Borden Light Poker Run Brings Out The Best In Brawn
Before the go-fast powerboat market took an abrupt turn toward center consoles for its own survival in the mid-2000s, you didn’t see center consoles in poker runs. Beefy V-bottoms and catamarans dominated those fleets. If you spied a center console, it was likely a floating card-stop or a safety boat.
Full-size offshore boats—including this famous 43-foot Outerlimits—were the order of the day during 17th annual Borden Light Poker Run. Photos courtesy/copyright Jeff Codman, Jr., Steve Oliviera and Newport Helicopter Tours.”
Now, center consoles and outboard engine-powered catamarans dominate most poker-run fleets. Whether you appreciate or despise that shift, and there are plenty of go-fast boat enthusiasts in each camp, it is as undeniable as it is here to stay.
That made last weekend’s 17th annual Borden Light Poker Run in Fall River, Mass., a bit of an outlier. That’s not to see there wasn’t a center console to be found in the mix, but they were few and far between the big catamarans and V-bottom sportboat from the likes of nearby Outerlimits, presenting sponsor Cigarette Racing Team, Fountain Powerboats and more.
There weren’t many center consoles in the Borden Light fleet, which made this 38-foot Fountain stand out even more than its fiery paintjob did.
All of which helped Florida Powerboat Club head Stu Jones feel right at home. The Florida Powerboat club head ran his well-traveled Cigarette 38 Top called Flight 1130 and powered by two Mercury Racing 565 engines in the event with his sons Max and Tyler, as well as Cigarette marketing team member Kim Sewell.
The Borden Light Poker Run was event No. 6 on his nine-stop Summer Poker Run tour.
As demonstrated by many of the go-fast boats in the fleet, the Northeast is Outerlimits country.
“The large contingent of center consuls that we have been seeing on poker runs around the nation was absent, “he explained. “It was replaced by a colorful fleet of high-performance V-bottoms with big power and the big decibels.
“By Friday evening, a strong mix of V-bottoms from Outerlimits, Formula and more, and even a small fleet of old-school Cigarettes dating back to the early 1990s, was in town for the run.”
Starting with his first visit to the Outerlimits facility in Bristol, R.I., last Friday, it was a weekend of discovery for Jones and his sons. He had visited nearby Newport before, much less traveled Naragansett Bay in his own 38-foot Cigarette to get there as he would the following morning with the 60-plus boat group.
Enjoy more images from the 17th annual Borden Light Poker Run.
The run, which had checkpoints in Providence, Warwick, Newport and Bristol—all idyllic waterfront villages in Rhode Island—departed Borden Light Marina, the home of the pier-located Tipsy Seagull Bar and Grill and the Pier 52 restaurant after-party host venues. Though the trek was just 67 miles, Jones described it as “an incredible eye-opener.”
The Saturday Poker Run format took on a later start -unlike many other events -as the boats hit the throttle’s at about 12:30 PM, then running a 67 mile course that included four different checkpoints in Providence, Warwick, Newport Harbor, and Bristol, Rhode Island.
The entire event operated out of Borden Light Marina.
“Very few places have ever given me the intense visual experience that I just had over the last couple of days,” he said. “And Mike and Nicole Lund, the event organizers, rolled out the red carpet for us from the start. Within minutes of our arrival on Thursday they took us to a great Portuguese restaurant for dinner.
“After the poker run, the group headed to the Pier 52 restaurant card-hand play, a wonderful dinner and charity auction for the Make-A-Wish of Massachusetts and Rhode Island organizations,” he continued. “The auction raised more than $50,000 for those charities and the Tunnels To Towers Foundation.”
Of course, you didn’t have to a fish out of South Florida water to enjoy the New England happening. Dan Kleitz, the national sales manager for Outerlimits, has done the run Borden Light Poker Run several times, had a ball during the event despite breaking down five minutes into the poker run itself with a broken rocker arm in one of the Mercury Racing 1075 SCi engines in the Outerlimits 42 GTX V-bottom piloted with owner John Makepeace.
Some of the many faces from the 2023 Borden Light Poker Run.
“It was still a great time—plus we still had excellent representation from our local Outerlimits customers,” he said. “And it was great to see Stu Jones of the Florida Powerboat Club up here in our territory to discover what Northeast boating is all about.”
As part of the discovery, Jones and his crew joined a small group for a run to Block Island, just 23 miles south of Newport, in New York’s Long Island Sound. Block Island has long been a popular boating destination in the area, and visiting it was the perfect end to his adventure.
For Stu Jones and his sons, boating in the Northeast was a radical departure from what they’re used to in South Florida.
Making the best of our boating weekend, a small group of participants gathered on Sunday morning for an exciting adventure to Block island located in the middle of Long Island sound , just 23 miles south of Newport, and not far away from Montauk Harbor at the east end of Long Island. The lumpy Atlantic Ocean that day made for an authentic Northeastern boating experience.
“Block Island was the perfect boater friendly destination loaded with historic charm and a festive vibe, all of which made us want to stay another day.
And while he was there, he bumped into his friend Tim Gallagher, who runs Performance Boat Center’s South Florida operation, at Ballard’s Beach Resort. Gallagher was there on vacation with his family.
“Running into Tim and his family was a very pleasant surprise,” he said. “Like the rest of Summer Poker Run Tour, it left us feeling that the world might be so big after all.”
Offshore V-bottoms rules as usual at the Borden Light event.
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