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Typically I write articles about the events as an observer, or a vendor. I've been to quite a few Monster Bash's, and Desert Storm's over the years, but to speak candidly I almost never participate in them. This year would mark the first year I have ever sponsored Monster Bash (we usually just do Desert Storm), and instead of just doing our usual booth and parties, we decided we wanted to actually run it!

(Sigus running his boat in the Poker Run)
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The weekend started out at West Coast Drives for the "Welcome Party" for the participants and vendors. Many reading this article will have no idea what West Coast Drives is, and just assume it's some shop that builds outdrives.

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(A 28 Nordic showing how rough the water can get on a windy day during a Poker run with a 100 boats)
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West Coast Drives is owned by Vern Gilbert of Lake Havasu City, and to put it bluntly they don't build Bravo's. What Vern is known for is taking what is already an ultra high performance boat, and making them run amongst the best in the country. That starts with taking #6 drives and dry sumping them to make them more efficent, and continues on to boat setup, prop dial in, lake testing, and for a select few even being the "crew chief" and co pilot to some of the fastest shoot out boats the country has ever seen. I don't mean to get completely side tracked with Vern, but he's a great guy and he and a small handful of others is the absolute reason why we on the West Coast get to say that we have some of the fastest boats in the country.

(The newly redesigned cabin of the 32 Spectre is amazing!)
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(A beautiful 43 Nordic with big power! Nordic should be marketing the hell of these and their 39's)
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The shop itself is always spotless, and Vern makes a good show of it by putting out some serious Hardware in the driveway that are customers and friends vehicles. The new 32 Spectre was on display front and center, showing off their completely redesigned dash with integrated Garmin's and accent lighting. Somewhere tucked away between Brian's Infamous "Blood Money" and Gary Smith's latest Outer Limits Vee, I brought the RDP Ranger. It got the attention of all the right people.

(A friends date striking a pose in the RDP Ranger)
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(A green DCB M31 cruising slow enough to let us look through the hatches)
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It's a strange thing these parties at the Poker Runs. The parties are always generally at the same places, frequented by the same people, and sponsored by the same usual suspects. The thing that's weird about it is, each party that I go to always has it's own unique vibe. I don't know what it was about this one, but the party was in full swing. Everyone was loose and having fun, and there was virtually zero "peacocking" that I saw anywhere. From my perspective it was one of the most fun "Pre Parties" at one of Lake Racers events that I have ever been too. The food (Thank you Skater40) was brought in my Shugrues and was amazing. The party started with kids dancing to Up Town Funk, and ended with most people wanting to keep it going and heading out to the Flying X!

(Panty Dropper cruising in the run)
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The Following morning (using that term loosely) I was definitely in the spirit of the event. As I looked in the mirror it occurred to me that I looked like a character out of the Walking Dead. I had made plans to hit the lunch run with Ricky from Maxed Out Marine. Ricky has an Ilmor powered F-29 that was selected as our boat of choice. It's important to remember that Monster Bash is "supposed" to be for the smaller everyday boater.. But it's also important to remember that if I get hungry, I get "Hangry." So time was of the essence while getting down to the springs.

(Ricky Flying his F-29)
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The newly remodeled Banquet room down at the springs really turned out nice. They laid out a pretty simple spread for the Poker Runners. Don't mistake simple for cheap though! The Hamburgers were first rate, the salad was cold and crisp. It was about as nice as you are going to do that kind of thing, and made me realize that at least one RDP event is going to be running to the Springs next season.

(Octane Marine making an appearance at Monster Bash)
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(An emotional moment for RDP & the EBOG FB group that took place during Monster Bash.)
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During the week leading up to Monster Bash I kept getting messages from various people saying "Looking forward to the pool party on Friday Night!" Which was confusing to me because RDP wasn't having some party during Monster Bash that I knew about? I asked Jim Nichols about it, and he just shrugged and said he didn't know about anything? Finally Big Tim (LHCBOY) texted me a photo of the event Flyer and sure enough it said on Friday's Schedule "RiverDave's Pool Party." Jim and I had talked about having a big RDP event on Friday months back, and he put it on the flyer.. Both Him and I had forgotten all about it. I'm not one to disappoint so I made some calls at the 11th hour and we brought out about a third of our Desert Storm display. I'd like to take a second to thank Jason (My Stage / Lighting guy) for rescheduling his flights out of town and his schedule to setup for me Friday night. He also was the impromptu DJ for the night!

(Inmates in front of the RDP EZUP)
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(Jason at BoomBandits DJ'ing the Friday night pool party)
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Saturday Morning (not using that term loosely anymore), it became pretty evident that no costume was needed. I no longer looked like something out of the Walking Dead. That early in the morning after a night like that, I officially was something out of the Walking Dead. We got to the Drivers Meeting and picked up our stickers and discovered a small hitch in our plan. Apparently everybody in the boat needs to wear life jackets during the Poker Run itself.

(Steve Lyman's M31 with 1350's)
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I was originally going to run my Schiada in the Event, but at the last minute decided my buddy Robert's deckboat would be a better option. Robert and I left the drivers meeting and went straight over to West Marine to buy two life jackets that would fit us, and be somewhat comfortable during the Poker Run itself. After which we were on a timeline to grab the coolers, boat, family etc.. Load up and get on the water before too long, or we would miss the aerial photo shoot.

(Team Deplorable at the Banquet Saturday Night)
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Stacy wasn't feeling well, and neither were my kids (sinus infection). So it ended up being Robert's family, little Brian, and myself in Robert's 28 Magic. We rushed as fast as we could, but by the time we got the boat in the water and out of the Marina, we were just in time to see the helicopter make it's last photo pass and head off into the distance. We still had another few minutes of idling out to the buoy line and put our life jackets on etc.

(Even Pontoons run the Poker Run during MB!)
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Now for those that don't know, Robert is a really good friend of mine and this was my first time in his boat. I could tell he was a little bummed about missing the helicopter. He had told me before that he had planned on taking the aerial shot and making it a poster for his garage. Much to our surprise right about the time we hit the buoy line that beautiful bird came hauling ass back and spent a minute or two circling his boat as we got on plane and started heading down river!

(Picture from the Helicopter of our Poker Run crew)
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We ran three of the five stops, after the third one I just couldn't deal with the life jacket anymore. We consciously opted out of the rest of the run. This brings me to a suggestion for Jim : It might be possible to have a 65 mph and under class for the traditional boaters / cruisers of the lake where they could forego actually wearing the life jackets, and run their boats like they do traditionally? It's something I'd look into towards the future for Monster Bash anyways. Some of the jackets people are wearing are more of a safety hazard than none at all. Orange ones around peoples necks qualify, but can you imagine what would happen if they hit the water even doing 20 mph?

(My Friends aka Positive Trim obeying the rules)
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We headed back to the launch ramp and pulled the boat out to get ready for card turn in, and the awards that night. At card turn in we got the remainder of our cards and at the time we were holding court at second place with three Kings! Unfortunately by the time the awards came around there was three sets of Triple Aces, with the kicker card determining the outcome which put us in fourth place.

(Dinosaurs at the awards getting friendly with a Mermaid)
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I didn't get to see as much of the awards ceremony because we setup a booth out front. What I can tell you is the costumes were off the hook, and the vibe was the same as the party at West Coast Drives. The costumes ranged from pirates, zombies, T-Rex's, Pimps and my personal favorite Holiday Hussies. I don't know who won the Poker Run hands other than Matt, who won worst hand in the Poker Run. He's got an SV29 Outerlimits that we will be featuring soon.

(Matt seen here with his prize)
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(Matty's SV29 - 100MPH with a 600!)
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(Fine Example of costumes this year. I believe that is Dave Magoo, Don Lunden, and Travis and Summer Richardson)
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Overall, I have to say that the 2016 Monster Bash was not only a success with 97 boats entered, but it was a hell of a good time! Everyone I talked too said it was the best one yet and they are looking forward to next year! The event made me look at what we do with Desert Storm and Monster Bash, and made me (and my team) want to get more involved in the future! Tom (TommyGun) was on the lens in the Helo this year, and even though he won't admit it, I believe these are some of the best pictures yet! Click the link, and find yourself and your boat when you get a few minutes, I don't think you will be disappointed.

Monster Bash Pics HERE!

(Cops out having a little fun during the weekend.)
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Written by : RiverDave
Images : TommyGun