Huge water greeted participants at last weekend’s inaugural Erie Poker Run in Pennsylvania. Conditions on Lake Erie were nasty enough to turn most folks around before they left the “protected” waters of Presque Bay (read the story). But then most folks aren’t Bill and Monica Reiffer, who have a hefty 43-foot Checkmate V-bottom powered by twin Mercury Racing 700 engines at their disposal.

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It’s a performance boat. It’s a submarine. It’s the Reiffer’s 43-foot Checkmate on Lake Erie. Check out the sequence above courtesy/copyright Tim Sharkey/Sharkey Images.

Though the Reiffers wisely opted not to spend a lot of time solo on the unruly waters, they were out there long enough for photographer Tim Sharkey to capture the above sequence of them before they headed back to the docks. And after doing their best impression of a submarine crew in their 43-footer, that’s exactly where they went.

But for a few daring minutes on Lake Erie, the Reiffers didn’t just steal the show. They were the show.

Related Story: Erie Poker Run Wrap-Up: Nature Deals A Tough Hand