Southern Summer Five Finale

No matter the season, Southern hospitality is unbeatable. The current heatwave melting the Midwest and Northeast notwithstanding, summer weather in the South—on the other hand is very beatable. That’s why most go-fast boating events there are in the books by the end of this month.

Set for this weekend, the Lake Cumberland Thunder Run rounds out a Southern-swing of annual go-fast boating events that began with the late-May/early June Kuttawa Cannonball Run in Kentucky. The ninth annual Kuttawa affair was followed by the Hartwell Lake Charity Fun Run in South Carolina, the Binks Fun Run for Addiction Fun Run and—back in South Carolina—the Dam Boat Run Lake Murray.

Call it the “Southern Summer Five.” That has a nice ring to it, and it’s yours at no charge.

At present, 71 boats are registered for the event. That’s already a significant uptick in the 50-ish boats the Thunder Run has attracted for each of the past few years. Plus, sign-ups are still open.

Organizers Justin Lucas, Dan Weiss and his wife, Julie, had a decision to make this year around scheduling. Torrential mid-June rains have flushed forest debris into the waterway for the past few years. And that kind of “dirty water” puts powerboats and their operators at risk.

Just imagine striking a submerged log at 80 mph. The damage to boat-and-bodies could be catastrophic.

So the trio pushed the event to the end of this month. Dealing with a few more degrees of heat and percentage points of humidity was a worthy trade-off for potentially—because a late-June rainstorm could change things today—cleaner water.

One thing is guaranteed. Rain or shine, the hospitality will be unbeatable. It’s a Southern thing.

Source: https://www.powerboatnation.com/southern-summer-five-finale/