Speed On The Water

With the April 22-25 Desert Storm event in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., just a week away, organizer Jim Nichols of LakeRacer LLC is—to put it mildly—slammed. But that didn’t stop him from taking a few minutes to chat with me on the phone this afternoon. Here’s what he had to say.

How is the event shaping up?

Phenomenally. It’s going to be the biggest one we’ve ever done. We have more sponsors than we’ve ever had. Mercury Racing came on as a huge sponsor this year—they’re selling Desert Storm apparel all over the country. We have 165 boats pre-registered. I had to expand the Street Party by another third because of the boats and vendors that wanted to be there. And I had to turn away a lot of people because, frankly, I just didn’t have room.

Tell me about the fleet.

I think we have 16 or 18 Skaters, 11 MTIs, boats from Statement Marine and Liquid Glass, a 50-foot Mystic, and a 51-foot Magnum. Mike Fiore from Outerlimits is bringing two boats, the yellow cat and a 44-footer. We also have boats coming from the new Spectre organization. The Midwest is Fountain country, but we even have a couple of Fountains. And of course we have a lot DCBs and Eliminators, because we’re right in their backyard.

Why has Desert Storm become so successful?

That’s a little bit of a mystery in away, but it seems to be a combination of the town really appreciating everybody coming out, and making them feel welcome. We’ve sold the town on what we can do. And I think the people who come like the organization of the event. They know that things will happen when we say they are going to happen—they can count on it. Online registration has been a big thing. People really seem to like that. And I have to give credit to Bob Teague (of Teague Custom Marine, Desert Storm’s title sponsor). When he says he’s behind something, he really gets behind it. I think he puts in as much as I do.

What’s the toughest part of organizing this kind of event?

Trying to take care of 50 to 75 sponsors and 150-plus wealthy individuals who expected to be treated nicely. It is also very important to me to make sure the massive volunteer staff gets something out of it and enjoys it. I couldn’t do it without them.

What’s your personal favorite part of the event?

Well, Desert Storm was built on the poker run, so I really like that, and the Shootout has been embraced by everyone who comes. It’s also really nice to see what our community, and what our country, can produce. But the highlight is seeing the faces of the Marines we in bring from Camp Pendleton. They come in and they are adopted by the guys who take them out in the boats for the poker run. That’s really the highpoint for me.

There was a day when I considered going to Lake Havasu, which is formed by dams and fed by the Colorado River, time off my sentence in hell. Lake Havasu is in the middle of the severe Arizona/California desert, and while the desert is starkly beautiful, it’s just not my idea of a place to go boating. It has grown on me a bit after 15 years of testing boats there with Powerboat magazine, but just a bit.

So why am I counting the days to Desert Storm, April 22-25, which will happen on this remote waterway and its nearby metropolis, Lake Havasu City, Ariz.? Because Desert Storm has become, arguably of course, the performance-boating event of the season.

OK, call it a three-way tie among Desert Storm, the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout and the Florida Powerboat Club’s Key West Poker Run.

Notice I wrote “Key West Poker Run” and not “Key West Offshore World Finals.” (Who are we kidding, other than ourselves, with that title?) That’s because to me, the Worlds have always been more about who’s there than the actual racing. On any evening during that week in November, you could run into high-performance notables from offshore racer John Tomlinson to industry veteran Craig Barrie.

Want to run into those guys—and many more whose names you recognize—now? Head for Desert Storm, because they’ll both be there. Tomlinson will run a Dave’s Custom Boats catamaran with DCB founder Dave Hemmingson. Barrie will be there to represent Donzi, a sponsor of the Platinum Powerboat Club’s “Puttin’ on the Wish” event during Desert Storm, and will run a Donzi 38 ZR Comp.

And if you think Friday’s poker-run will be nothing but West Coast custom river cats and low-slung V-bottoms, think again. Boats from Mystic—namely the 50-foot-long JBS offshore racing catamaran—Cigarette, Skater, MTI, and Nor-Tech will be there.

For things to do and see over a four-day period, Desert Storm is unmatched. Events include the “Puttin on the Wish” ride day, a performance-boat and product street fair, the poker run itself, a top-speed shootout and an offshore race.

So I’m looking forward to heading to Havasu for Desert Storm, and I’ll report on it here in real time. For me at least, it’s the new “worlds.” I missed them last year—but I really didn’t miss them.

It’s probably no coincidence that on the heels of adding a second mold for its popular 50-foot-long catamaran, Mystic Powerboats has added Bullock Marine as its West Coast dealer. Despite a still-down peformance-boat market, demand for John Cosker’s big-buck Mystic creations continues to grow. So it makes perfect sense that Cosker would find a strong dealer west of the Mississippi.

That’s an apt description of Bullock Marine based in Seabrook, Texas. Bullock has been a top dealer for Skater catamarans, as well as Eliminator Performance Boats, for several years. Without question, company principal Bruce Bullock knows his way around high-end custom catamaran sales.

To a degree, Mystic and Skater compete with one another as both appeal to discerning and decidedly well-heeled go-fast catamaran buyers. However, Mystic offers nothing less than 50 feet long and the Skater line stops at 46 feet. So in theory, at least, the lines should compliment—rather than compete with—one another.

“Mystic is building bigger boats and has made its name with turbines, which a way I’ve wanted to go for awhile,” Bullock told me this morning. “I met with John Cosker at the Miami show and we started talking about Lake Havasu (Ariz.). That’s kind of my area, and to me it’s also the hot rod area of the West. I also talked to Peter (Hledin, owner and founder of Douglas Marine/Skater) and he was OK with it.

“I’m excited about getting into the turbines,” he added. “We’ll see what we can do.”

This being Friday—and you know how much I like to report good news on Friday—I submit the following from Joe Schaldenbrand of Sunsation Performance Boats, which unveiled its new 36-footer at its Open House in Algonac, Mich., earlier this week:

“The New 36’ hit a home run today,” Schaldenbrand said in an email to the Sunsation faithful yesterday. “The boat exceeded our expectations in handling, driving, performance, stability. When you work on a project like this and put everything you have into it but, you’re just never sure how well it is going to run and the moment of truth finally comes, there is no better feeling in the world. ‘We have a winner,’ said Mike Griffith of Mercury Racing ‘This boat is right on.’

“ All the people that worked on this project need to be proud of what has been accomplished,” Schaldenbrand concluded. “It was a group effort that has paid off.”

On a personal note: Two years ago in Sanibel Island, Fla, at the end of one of Powerboat magazine’s spring round-ups, I walked up the docks to say goodbye to Wayne Schaldenbrand of Sunsation. We were done testing his company’s boat and he was headed back to Michigan. I told him how impressed we were with his boat, and how I hoped Sunsation could weather the coming economic storm.

Schaldenbrand choked up and his eyes filled. “It’s really hard right now,” he said. “But we're doing everything we can to keep people working."

So to Wayne, Joe, John and all the rest of the very good people at Sunsation, Congratulations. Class always tells. Always.