And Now For Something Completely Different. – Holly Weber Reports In
Welcome to another planet
Holly Webber sent us in this different report from Lake Champlain, and gotta say, this sure looks like fun, and loud. Or Loud, louder and fun. It’s always great to have a little Holly Weber imagery to brighten up the day. Thanks Holly
Gotta say, if you are going this route. GO BIG
The Lake Champlain Poker Run draws speedboat enthusiasts from all over the USA to support Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, a non-profit camp located on Lake Champlain for kids who have or have had cancer and their families.
Go where ever you want
Contrast of old and new. One timeless, the other a short window of coolness
Bold, and Beautiful
1,000 HP. ONE THOUSAND! Thats 10 times Stinkys HP.
Dang
Fountain of youth
WOW
This is crazyness in a boat
More than 65 boats were docked at the Burlington Harbor Marina for the Boat Poker Run which raised $60,000 for Camp Ta-Kum-Ta this year. Each boat left the marina and cruised to Westport, New York, to pick up their first card, then to Willsboro Bay for their second, around Providence Island for their third, and then the last two at Valcour Island to complete their hand of five.
Gad Zooks
Hard to smile when you are scared to death.
Insane
And this gas sucker from Troy
And also thanks to Holly for capturing this beauty to get me back to my speed.
Perfection – ROSIE
A small tease from Lapkin
WOW Teaser.
Stay tuned, we have reports coming in from Gull Lake so this should be a cool week image and drool cup wise.
I have seen and heard those “go fasts” running in Michigan and it is pretty thrilling. I know the outboards are fast and efficient but they sure don’t sound like the big v8’s!
Thank you Holly and Matt for something different on a Wednesday morning.
Thanks Holly!
We were there for the weekend and watched these guys race around the lake from the four brothers.
This is what I sent to my WB friends. “Don’t kid yourselves, if Chris Smith and Gar Wood were alive today this is what they would be into.”
Like this one Greg?
Here from TROY with his finger. CRANK IT UP – https://www.woodyboater.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Troy-finger.mp4
👍
No Matt in Gull? If you gas up and leave right now you could make it. Unless you’re driving the Jeep.
Perspective:
Money raised….$60k….. SO VERY COOL!
Cost of just one 500hp outboard…..$72k+….WOW!!!
We lived along the Fox River, 60 miles nw of Chicago, 2005-2011. Summer weekend afternoons often looked like that 4th photo, but with wakes splashing over the seawall, which was an absolute necessity to retain any land along that river. We made sure to get out & ski early. And be off the water before that crowd started their day!
Love them or hate them the “go- fasts” are a big draw. Here on Lake Charlevoix we have the Boyne City Thunder that started as a small poker run charity event in 2004 with a hand full of boats. It is now a multi-day event with over 120 go-fasts from around the country which brings in big bucks for charity and local businesses. Many of the boats come with their own custom tow vehicles, trailers and support staff with special fuel being trucked in. Yep – I can definitely see Gar Wood driving one of these!
Yuk….big boats for short….ks John in Va
If you want to see some insane go fast boats check out the Lake of the Ozarks shootout,it is going this weekend. Things are crazy here on the “Midwest Coast”😃
Wow Holly, you sure brought back a lot of memories for this old fart!
I spent most of the 1990s enjoying Poker runs, in three or four different style race boats that I owned at the time. Picture below is my A class 28-foot Saber twin engine small block race boat. I also owned a 28-foot catamaran with a 525 Merc Cruise I/O. My last offshore race boat was a 36-foot Cigarette Top Gun with twin 650 horse Hawk Racing Engines. This was the boat that crushed my spine when we hit a 6-foot wave, and it brought me to my knees. I’ve never been the same since.
That is when I got into the woodyboating world and bought my Hackercraft Gentlemen racer. I wanted to get into slower, more comfortable wooden boats but I didn’t want to give up the feel and sound of racing, so this was a happy medium.
It is hard to believe, today’s offshore Racing boats are hitting close to 200mph, but when I was racing back in the mid 1990s, we were lucky to get to 90 mph. And that speed, my friends, was scary enough.
another shot