Boat Poker Run Key West
Posted By admin On 30/07/22Every November, the world’s biggest and fastest offshore racing series comes to Key West. Super Boat International, or Powerboat, is a week-long powerboating series that features races, shows, and parties, culminating in the grand-daddy of the super boat season: the world championships. That means the world’s fastest boats going full throttle, speeding through Key West waters in pursuit of the world championship title. Engines roaring, these boats practically fly across the water, reaching speeds well over 100 miles per hour, all making the annual Powerboat Championships a must-see, racing fanatic or not.
The Key West Offshore Poker Run is an almost 400-mile roundtrip poker run from Miami to Key West. This year the event has over 200 poker run teams from all around the world that are participating. The Florida Powerboat Club was founded in 1993 as a membership-driven organization, to promote safe, responsible powerboating for boating enthusiasts. Woman Key near Key West during the FPC Saturday fun run. It’s a whole different picture. There were over a hundred boats there already!! #keywestpokerrun2018 #powerboatinginparadise #mercuryracing #mulekeys #boatinglifestyle #keywest 47. Emerald Coast Powerboat Week Poker Run – Episode 5 December 11, 2020 Powerboat teams from all over the U.S. Continued to navigate the 120-mile poker run course from Sandestin to Pensacola Beach, as part of the Emerald. FPC compilation (part 1) of the 2016 Key West Poker Run, presented by Mercury Racing. See all the high performance boats on the biggest and best poker run.
If that’s not big and fast enough for you, this year’s events will include the 11th Annual Clearwater Super Boat National Championship, which means even more action. The national championship-determining races will be Nov. 6 and 8. The event will run concurrently with the Key West World Championship, taking place Nov. 6, 8, and 10.
Although there are good spots to watch from the mainland, we recommend the view from the sea. Our partners Fury Watersports camp out every year at the end of the race course in their catamaran. Not only do you see the speedboats powering toward you, but you also get to see them turn in the race to the finish. It’s the best seat in all Powerboat Races.
If tickets are already sold out, other good spots for seeing the races are the Outer Mole and Fort Zach. The Outer Mole is probably the closest you’ll get to the boats outside of Fury’s catamaran, but if you want to spend the day on the beach after the races, Fort Zach is especially appealing.
Coinciding with the Powerboat World Championships is the Florida Powerboat Club’s annual Offshore Poker Run. Starting in Miami and run through the backwaters of the Keys, the offshore poker run island-hops between Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon, and Bahia Honda. The offshore poker run lasts from November 6-11, 2019. However, participants must register beforehand on the Florida Powerboat Club website.
Sound like your type of vacation? We’ll see you in November.
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Stu Jones, leader of the Florida Powerboat Club, says he is “picking up all the pieces” following his epic Key West Poker Run that took well over 200 teams from Miami to the USA’s Southernmost city for six days of fun, sun and Race World Offshore‘s Key West Offshore World Championships. Jones also revealed his group’s 2020 schedule, which will closely mirror this year’s itinerary. (See below for the complete schedule.)
Youtube Poker Run Boats
Jones said the 2019 poker run season outpaced previous years, and credited the strong economy for the growth.
Key West Power Boat Poker Run 2019
“This year turned out to be really successful, in that we launched a lot of new events and we set records on some of our bigger events, like the Key West Poker Run,” he says. “I think it reflects the state of the economy being at a very high level. The sport continues to grow, just because it’s a great sport and a great way to enjoy performance boating. We’re getting more people coming into this sector, and that’s why these events have become more successful. Seeing Key West go to record numbers, and going off without a hitch, was a real highlight.”
It’s been just about a decade since Jones operated his ubiquitous pace boat, 39′ Nor-Tech King of Clubs, which was a familiar fixture on FPC’s numerous runs through the years. This year, Jones could be seen driving his Project 1080 Cigarette (showcased in the May issue of Speedboat Magazine) during nearly every one of his group’s events, which was another red-banner moment.
“We put in 150 hours on the boat from January to November,” he reports. “That was a highlight for sure. The fact that I could start enjoying these poker runs in my own boat put a different slant on it for me and made them more enjoyable. Certainly one of the reasons it made my Key West run more fun is that I was able to drive my own boat all the way there and all the way back, and I haven’t been able to do that for a long time.”
The Cigarette project boat celebrates the club’s 25th anniversary and perfectly captures the whole spirit of what the poker runs are for Jones. “It was truly special for me,” he says, “and I think it was one of the reasons I really enjoyed the 2019 Key West run.”
Jones says that the international participation at his club’s events continues to expand, “not only from Canada, which has always been strong, but European boaters are making transatlantic crossings, putting their boats on freighters and bringing them over here for the season to enjoy,” he says. “We had about 10 teams this year from European nations—all of them had brought their boats over for this event.”
With more participants than ever, the onus was on FPC to give away a colossal amount of shirts and other goodies. “It all goes bye-bye at Key West—we finish it off there,” he grins. “There might’ve been a few things left over. Smalls and mediums.”