We heard about a boating event call the Boyne City Thunder Boat Poker run which was going to start in Boyne City about 20 miles south of Petoskey. The route the boats would take went through Lake Charlevoix, into Lake Michigan to Beaver Island, Harbor Springs, Petoskey and after close to 100 miles, back to Boyne City. The boats were high performance, offshore, semi-race boats and Rick had to go see this!We went to the canal at Lake Charlevoix on this beautiful day and saw this group of boats heading out.
These were impressive rigs! Most were about 40' long with extreme power -- capable of over 100 mph on water. We learned that there were about 60 of these boats participating to raise money for a local children's hospital.
This boat was close to 50' and looked wicked fast.
The boats hit the throttle as they cleared the canal and we instantly learned why they are called thunder boats! We could hear -- and feel- the power and the boat flew into the water.
It was fun to watch boat after boat hit the gas and take off. The folks on shore waved to the boaters who waved back -- great environment.
The boats came in two stages -- the second stage seemed even bigger and the crews were very focused.
These are the very high performance boats and capable of speeds well over 100 mph. This picture shows the large deep V hull as well as a forked hull boat. We heard that some of these had over 1, 000 HP!
This one is reported to be one of the fastest boats and had a complete cockpit and pickle fork racing hull. This thing must really move!
This was one of the last boats by -- "Kemosabe" and was beautiful. There were about 7 or 8 folks aboard which gives a sense of scale for the 50' long boat. We had a great time on the jetty watching these raceboats as well as all the spectator craft that came out to watch as well.
These were impressive rigs! Most were about 40' long with extreme power -- capable of over 100 mph on water. We learned that there were about 60 of these boats participating to raise money for a local children's hospital.
This boat was close to 50' and looked wicked fast. 
The boats hit the throttle as they cleared the canal and we instantly learned why they are called thunder boats! We could hear -- and feel- the power and the boat flew into the water.
It was fun to watch boat after boat hit the gas and take off. The folks on shore waved to the boaters who waved back -- great environment.Most of the boats were inboard racing types, but there were a couple high performance outboards like this one. Of course, this boat only had 900 HP, but I will bet it was a pretty rapid run on the lakes!
The boats came in two stages -- the second stage seemed even bigger and the crews were very focused. 
These are the very high performance boats and capable of speeds well over 100 mph. This picture shows the large deep V hull as well as a forked hull boat. We heard that some of these had over 1, 000 HP!
This one is reported to be one of the fastest boats and had a complete cockpit and pickle fork racing hull. This thing must really move! 
This was one of the last boats by -- "Kemosabe" and was beautiful. There were about 7 or 8 folks aboard which gives a sense of scale for the 50' long boat. We had a great time on the jetty watching these raceboats as well as all the spectator craft that came out to watch as well. 
1 comment:
That must have been a lot of fun to watch. Sure glad I was not paying for the boat fuel!
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