The first leg of last Saturday’s Performance Boat Center Fall Run on the Lake of the Ozarks saw almost 60 boats in the mix for the trek from the dealership’s Osage Beach, Mo., home-base to Lake Burger restaurant in Gravois Mills. That fleet and other boat traffic on the sparking fall morning made for some remarkably crappy water.

Sometimes a bigger boat than you think you need makes great sense. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

Exactly how crappy? Enough to make Ron Szolack, his friends Greg Harris and Yvonne Aleman and another guest grateful to be running in Szolack’s 2020 model-year Skater 438 catamaran powered by a pair of 1,100-hp turbocharged engines from Mercury Racing. At one point during the ride, the group encountered tall, steep wakes of the two-plus-foot kind coming at them from all directions.

And the boat danced across them as if they didn’t exist.

“I am glad for every freaking inch of this boat,” one of Szolack’s guests announced to the group.

No one disagreed.

Of course, you would rightly expect a 43-foot catamaran to make short work of such conditions and those expectations are not unreasonable. But beyond the comfort that the cat delivered in classic Lake of the Ozarks slop, its ride was reassuring. Szolack ran it to 120 mph for a brief moment, but mostly kept the boat humming along at 80 to 90 mph. At that speed in those conditions, the ride was—as the kids are calling it these days—fire.

Not on fire. Fire.

Szolack’s Skater, which is for sale of course through Performance Boat Center, is the third of 11 such 43-footers built to date. Former offshore racer Matt Rice was the boat’s original owner. Its original turbocharged engines have 100 operating hours.

And though the cat could handle more power, it really doesn’t need it. Top speed, according to its owner, is 160 mph. It runs 130 to 140 mph at 4,000 to 5,000 rpm.

A full-figured catamaran to be sure, it also carves precise turns at 70-plus mph. Szolack put it through a semi-circle at that speed and—even crossing a few misplaced wakes—it didn’t bobble.

“It’s really is a pretty amazing boat,” Szolack said to his friends as they idled back to their Performance Boat Center starting point. “It could use a good home.”

His friends, however, are hoping—at least for a little while longer—the cat maintains its current residence.