Based on an enormous amount of participant feedback, the consensus across the board was that it was another amazing year at the Boyne Thunder Poker Run in Boyne City, Mich. And that was despite the less-than-ideal conditions for the 13th annual event.

It’s not often you see John Frohlich’s 47-foot Apacahe Kemosabe in such a level flight so high out of the water, but Shoot 2 Thrill Pix‘s Pete Boden snagged this amazing shot during the 2016 Boyne Thunder Poker Run in Northern Michigan.

Those less-than-ideal conditions though produced some of the coolest photos Shoot 2 Thrill Pix’s Pete Boden—speedonthewater.com’s resident ace shooter—has ever taken at the event, which starts on Lake Charlevoix and heads into the expansive northeast section of Lake Michigan. This year, less than a dozen boats opted to tackle the first part of the poker run heading south into the 6- to 10-footers the lake whipped up.

Beginning with the fantastic photo-of-the-year worthy shot of John Frohlich’s 47-foot Apache Kemosabe, which is powered by triple Chief Performance engines, flying across the waves, Boden captured some amazing out-of-the-water images of each of those boats. If you’re like us, the first thing you’ll notice when you check out his slideshow below is that each boat included is a V-bottom. Whether it’s a 43-foot Outerlimits owned by Joe Sgro (aka the fastest V-bottom in the world), a 46-foot Cigarette owned by Bob Peterson, a Scarab owned by Brian Humphries, a Powerplay owned by Adam Fisher, another Cigarette owned by Joe Gilstorf or an Active Thunder owned by Derek Powers (featured in that order in the slideshow below), it’s obvious that V-bottoms (and their owners) are built to handle big water.

Check out the slideshow above for more awesome aerial images from Pete Boden.

After an eventful few days of street shows, stereo wars, fun runs and parties, we think Power’s wife, Chasity, said it best on Facebook during the drive home to Grand Rapids, Mich.

“We are so grateful for the ability to do what we do while surrounded by people who support each other like a brotherhood should,” Chasity said. “We had such a fulfilling weekend packed with fun, positivity and special people! Thank you to Keith and Julie Burk for being truly thoughtful, wonderful people. Thank you to all of the people who work so hard and travel from all over the country and even internationally to participate in creating a fantastic event. Thank you to all of the volunteers and dockhands for keeping our boats safe. And thank you to my friends for being good sports while enduring 7-foot waves and making the weekend complete.”

Even though the 2016 Boyne Thunder Poker Run is in everyone’s rearview mirror, between websites, social media, magazines and more, the pictures and videos from the memorable event will live on forever.

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