Patriotic Beauties: Four For The Fourth
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Commentary / Image of the Week: Patriotic Beauties: Four For The Fourth
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There’s an excellent chance today will find you somewhere on the water. What better way to celebrate your Independence Day holiday, right?
Captured during the 2019 Boyne Thunder Poker Run, Rick Bowling’s Gone Again catamaran does the American flag proud. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
As today is July 4, knowing you’ll probably be out there got us thinking about all the American flag-themed boats we’ve seen during the years. And we’ve seen some stunners.
Local to us in Northern California is Rick Bowling’s 37-foot Talon catamaran called Gone Again. Bowling keeps the catamaran at Lake Tahoe during the summer and its captures attention every time it hits those pristine waters in the Sierra Nevada mountains. But Bowling also gets it out on San Francisco Bay now and then—we’ve even seen it in McCovey Cove outside of Oracle Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants.
The Freedom Skater 46 catamaran could be the best-known performance boat with a United States-flag motif. Photo from the 2019 Florida Powerboat Club Key West Poker Run by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
Now and then, Bowling runs his cat on the waters of the San Joaquin/Sacramento River Delta near Discovery Bay. At it happens, the waterfront community is home to Dale Rayzor, the former owner of a storied 46-foot Skater Powerboats catamaran called Freedom. Though he’s since sold the cat, Rayzor had Chris Mills of Boat Customs update the cat and its American flag graphics package.
The results were spectacular and Freedom is, arguably of course, the most recognizable American flag-themed go-fast boat in existence.
Owned by Jeramie Mscisz, this flag-themed Cigarette 36 Gladiator turned heads during the 2021 Lake Champlain Poker Run in Vermont. Photo by Tim Sharkey/Sharkey Images
Of course catamarans aren’t the only canvases for patriotic graphics. There are plenty of V-bottoms flying the flag, such as a 36-foot Cigarette Racing Team Gladiator owned by Jeramie Mscisz of Massachusetts. We first spied the V-bottom beauty at the 2021 Lake Champlain Poker Run in Vermont, where it won the “best paintjob” award from the event organizers.
More recently, we spotted a Baja Marine 36 Outlaw in a gallery of Jeff Helmkamp images from last month’s Support Our Troops Poker Run produced by Big Thunder Marine on the Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri. The 36-footer belongs to Jeff Gebhart, who lives in the Kansas City, Mo., area.
Thanks to its graphics and more, Jeff Gebhart’s Baja 36 Outlaw was the perfect ride for the 2022 Support Our Troops Poker Run produced by Big Thunder Marine. Photo by Jeff Helmkamp copyright Helmkamp Photos
Wherever your day on the water, be safe and have fun—and enjoy your independence.
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