“Fastest Skater” Competition Returning to Shootout

Owners of Skater catamarans such as the 368 in this photo will compete in three categories for “Fastest Skater” honors.

Skater catamaran owners will compete once again for the title of “Fastest Skater” at the 2011 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout August 27 and 28. This year, however, the owners won’t be vying for a cash prize—last year Chip Romer won $10,000 with a 186-mph run in his Skater 388 powered by twin 1,500-hp engines—at the Missouri-based event. They’ll be competing to have their names engraved on the new “Fastest Skater” perpetual trophy.

“Just giving a lump sum to one guy wasn’t fair to everyone who worked so hard to do well,” said Peter Hledin, the principal of Douglas Marine/Skater in Douglas, Mich. “I wanted to give everyone a fair chance.

“So this year we have this great big trophy with three categories, the fastest Skater, the fastest outboard Skater and the fastest V-bottom Skater, if there are any at the Shootout,” he added. “Every year, we’ll keep adding names to the trophy. Last year’s winner will be added to the trophy.”

The trophy will be kept at the Camden On the Lake Resort and Spa, the host site for the Lake of the Ozarks SkaterFest, which runs concurrently with the Shootout.

“You can’t do something like this at every event, but this is a big one,” said Hledin. “We may also something like this at Desert Storm.”