With roughly half of its deep waters—more than 1,600 feet in the deepest spot—in California and the other half in Nevada, Lake Tahoe remains one of the nation’s top pristine waterways and the ideal setting for the owners of big-dollar wooden powerboats to strut their stuff. The lake even has a restaurant in the tiny North Lake Community of Carnelian Bay called Gar Woods. Packed during the summer months, the waterside eatery pays homage to the long history of “woodies” on the lake.

There are a few events each summer dedicated to showcasing wooden boats in the Lake Tahoe area, not the least of which is the annual South Tahoe Wooden Boat Classic. Photographer Erick Bryner of Firedrill Productions was on hand for the event last weekend and brought back a gallery of images, which he generously offered to share with speedonthewater.com.

When it comes to wooden boats, the devil is in the painstaking details. Just check out the slideshow courtesy of Erick Bryner.

“It’s not your typical gig, but they are the ‘original performance boats,’ after all,” Bryner said. “It was pretty crowded, and they were all tied up to the docks, so I had to be creative with my angles and cropping.”

Bryner is right—the boats in the slideshow above are anything but typical. True works of art, especially performance art, never are.

Editor’s note: Erick Bryner is a frequent contributor to the speedonthewater.com, as well its bi-monthly digital magazine.

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Portfolio: Erick Bryner