With a lunch stop in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, just a stone’s throw—OK, if you have a great arm—from Detroit, the Performance Boat Club of Canada’s upcoming Sarnia Summer Splash Poker Run July 29-30 could attract go-fast powerboat owners from the both sides of the border. At least that’s what the event’s organizers are hoping for with next weekend’s poker run, their third event of the season.

Members of the Performance Boat Club of Canada are hoping to be joined by their south-of-the-border counterparts for the Sarnia event next weekend. Photo courtesy/copyright Performance Boat Club of Canada.

“I really like the idea of Canadians and Americans getting together to go boating,” said Meghan Brousseau, the president of the nonprofit club that raises funds for local charities. “We are hoping to attract as many of our U.S friends as possible. We had three or four U.S. boats join us last year.”

At present, 20-plus boats are registered for the poker run, a significant increase from last year’s total of 14 entries. St. Joseph’s Hospice of Sarnia-Lambton is the event’s benefitting charity.

Although the poker run has no stops in the United States, it will be “going close to the City of St. Clair on the U.S. side,” according to Brousseau. The annual SkaterFest event organized and hosted by well-known performance-boat owner Ron Szolack as well as the Offshore Powerboat Association St. Clair River powerboat race are scheduled for the same weekend. Brousseau said she is hoping the club can coordinate some sort of fly-by “salute” to both events.

“There is a bridge to the United States at Sarnia, where our host marina is located, and we do a blast under the bridge and straddle both the Canadian and American sides,” said Brousseau. “Windsor is also right across the river from Detroit, although the Windsor Yacht Club where we stop for lunch is just at the entrance to the Detroit River.

“It is really easy for U.S. boaters to come by boat or truck,” she continued. “As I said, the marina is just by the bridge in Sarnia, and those coming by boat just have to call customs on arrival. And of course they will need their I.D. and paperwork on hand.”

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