Nothing But Fun In Norway
Almost two weeks ago, a Facebook friend who I’ve yet to meet in person—thanks to continued performance boating coverage for many years between OffshoreOnly.com and Speedonthewater.com I have dozens of friends on the social media platform like that—sent me a message letting me know how everything went with a local poker run he helps organize. Local to him was far from local to me as Nicolay Rylander, a friend from Arendal, Norway, who is a big Speedonthewater.com advocate, participated in the annual Arendal Poker Run along with a few hundred other people.
Between owner Trond Schou, a few dealers and a strong fleet of center consoles and catamarans such as the 36-footer above, Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats was well represented in the Norwegian poker run. Photo courtesy Nicolay Rylander
Thanks to years of covering performance boats, I’ve traveled to dozens of places around the United States and even to a few different countries, including Tunisia, Canada, Italy and The Bahamas. Norway is not on that list, but thanks to Rylander’s efforts to fill me in on what takes place at their event at the end of June, I want to add it in the near future.The pictures and video he passed along from the event, which included 45 registered boats and practically perfect weather, definitely piqued my interest in the poker run. Between the caliber of boats, the scenery, the boating destinations and more, it appears that the organizers of the Arendal Poker Run—the Neptun PowerBoat Club—know how to host one heck of a good time.
“The weather was excellent this year—we even had a little wind, which gave the boats plenty of air time in the waves,” said Rylander, who explained that the waters in and around Norway for the poker run are similar to that of the Key West Poker Run in Florida with some protected waterways and some offshore. “Everyone had a great time this year thanks to some top-shelf sponsors and card stops.
and then