Pure Chill Rules The Performance Boat Center Fall Fun Run – Speed on the Water

Apparently, the Midwest didn’t get the message that fall officially began three weeks ago. But from Minnesota to Missouri, that message came through loud and crystal clear this weekend with daytime high temperatures that just grazed the low-60s.

The first Performance Powerboats P-420 catamaran was in the mix for yesterday’s Fall Fun Run at the Lake of the Ozarks. Photos by Jeff Helmkamp copyright Helmkamp Photos.

Fun while it lasted, this fall’s uncommonly warm spell in the heartland appears to be broken.

“It was a shiver on a couple boat deliveries today,” said Brett Manire, the co-owner of Performance Boat Center, late Friday afternoon. “But tomorrow will be a great day on the water.”

All of which meant nothing more than dressing warmly for some 50-plus high-performance powerboat owners and their friends in town this weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks for the annual Fall Fun Run hosted by the MTI, Performance Powerboats and Sunsation Boats dealership in Osage Beach, Mo.

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Bundling up was the order of the day.

“It was cold on the water, but perfect at the docks,” said photographer Jeff Helmkamp, who captured yesterday’s event. “It was 55 degrees when we left Performance Boat Center at 11 a.m. but 62 by the early afternoon.

Being a Performance Boat Center-produced happening, the Fall Fun Run fleet’s first stop naturally was The Cave Bar and Grill in Camdenton for lunch. (The waterfront hotspot is the property of Mark Waddington, who co-owns the multi-brand dealership with Brett Manire.) Then it was off to the Tap and Grill Lakeside Brew Haus in Gravois Mills for more merriment and high-jinks ahead of an evening celebration at Performance Boat Center and the Redhead Lakeside Grill.

Does a fall day get any better than yesterday at The Cave?

Not everyone, of course, had to don a hoodie, neck-gator and long pants for the day. Case in point were Adam Seraphine, Burton Kirsten, Jeff Rambow and Johnny Schillace who hopped in Seraphine’s canopied MTI 390X catamaran for the first leg of the run. After lunch, Seraphine left his 39-footer with his buddies and joined Performance Boat Center’s Rusty Williams in the dealership’s 32-foot Super Stock-class canopied catamaran for the day.

“It was a blast,” said Seraphine, whose primary residence is in Minnesota but owns a second home at the Lake of the Ozarks. “This is my favorite event of the year at the lake—and it’s definitely a lot nicer here than it is at home. When we got here earlier in the week, it was 78 degrees. Today was mostly in the high 50s.

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As usual for a Performance Boat Center event, the brand mix was outstanding.

“We spent most of the day trying to talk Burton out of selling Jet,” he added, then laughed.

Like several participants in town, Seraphine doesn’t plan to head home right away

“We’re going to do ‘Sunday Funday’ with Rusty and the Performance Boat Center crew,” he said. “I’ll go back Monday morning. I know it’s going to be cold at home, so there’s no hurry.”