Some 7,000 feet above Long Island, N.Y. and heading to Boston yesterday on an eight-seat turbo-prop aircraft, I stared down at the coast below and wondered where the 2025 boating season had gone. Just one good month remains, at least on East Coast and in the Midwest, before it mostly shuts down in fall.
Fall could be the finest season of the year to be on the water, but it also is the most fickle. It never lasts as long as you’d like, and when it ends it does so abruptly.
I was on my way to this weekend’s Thunder On The River Poker Run in Northern Maryland. The organizers are expecting 40 to 50 boats.
Courtesy of Deep Impact Custom Boats owners Mark and Eileen Fischer, I spent late afternoon Tuesday and most of Wednesday exploring the coastal waters of the Empire State from East Islip to Hampton on one of the company’s 36-foot center consoles.
To make that happen, I spent most of Tuesday in the air. I’ll spent part of yesterday up there again getting to Chesapeake, Md., the home-base for the Rock Thunder On The River happening.
The coolest thing about this week’s travels aside from the killer view right now courtesy of Cape Air? It’s taking me to waterways I’ve never been on before. Though my father’s parents lived on Long Island and I spent summers there as a kid with my sister and brother, boating—at least beyond rowboat we used on the stream that ran through their property—was not part of the program.
And while I’ve been to Maryland a bunch because my daughter went to Goucher College in the Towson area, I’ve never been on Maryland water.
By Friday, that won’t be the case, thanks to 34-foot Victory catamaran owner Devin Wozencraft of the high-performance marine finance and insurance realm.
Being in Maryland for the next few days means missing the fourth annual Sunsation Sun Run in Michigan. That was a tough one to give up because it’s as good as brand-specific happenings get and the Sunsation folks put on a fine show. Of course, speedonthewater.com will deliver timely coverage of the three-day event.
But from the outset of this season my goal has been to experience events and waterways that are new to me, and maybe discover a few hidden gems. So far, I’ve added Lake Cumberland in Kentucky, Lake. Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, Seneca Lake in New York and the Bahamas to that still-growing list.
That’s was view from Seat 1B yesterday. The view from Seat 11F on my next from Boston to Philadelphia wasn’t nearly as good.
– Matt Trulio