Springing To Life At The Lake Of The Ozarks—Performance Boat Center Family Style

An endearing pair of approachable characters, Performance Boat Center’s Brett Manire and Michael Hall fired up the crowd at yesterday morning’s drivers meeting ahead of the Osage Beach, Mo., dealership’s Spring Fun Run on the Lake of the Ozarks. Performance Boat Center’s 2025 boating season had officially begun, and they weren’t about to let the moment pass uncelebrated.

Scott Rosenbach’s MTI 482 catamaran was among the hottest boats in the Spring Fun Run mix. Photos by Jeff Helmkamp copyright Helmkamp Photos.

Nor was the joyful crowd of applauding customers, who after a long winter—regardless of severity the longest season of the year for all go-fast boating fans—were ready to get back on the water.

Manire and Hall praised the 55-plus catamaran, center console and V-bottom sportboat owners and their guests for their ongoing support. They touted the great week behind them, which included eight powerboat deliveries, including five new Sunsation 32 CCX center consoles, a new Performance Powerboats P360 catamaran color-matched to one of the Sunsations and a renovated-and-repowered, 1997 model-year 36-foot Skater catamaran.

Owner Davey Tharp ran his new Performance Powerboats 360 catamaran in the event.

But the dealership’s Myrick Coil had the final word before the group ambled to the docks and fired up their engines. And while he may not have known it, Coil stole the show.

“Thanks for being part of the family,” he told the crowd. “That’s what it’s all about.”

The renovated Tap and Grill restaurant reopened for the event.

By blood or extension, family is the foundation of the full-service MTI, Performance Powerboats and Sunsation Boats dealer. It starts with the staff and radiates to the customers. As with all close families, of course, Performance Boat Center has its squabbles and drama and disruption. Regardless, their devotion to one another is ferocious.

As a family man with a heart of mush, albeit with a few sharp edges for protection, that means the world to me.

Hardware at the event, which attracted 50-plus registered boats and another 20-plus that joined the fleet in progress, was its usual spectacular self.

A few years ago, I tackled the run with Manire in a 32-foot Sunsation. I stayed the weekend in his home. This time around, I rode with longtime friend Ron Szolack in his 48-foot, 2010-vintage MTI catamaran, which like every possession in his life is for sale.

I stayed this weekend—and am staying all week—in his home.

Performance Boat Center delivered this completely refurbished and Mercury Racing 1100 engines-powered 1997 model-year Skater 36 catamaran to owner Doug Cooper in time for the Spring Fun Run. Photos by Matt Trulio/Speedonthewater.com.

Again, family. In so many ways, it makes the Spring Fun details of distance, destination, weather/water conditions and even fleet-size irrelevant.

Despite that he was wearing the wrong shirt for occasion, Performance Boat Center recruited the author to handle interviews for an upcoming video capturing the event.

But for the record the fleet traveled from Performance Boat Center to The Cave Bar and Grill. After couple of hours, the group moved to the Tap And Grill restaurant, which opened for the first time to host the event since its extensive renovation.

Air temperatures hovered in the mid-to-high 70s and minimal humidity. The water was smooth, at least by Lake of the Ozarks weekend standards.

Short version? It was as flawless as days get all year on the Central Missouri waterway.

“The spring and fall runs are my favorite events of the year,” Manire said. “We get to go boating with our family in a low-stress environment.”

Enjoy more images from yesterday’s event in the slideshow above.

From the elevated Tap and Grill patio, I stared down at the fleet at the docks with Chicago’s Scott Rosenbach. The owner of a new MTI 482, Rosenbach is a friend I don’t see often enough.

But as it is with all such friends, Rosenbach and I picked up right where we left off, which always starts with the time he accidentally—that’s his story and he’s sticking to it—abandoned me at a stop during the Spring Fun Run five or six years ago.

Go-fast powerboat Ron Szolack hosted Trulio for the day in his 2010 model year 48-foot MTI catamaran.

We talked marriage, children and politics. We never stopped laughing.

“Life is good,” he said.

As Coil noted this morning, family is what it’s all about.