Getting the word out early on his September 27-28 Invitational Weekend At Ronnie’s at the Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri, Skater Powerboats maestro Ron Szolack reached out yesterday. You can’t start too early when it comes to event planning in the go-fast boating world, and to that end Szolack already has a room-block set up and docks secured at the Camden On The Lake Resort host venue.
Szolack’s happening is the longest running events of its kind—it began 15 years ago in the St. Clair, Mich., area as Skaterfest—it is not the only noteworthy catamaran-specific event on tap this season. Far from it. From Florida to Arizona, there are five of them.
Here’s a quick run-down:
March 20-23—Skater Invitational, Cape Coral, Fla.
You can be forgiven if the name and location of this one don’t ring a bell, because for the past four years it has run as the Outboard Skater Invitational and was based out of Sarasota. What happened? Why the name change? Simple, primary organizer Ron Muller of Fort Lauderdale-based Electronics Unlimited has a new Skater 368 catamaran being rigged with 1,100-hp stern-drive engines from Mercury Racing. Chris LaMorte, who co-organizes the event, has a 36-foot Skater with Mercury Racing 700 SCi engine. With the Sarasota Hyatt venue gone to “progress”—the was a bit of a dump but a charming one as it was haunted by ghosts of offshore racers past—a move to the performance-boat-owner friendly Westin Cape Coral Resort made perfect sense. To that end, Fort Myers Offshore leaders Tim and Cyndee Hill are lending a hand.
Two things that won’t change? The 15- to 20-boat event is still invitational and speedonthewater.com photographer Pete Boden will shoot it.
Super Cat Fest West, April 8-12, Lake Havasu City, Ariz.
The partnership between Dave Johnson, the colorful character behind the Riverdavesplace.com online community and Lake of the Ozarks-based Super Cat Fest founder Alvin Heathman continues this year will what will be their fourth collaboration at Lake Havasu. In that relatively short time, Super Cat Fest West has established a following of more than 100 high-performance catamaran owners—and all brands are welcome—and their friends from around the country. No doubt, with the rise the event’s Havasu Riviera Marina host venue on the shores of the Colorado River fed waterway, Johnson and Heathman have enjoyed a bit of perfect timing. Also worth nothing? During the past few years, their event has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Lake Havasu City charities.
Super Cat Fest, August 27-30, Lake Ozark, Mo.
Celebrating its 17th anniversary this year, the original Super Cat Fest runs concurrently with the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout and returns to the Camden On The Lake Resort. All brands are welcome, and not just of the go-fast catamaran kind. In recent years, high-performance V-bottoms and center consoles have become part of the mix at the docks behind the host venue. Though Super Cat Fest, unlike its Arizona counterpart, does not include event loosely structured fun runs or lunch runs, it does have a bikini contest, nightly parties and a dinner-celebration followed by a charity auction. And for participants in town early, there are of course Shootout-centric evening distractions including the Wednesday Shootout On The Strip street exhibit and party backed by Waves And Wheels and the ever-popular Performance Boat Center Shootout Welcome Party the following evening.
Weekend At Ronnie’s Invitational, September 27-28, Lake Ozark, Mo.
As noted above and reported in today’s speedonthewater.com story, Weekend At Ronnie’s is an invite only event for Skater catamaran owners. Also as noted, organizer Ron Szolack is ahead of the game. His guest typically included the likes of well-known Skater owners Chris Ryder, Chris LaMorte, Chad Havens, Mark DiMichelle, Danny DeSantis and more—a sort of “Who’s Who” affair in the Skater world, but a casual one. Said LaMorte after the 2025 event, “It’s always a great group and Ron is always a great host.”
Skaterfest, October 1-3 , Kingston, Okla.
The exclusive dealer for Skater Powerboats, RP Elite Motors and Marine of Springtown, Texas, picked up the Skaterfest reins three years ago and pulled out all the stops for the Lake Texoma-based event. The Douglas, Mich., company celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2024 and that year’s Skaterfest was the grand finale of a series events celebrating the milestone. RP Elite principal Ross Ramsey even hired Scrapyard Media to produce a video chronicling the affair, which was attended by Skater founder Peter Hledin, his son, Michael, and Skater national sales manager Tony Cutsuries. It was an intimate, relaxed happening—just as it was the following year and just as it will be this year.