2025 Poker Paddle Recap

White caps were beginning to take shape on Flathead Lake Saturday morning as participants in the Flathead Lakers annual Poker Paddle returned to Boettcher Park.

“It was a little choppy,” reported Craig McClure, who paddled a sea kayak from the starting line at Boettcher to the far side of Salish Point and back, along with his wife, Dayna. “I was doing a little surfing on the way back.”

Gary Teggeman, who paddled his own hand-built wooden kayak across the bay, admitted that riding waves would have been more fun “if I was 50 instead of almost 80.”

Dori Gilels and Michael Beltz strong-armed their SUPs (stand-up paddleboards) to shore across a bumpy stretch of water, completing the mid-length route as the wind and waves picked up.  “But we did it with a smile,” Gilels said.

Another woman on a SUP was exhausted by the last stretch and Search and Rescue brought her safely into the dock, while a man on a jet ski collected her paddle board.

The event offers three courses, ranging in distance from 3.5 miles to Salish Point, 5.5 miles to a dock in Mission Bay, and 7 miles to Bird Point before turning back to Boettcher. Each paddler collects waterproof cards along the way, and the highest and lowest hands won prizes in the family-friendly poker game.

This year, Matt Sorge held the winning hand and Luke Sandry, who swam the race, posted the worst hand. 

This year, 56 paddlers participated and by 11 a.m., around 22 were still making their way back to Boettcher – mostly on kayaks and stand-up paddleboards, although a few swam the distance and two paddled a canoe.

Thirty-six volunteers helped organize the event, with seven members of Lake County Search and Rescue keeping a close eye on participants, as well as a Lakers safety boat and a jet ski patrolling the courses. 
Jim Elser, director of UM's Flathead Lake Biological Station, pulled into the beach aboard a kayak. He noted that the Flathead Lakers work closely with the bio station to monitor and protect the pristine water he had just paddled across.  

“They love the lake and help us protect it for the future,” he said of the partnership between the two organizations.

This marked Coby Gierke’s first Poker Paddle as executive director of the organization, a post he stepped into July 22, 2024. Instead of paddling, he was on shore, clutching binoculars and a walkie-talkie and monitoring reports from the sizeable support team. 

The annual event helps the Lakers build a bridge to the public by “getting the community out on the water and … giving them a good reason to come enjoy the lake and connect with the resource that we're trying to protect.”

Read the full article written by Kristy Niemeyer in the Lake County Leader