Well, I finally got home and put everything away after another wonderful weekend on Seneca Lake in upstate New York. I attended the 27th running of the Rochester Offshore Powerboat Association's Battleship Run with my fiancé Stella. (ROPA does a few things differently than most Poker Runs, hence the slightly different name.) A total of 41 boats ran approximately 65 miles on beautiful water and burned more than a few gallons of refined dinosaur remains. And, since I run a 2.5 liter lawn care device on the transom of my boat, we killed more than a few mosquitos along the way at no extra charge.

Although ROPA does a few things differently than other Poker Runs, one thing they never fail at is running a safe, enjoyable day on a wonderful lake with some of the nicest people you'll ever want to meet. And I'm not talking just the people you'll meet in the boats at the run. The local population seems to love the run as much as the participants do. I can't tell you how many people came up to me at various times before, during and after the run and expressed just how much they enjoy the folks from ROPA coming down every year. Did you ever have somebody tell you to open up your Silent Choice exhaust so they could hear the un-muffled sound? It happens every year here. I just can't tell you how friendly everybody was. Even the local Law Enforcement officers waved to everyone as we went by. I guess if you want a sausage fest, you probably want to attend a different run.

One of the things ROPA insists on is a very simple set of basic rules as clearly articulated by ROPA President Bill Krystan at the Driver's Meeting. Among the most important are: 1) It's not a race, 2) No passing the Pace Boat(s), 3) PFD's to be worn by everyone when a boat is on plane, 4) No alcohol or drug consumption by anyone on any boat during the run. These rules may seem pretty basic, but they're the keys to a successful event. Failure to comply with any or all of these rules will get you kicked out here.

ROPA runs three separate pace groups to keep everybody happy. The "fast" pace group runs approximately 100 MPH. This of course assumes that Pete Bogino remembers to put the correct bolt in the harmonic balancer on the port engine in his Skater - which he apparently did not. This quickly led to an interesting collection of loose parts in the bilge and thus prevented Pete from making the jump to hyper space. Pete's only comment was "I think I know where that left over bolt on my bench goes now."

The "medium" pace group was paced by Andy Flanagan in his 29' Velocity from Colorado and the plan was to run 65 MPH. That was the plan at least. They ended up running closer to 75 MPH and a few boats elected to defect to the slower group to find a more relaxed pace. The word "wimp" was apparently used several times when describing these folks, but what the heck, this group looked great going by.

I had the honor (and pleasure) of once again pacing the "slow" (and as usual - the biggest) fleet in my 22' Progression. More than a few people suppressed a giggle when I told them what would be pacing the fleet. When we voted to run at the upper end of the recommended 45-55 MPH speed band, there were more snickers about my ability to maintain that speed in one to twos. I had to clarify that we would be running 55 MPH on GPS - which equates to approximately 80 MPH on most Checkmate speedometers. The snickers stopped when - as promised - I stepped up the pace to 75 or so each time we passed the photo boat and I walked away from most of the fleet. Yes, I know the cowling on my Mercury outboard says only 200 HP. And since this is the internet, it must be true, right?

After three legs running the entire length - plus some - of Seneca Lake, the fleet came into beautiful Watkins Glen for lunch. If you think docking 41 boats at docks normally used and reserved for sail boats would be a challenge, you'd be wrong. The fine folks from The Village Marina were out on the docks cheerfully directing the fleet in and they did an absolutely wonderful job of it. Most of the fleet gave a textbook demonstration of how to dock a boat. Rumor has it that at least one participating crew member gave a textbook example of why you don't leave your feet (in high heels) on the dock with your hands on the bow rail while the boat pulls away though. (There's gotta be footage on YouTube given all of the locals watching and taking pictures!)

After a leisurely lunch, it was time for a non-paced trip back for one last card stop before a few unofficial "just showing off" passes in front of the host Showboat Hotel and the Rainbow Cove Hotel just down the road. It was here that Larry Webster pulled off a personal best 97.7 MPH run in his 24' Progression with a Saris Racing motor under the hatch. Lots of other folks used this final leg to do a little sight seeing on this beautiful glacier formed lake and were not disappointed.

After an awesome dinner of chicken, pulled pork, corn on the cob, salads, shrimp, and a few other things I can't remember because I ate too much, President Bill took the stage for prizes and awards. There was some really neat stuff on the prize table this year in including not one, but two GoPro cameras, inflatable PFD's, complete tool sets, Gift Cards to all sorts of neat places as well as a full selection of great shirts. The top prize of $1,500 went to Vance Hagen and his nattily attired Team Mean Streak. More importantly though, almost $3,000 was given to Mercy Flight Central of Western New York. ROPA has donated to these fine folks for many, many years and although we've never needed their services, it's great to know that they'll still be there for us.

And so, yet another Battleship Run is now in the books and many folks are already looking forward to next year. (That's partially because with this run, if you want a hotel room, you have to reserve a year in advance!) If you want to mark your calendar and make your reservations now, the 28th annual Battleship Run will be Saturday - July 21, 2018. See you there!

Tom