Pirates Of Lanier Charity Poker Run Weathers The Storm
No matter how well you plan or promote a poker run, no matter how much time you invest in finding the ideal venue and event dates, you can’t stop the rain. You can set up an amazing stage with two nights worth of entertainment, plan a bikini contest and a hold charity auction, but you can’t part the clouds.
Southern California-based insurance and finance business owner Devin Wozencraft captured fellow catamaran-owning friends at play from his 34-foot Victory cat during the event. Photos courtesy Wozencraft Insurance Agency.
Weather is beyond any organizer’s control. And as if that weren’t enough to drive an organizer batty, it largely controls the outcome of all outdoor events.
No one know this better than Sheridan Bazemore, who for the past two years has put her heart into resurrecting the Pirates Of Lanier Charity Poker Run in North Georgia. Last year’s event saw cold weather and hard rain on poker-run day. Last weekend’s event saw cool weather and almost constant, wind-blown drizzle that devolved at times into light rain depending on where you happened to be on Lake Lanier.
A couple of ride-or-die friends, Robbie Ullah ran with Octavio Valdivia in the latter’s 48-foot Outerlimits catamaran. Photo by Matt Trulio.
Bazemore, who ran with Devin Wozencraft in his 34-foot Victory catamaran on Saturday, is focused on the positive takeaways from her second-year effort. As she did last in 2023, she put six months of planning into the event while running her portable container business.
Rain or shine, pirates will be pirates.
“We had people from 20 different states come to our event,” she said. “People were calling me from the road all week, telling me, ‘Hey, we’re still coming. We don’t care about the weather.’ And they did. And the people who came had a great time—so many came up to me told me that. I was very pleased to hear it.
On property at Margaritaville, the Pirates of Lanier Charity Poker Run stage was set for a big turnout.
“The weather was even worse last year—it was bad—and people still came,” she continued. “Lanier Islands is one of the best locations in the country to have a poker run. You can get everywhere by golf cart. Everything is centrally located. We intentionally kept everything at Margaritaville so everyone would be at one location on Friday and Saturday
The event attracted noteworthy hardware from 20 states.
Though last weekend’s weather turned out far better than predicted during the preceding week, it whittled down the 177 registered-boat fleet. Well-stocked with high-performance catamarans, V-bottoms and center consoles by Friday evening, the docks in front of the Margaritaville host-venue were less so by Saturday morning.
Though a final boat-count remains elusive and would be a best-guess this reporter isn’t willing to make, the post-run party on Saturday night raged on and included spirited poker-hand play, the rescheduled-from-Friday-night bikini contest and live entertainment.
A little wet weather wasn’t enough to extinguish the spirit of the group that stuck around for last weekend’s events. Photos courtesy Wozencraft insurance Agency.
Though she is for all intents and purposes one-woman show, Bazemore praised the team at Margaritaville for their efforts, which began long before the first boat arrived at the docks, and their assistance. She also praised fellow Lanier Partners of Georgia board member Robert Campbell for “stepping up to help so much this year.”
Participants dodged a few squalls during the the Saturday poker run. Photos courtesy/copyright Lionel Hamilton Photography.
Bazemore also applauded her friend Taylor Grace with help with everything from registration to materials/graphics.
“Taylor save my butt this year,” she said. “I presented her with an honorary award on Friday night.”
The burning question, of course, is simply this: Will the Pirates of Lanier Charity Poker Run, after two tough weather years, return in 2025?
Local boats that stayed for the duration of the event included Chas and Candice Owens unique 29-foot V-bottom.
Bazemore said she is leaning toward it.
“I am blown away by all the texts and messages and calls that I’ve received from participants telling me how much fun they had,” she explained. “They came knowing that the weather was bad, but they came for their friends and the poker-run community and family.
“I’ve been in so many poker runs with bad weather,” she added, then laughed. “They seem to be the most memorable.”
Taylor Grace (left) and Sheridan Bazemore worked closely on the event.
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