Sponsored by UNRIEL Performance, a Sunsation Boats dealer in Chesterfield, Mich., the Thursday lunch run from Boyne City to Bay Harbor has become an integral element of the annual Boyne Thunder Poker Run. Last year, the event attracted more than 100 boats and some 300 to 400 hungry and thirsty participants. The lunch venue was packed. That proved less than comfy for eating outdoors as it was a toasty and breezeless summer day, but good vibes ruled regardless.
The only thing performance-boating fans love almost as much as running their boats is having waterside lunches with their like-minded friends.
Despite morning rain, today’s Bay Harbor Lunch Run had a solid turnout.
Today was a tad different. Folks in town early for the Saturday poker run awoke to gray skies and light rain that turned heavy by late-morning. That was enough to keep roughly half of 120-registered boats in town at Boyne City Municipal Marina docks.
By no means is 50 to 60 boats a poor turnout for any lunch run. When the Bay Harbor affair began, 20 to 30 boats was the norm. But after last year’s run, where you could almost cross the main channel by hoping from one rafted boat to the next, expectations were high.
The weather had other ideas.
Like those who stayed back in Boyne City, I skipped the freshwater facial on Lake Michigan. Unlike most of them, I drove—through heavy rainfall—to Bay Harbor. And it was worth the sketchy drive to catch up with friends such as Michael Knoblock of American Custom Marine, Jeremy Porter of Formula Boats, 42-foot Fountain owners Justin and Melissa and John and Julie Tokar, who own a canopied Outerlimits SC 37 catamaran.
For the record, the Tokars arrived looking as if they had just stepped out of their place in Boyne City. Their eyes were clear. Their hair was perfect. Dude, their French bulldog, looked freshly groomed.
I half-jokingly asked John Tokar if his 37-footer had wipers.
“Nah,” he said, then chuckled. “The water just ripples off the windshield once you get going.”
Also for the record? At least for the hour-plus I stuck around the Bay Harbor location, the clouds remained but the rain was gone.
The Snooks looked good as well—no bloodshot eyes, at least—though Justin admitted to getting peppered by the rain we he lifted his head above the windshield line. Still, it was a good day to have canopied boat.