Performance Boat Center Hosts A Fun Run Finale For The Books

Poetry that it is in motion, a Performance Powerboats P420 catamaran also makes a damn fine stage when it’s sitting still on a trailer. And that’s exactly what Performance Boat Center’s Brett Marine, Myrick Coil and Michael Hall used it for yesterday when they welcomed 58 registered participants and their families and friends before the start of the Osage Beach, Mo., dealership’s Fall Fun Run.

At times during last weekend’s happening the Lake of the Ozarks lived up to its sporty reputation. Photos by Jeff Helmkamp copyright Helmkamp Photos.

Manire beamed at the group before him. Just 15 years ago, the current sprawling facility he co-founded with partner Mark Waddington was raw, densely wooded countryside. Water from the Lake of the Ozarks was the only thing filling the cove that became—hand’s down—the home world’s finest high-performance powerboat dealership.

“With the 20 or so boats that didn’t register but will show up today, we’ll have almost 90 boats, he said. “Not bad for a freaking manmade lake in Missouri in October.”

Of course he didn’t say “freaking.”

Brett Manire (far right) and his team took a P420 demo catamaran stage to up the Performance Boat Center faithful before the run began.

The group applauded hard. No one appreciates Performance Boat Center more than its customer-family. And they showed it.

Manire’s grin carried undeniable pride and joy—and understandable relief. The Fall Fun Run is the last in-house-produced event of the Performance Boat Center season, which begins with the Spring Fun Run in May and ends with its fall counterpart in October.

A well-known figure at the Lake of the Ozarks, Shelby Smith ran his 46-foot Outerlimits catamaran.

Familiar faces in the crowd included well-known go-boat owners Mike and Angela Goldbaugh, Adam Seraphine and his crew, Shelby Smith and his son, Chuck Stark and Ron Szolack. But the group also included less-regular Performance Boat Center event participants such as Crunch and Tony Wells of Evansville, Ind., who brought their ultra-cool, 20-something-year-old son, Rieser, with them this weekend.

And the brass-set award goes to the gentleman in the 20-foot Cigarette.

It was Riser’s first visit to the lake. And understandably, he even out-grinned Manire.

“I can’t believe this,” he said as ambled through the Performance Boat Center showroom. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“That’s because there’s nothing like it,” a reporter in town less than 24 hours replied. “Anywhere.”

Why Fly By?
Clever reader that you are, you’ve probably guessed I am the reporter who was in town for less than 24 hours. The “reporter” thing is a contrivance we journalist types use to maintain distance from our subjects and keep the focus off ourselves. But now and then—like now—it has to go.

Ron Szolack hosted friends Yvonne Aleman, Greg Harris and the author in his magnificent—and naturally for sale—Skater 438 catamaran.

I first covered the Performance Boat Center fall happening, which has been around as long as the dealership itself, in person seven years ago. Unlike yesterday’s affair that saw temperatures in the low-to-mid 80s and cloudless skies, that event had overcast, damp and drizzly weather that was less inviting for a day on the water. But it was perfect for hanging out and gabbing at waterfront bars.

The event attracted 30-something boats that year. It was an intimate, leisurely affair. Manire and the rest of Performance Boat Center crew had time to sit a spell and catch up with their guests. It was nothing like the annual Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in late August, where the frenetic pace dictates more waves and nods and text messages from across crowded streets and parking lots than meaningful conversations.

Fall perfection in Central Missouri.

Before I left the lake that year, I swore I would return to fall happening as soon as possible. I loved it that much. It just took a bit longer than I hoped.

I have Szolack to thank for my time there this weekend. Not only did he give me a fine room in his lake-view home and a ride for the morning in his commanding—there’s no other word for it—Skater 438 catamaran with longtime friends Yvonne Aleman and Greg Harris, he understood my program. I had to be on my way to Springfield, Mo., by noon to catch a flight back to Florida. I had somewhere else to be this morning.

Alabama’s Mike and Angela Goldbaugh brought friends along for the ride in their striking Skater 388 catamaran.

With blood family rather than the extended kind.

So we ran to the day’s first stop at Lake Burger, watched the boats rafting off for a few minutes and then headed back to our Performance Boat Center starting point. From there the group ran to The Cave Bar and Grill and then finished the day back at the Lakeside Grill and its notorious tiki bar on Performance Boat Center property.

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Enjoy more boats and faces from the 2025 Performance Boat Center Fall Fun Run.

So what did I miss other than the privilege of more time on the water in a world-class catamaran, lunch at The Cave and a party I’d have snuck out of early without a word anyway? Hanging out with good people who treat me—forever an outsider as a good reporter needs to be but one still appreciative of authentic kindness and hospitality—as family.