With boats ranging from 20-foot sportboats from Baja Marine to turbine-powered catamarans from Outerlimits Offshore Powerboats, the seventh annual Lake Cumberland Thunder Run in Kentucky hosted a fleet of more than 70 boats on Friday and Saturday despite a forecast that called for a 100-percent chance of rain.

Carl Wesley ran his 46-foot Skater catamaran in the Lake Cumberland Thunder Run. Photo by Jacob Davis/LakeLifeFotos

Justin Lucas, who organizes the run with his friend Dan Weiss, said everyone who decided to brave the weather made the best of the situation.

“I’m guessing we lost 40 boats because of the forecast, but who knows,” said Lucas, who thanked his friends, Darrell and Cassie Mellars and Barry Raper, for helping with the event as well as his wife, Erin, whom he called the most helpful volunteer of them all. “We pushed the start back 30 minutes on Saturday to let some of the rain clear out and from that point on the weather was pretty cooperative. It actually cleared up in the afternoon, which provided a great ending to the event.”

Along with the two slideshows below—one of which includes shots from Jacob Davis of LakeLifeFotos and the other includes photos provided by Fallon Thibodeaux and Courtney Chumbley—here’s what three Skater Powerboats owners who participated in the event had to say about the Lake Cumberland Thunder Run.

Check out the slideshow above for more Thunder Run photos courtesy of Jacob Davis/LakeLifeFotos.

Mike Thornton (Frisky Business 388): “We had a great time, and although we had a little wet weather—it was nothing too terribly bad—we still had a lot of fun. The start was delayed a little to let the weather pass, which turned out to be a good decision, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves the rest of the day. Justin and Dan put on another great show.”

Carl Wesley (“New” 2008 46’): “Other than the not-so-great weather and a little debris in the lake, the run was super. It was fun to have the Skater out there, especially because it’s a boat so many people are familiar with from it sitting at Lake Cumberland Marine for so many years. Denny (Kirkland of Custom Performance in Somerset, Ky.) manned the throttles with us all weekend and he seemed extremely pleased. We definitely got a lot of attention in the boat, but I enjoyed seeing all the other boats from Nor-Tech, MTI and more.”

For additional Thunder Run photos courtesy of Thibodeaux and Chumbley, see the slideshow above.

David Southern (Pure Platinum 388): The weather finally cleared out and the water was a little snotty but overall it made for a nice little run. We had a good time and it was great to see Bill Pyburn at the poker run and have him run with us in his previous boat. (The slideshow above includes a shot of Pyburn jumping from Frisky Business to Pure Platinum).

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