt Hotel to the Riviera Dunes Dockside restaurant in Palmetto. The tame conditions from the Friday trek to Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grille in St. Petersburg are gone, replaced by windblown 2- to 4-footers. More than half of the 13-boat fleet never leaves the Hyatt docks.

But of the six Skater cats that did make the 40-plus-mile roundtrip run, two 28-footers and one 24-footer led the pack.

Though this comes as no surprise to the Skater faithful on hand, it’s still mighty impressive. Foot for foot, the rough-water ability of small Skater catamarans is unmatched. Equally true, they’re not the fastest cats of their stature with like power.

But when the water gets rough, they’re untouchable.—Matt Trulio

COMMENTS

Source: https://www.powerboatnation.com/outboard-skaters-overachieve-in-the-rough-stuff/