Powerquest Fun Run, August 16, 2014

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Rafting up at the restaurant. They did an outstanding job taking care of the group. Fast service, good food and drinks.

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Latecomers

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One of the things we were not expecting to have the opportunity to do at the Powerquest run, meet with one of the founders of the original Powerquest boat company, Todd Kamps, himself. Todd and his son were there, still not sure why they were in a Saber for the run though, and we had the opportunity to chat with them for a short while at the lunch stop.



This is Todd and his son in the back, hoping like heck Jamie knows how to drive a boat, and that the boat is built as well as they used to build Powerquests.....

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For those of you unfamiliar with the company, founders Kevin Hirdes and Todd Kamps, when they were just out of high school, began the boat line in 1983. They bought molds and parts of another boat manufacturer who was going out of business, and then improved on that company’s boat design to create PowerQuest, (Originally called Powerplay).

The company built a reputation for building nice, quality performance boats that ranged from 22 to 38 feet and had many custom touches such as inlaid graphics similar to west-coast builders and hand-laid fiberglass. At its peak in the late 1990s, the company had a workforce of nearly a 100 employees, but its slow decline began in 2001 after it was first sold to others by Kevin and Todd.

I could review the negatives that occurred after they sold the company, but I'd rather stick with how well the boats they built have held their value and their popularity. The turnout for this first ever Powerquest Fun Run shows exactly that, and I was extremely pleased to see Todd and his son on the run.

Congrats to all of you who own Powerquests and even more who took the time to share your passion with your peers and the rest of the performance boating world.

I'll get after lunch pics and info up too.

[Brad burditt]

Hey bud you have done a great job and glade you were able to make the time for this event and Im sure this event will start to grow as the word gets out I'm defiantly going to keep my eye out to the photos and see if you were able to get me or If I was to far out I was the only baja there so won't be hard to pick out but thanks again and great work

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Well, if it was the only Baja, it must be this one...

This was after lunch so the light wasn't as good as in the morning, but we did get a couple shots.

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So, after lunch it was time to head back out into first Lake Macatawa, then Lake Michigan where some of the boats headed north back to Grand Haven, and some headed south to Saugatuck. As we were leaving, it looked as if the Coast Guard was in a hurry to get to the Boatwerks restaurant. They must have heard that there were some of those "Cigar" boats thinking of making too much noise or something.




Or they may have heard there was a Cigarette trying to crash a Powerquest Party......

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Heading out

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A rare Powerquest. I'm not sure anybody else believed me when I said it was one. I have no idea how many 320's with arches were even built. Anyone???? I heard this one had good power and speed.

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We had tied up on the wall so we could be the first boat out for photo opportunities. As we made the big lake, a look back at the parade behind.....




Pete, Shoot 2 Thrill, had a nice shot of the boats....

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The 320 heading north. I heard after it was the third boat to make it back to Grand Haven? Behind the Checkmate 43 and the Saber 28.

[Brad burditt]

Yes that's the one I would of loved to see it leaving boat werks and being the only one stopped by coast guard lol but that's her was a former pq but went bigger

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You got pulled over?

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Well, we tried to get the word out that we would be about a 1/4 to 1/2 mile off shore and about 1/2 mile north of the pierhead when we left if anyone wanted to do some flybys. Todd in his Cigarette made a couple of passes.

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Looks like this one messed his hair up.....

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Heading north to Grand Haven.

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The Saber guys headin out, flying low......