The channel leading out to...
The channel leading out to Lake Havasu, which forms Thompson Bay, was lined with beached water toys, and folks cruised the channel all weekend, with a continuous parade of boats and personal watercraft.
Lake Havasu City, Arizona, is located on the east side of Lake Havasu, a 45-mile-long lake that was created by the damming of the Colorado River (Parker Dam on the south end) in 1938. This oasis resort feeds off the Colorado River and borders the California and Arizona deserts, and Havasu City has become a community of fun and relaxation all year round. During the hot summer months, boat enthusiasts invade this water sports paradise.
Jokers Wild Promotions, run by Todd Taylor, has been putting on regattas for those fast-'n'-furious water freaks since 1999. We have covered some of the previous Jokers Wild Promotion regattas this season, including Eliminator, Commander, and Nordic, and every one of them has been a blast. Our most recent wet-'n'-wild weekend was the Shockwave Regatta, held during the hottest of hottest weekends of the summer in July. With the thermometer reading 117 degrees, the real killer was the humidity, which was tickling triple digits.
Participants started arriving on Friday to take advantage of the early arrival drop-ins, which allowed them to get their Shockwave boats into the cool Havasu water and putt them around to beach the boats in Nautical Cove. The Jokers Wild staff began registration at 3 p.m. and ran throughout the evening. A welcome reception commenced at 5 p.m., with a happy hour and manufacturer's showcase to display and answer any questions curious boaters might have about their latest products. The evening wound down about 11 p.m., due to the early mandatory drivers meeting scheduled for 9:30 the next morning.
Todd Taylor, Mr. Jokers Wild, greeted everyone down at the Nautical Cove to explain the day's agenda and rules of the water. After the driver's meeting, the participants manned their boats for a mass exodus from Nautical Cove, then cruised over to Mother's Cove, which is located on the other side of the lake, for the traditional large aerial photo group shot.
Fortunately, we were going to be accompanying Todd on his awesome personal 26-foot Howard, Chevy-supercharged 800hp beast. As we idled down inside Mother's Cove with the rest of the 160-plus Shockwave boats in pursuit, Taylor began directing boaters into position with his bullhorn. The boats were tied off to each other, with a couple anchored, as the floating mass swelled in size and numbers. Then, we introduced the belly-flop contest, the contestants were judged on style and splash size. Then, before we knew it, Bill Williams arrived by buzzing the group in his Robinson 22 helicopter with Jerry Taylor riding shotgun armed with his Nikon 1D Digital camera to capture some birds-eye-view photos from above. After some serious air time, clicking off a multitude of exposures, the micro-chopper sped off toward the next boater's attraction to take part in some speed runs while being photographed from above. We have seen some of Jerry Taylor's work and the shots are very, very impressive. As the boats accelerated up to about 70 mph, Williams would swoop down in his chopper to position and trail along as Taylor fired off about 10 shots.
After the aerial photography, the boaters began the Poker Run portion of the day's activities. Each participant had a map of the lake designating mandatory Poker Run destinations located all over the lake. As boaters would approach the Poker Run locations, a boom stick was extended out to them with a number of cards dealt to them in a small sealed envelope. As they proceeded to the accounted poker stops, they received their dealt poker cards to complete their poker hand. After the final cards were dealt out, the participants powered on back to Nautical Cove. As the participants arrived, their dealt cards were unveiled and accounted for. The numbers were tallied and would be made public at the awards banquet that would be held later in the evening. As the parents were having their cards counted, the kids were busy enjoying the Jokers Wild wet-'n'-wild activities and refreshments. In addition, many of the manufacturers displayed their wares for the folks to check out.