By Gregg Mansfield

A vacationer was eating breakfast at the Naked Turtle and looking at the line of spectacular catamarans and V-bottoms beached in the Cove.

Obviously unaware of what prices today's high-performance boats fetch, he put together his best estimate on the value of boats between a bite of eggs and a sip of coffee.

"There must be $5 million worth of boats down there," he said to his spouse.

Good thing the vacationer wasn't a contestant on the "The Price is Right," because he would have been off by a cool $30 million or so when it came to the boats lined up in front of the Nautical Inn in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

The Cove, stocked with million-dollar creations from Nor-Tech, Skater and Cigarette, was a testament to the drawing power of the Desert Storm Poker Run. Now in its third year, the poker run has become the high-performance boating event out West.

The reasons the poker run has grown to one of the largest in the country are pretty simple. A mix of ideal weather, a perfect location and a well-organized event keeps boaters coming back. More than 200 boats participated this year and just as many spectator boats lined the lake to watch the poker run in late April.

"It's taken on a life of its own," said Jim Nichols, who organized the poker run along with several volunteers. "I think one of the reasons it's been so successful is because it's a casual atmosphere. We are not a bunch of snobs."

While Lake Havasu offers a casual getaway—especially for boaters from colder spots on the East Coast—it was anything but casual when it came to safety during the event.

Last year organizers made several changes to improve safety and this year they went a step further. In addition to requiring every participant to wear life jackets, boats were not allowed to run faster than 110 mph if there were passengers in the rear seats. Most poker runners opted to stay within the speed limit so they could have passengers.

To start the run, boats milled in Thompson Bay before going single file through the famous Channel and under the London Bridge. Once outside the Channel, the boats (in groups of 15 to 20) followed behind a pace boat before they were allowed to speed off to the first card stop in Havasu Springs. Other groups were sent off to the second card station in Havasu Landing.

The staggered starts helped reduce the traffic, especially at narrow spots on the lake, and allowed safety crews in a helicopter and in boats to keep a better watch on the participants.

The first group featured the fastest entrants, including the Team CRC race boat. But for every big-dollar Outerlimits and Skater, there were plenty of Nordics, LaveyCrafts, Halletts and Dave's Custom Boats representing the West Coast custom builders.

Within a couple of hours, most of the boats had arrived back in the Cove. Others chose to hang out at the infamous Sandbar before returning to the Nautical Inn to turn in their poker-run cards.

Michael and Terri Craig had just finished the run and were at the Naked Turtle having some drinks with friends. The Craig family brought its new 42-foot MTI Hammertime to the poker run (look for a performance review on the offshore catamaran in the August issue of Powerboat).

The Craigs do 10 to 12 poker runs a year and like what the run in the desert offers.

"It's a short run—20 miles down and 20 miles back," said Michael, who lives in Tulsa, Okla. "You can go to the Sandbar, you can come to the (Naked) Turtle and hang out, have drinks with your friends. There's just a ton of a people here.

"We've got friends all over the country and they show up at these (runs). We get to see our buddies once a month and lie about how fast our boats are."

When Ken Kirkaldy was asked why the Desert Storm Poker Run has become so popular, he noted dryly, "It's Havasu." The Fountain Hills, Ariz., resident ran the poker run in a Ocke Mannerfelt-designed "Bat Boat."

"It's the first chance for a lot of East Coasters to get their boats wet," Kirkaldy said. "They've been frozen in back east. They have to get out."

For Nichols and the team of volunteers, putting on the poker run is a year-long job. Sometimes overlooked in a major event like Desert Storm is the real purpose of the poker run. The run was expected to raise close to $20,000 for Troops Now and Tomorrow, a nonprofit group that supports American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The run had yet to finish and Nichols was asked by a couple of sponsors what they were planning for next year. This year's poker run had been stressful enough for Nichols. His wife, Claudia, had been hospitalized but her health was improving. On top of that, Nichols' new position with his company added to his workload.

But he never lost sight of the purpose of the Desert Storm Poker Run.

"We created this poker run to give back to the community," he said. "We wanted people to be safe and have a good time. That's what it's all about."

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