Emerald Coast Powerboat Week Brings The Heat

A longtime friend from the go-fast boating world, Devin Wozencraft thought he had me convinced to abandon my trip to cover the Lake Powell Challenge on scene last weekend and instead join him in his 34-foot Victory catamaran to the Emerald Coast Powerboat Week Poker Run. And to be honest, the high-performance marine insurance and finance professional made a compelling case for changing plans as we returned from the fine Northern Georgia home of Jorge Moscoso to the Lanier Islands Lodge after watching the Canelo Alvarez-Edgar Berlanga fight.

A longtime Florida Powerboat Club member, Atlanta’s Octavio Valdivia doesn’t miss an Emerald Coast event as he has a second home in the area. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix

But despite that Destin, Fla., is a lot closer to Georgia than Page, Ariz.—as Wozencraft told me so many times during the car ride that I wanted to smack him with a Canelo-style overhand-right—I stuck with my plan. Of course, with 90-plus boats, no rain and warm-to-sweltering temperatures, the 32nd annual Florida Powerboat Club happening went on just fine without me.

“It was definitely one of the hottest September weekends we have spent in recent years there, but there was not a stitch of wind or rain so we had incredibly calm waters from Thursday through Sunday,” said Stu Jones, the president of the Florida Powerboat Club. “A last-registration surge pushed the roster to more than 90 registered teams.

“The FPC team had their hands full scrambling for extra T-shirts and event passes to accommodate the entire group of nearly 400 participants,” Jones added, then chuckled.

Of the fleet’s 90-plus powerboats, many of them included families.

Among those participants was Octavio Valdivia, a three-decade Florida Powerboat Club member who owns a 48-foot Outerlimits catamaran. He and Wozencraft are longtime friends. It was his gracious invitation, in fact, that brought us to Moscoso’s home to watch the Canelo-Berlanga fight.

“It was an excellent event,” Valdivia said. “Everything was great.”

Chas and Candice Owens of Buford, Ga., and friends plan to follow up the Emerald Coast event with the Key West Poker Run in early November in their unique 29-foot Eliminator Boats-built Outerlimits V-bottom.

Added Wozencraft, who was participating in the event for the third consecutive year and was joined by his business partner, Tanah Kinsey, “The Emerald Coast event never disappoints.”

The on-water portion of the festivities officially began Friday with a fun run from the Emerald Grande Resort host-venue in Destin to Juana’s Pagodas. But Jones and his group weren’t the only powerboat fans who had the popular Florida Panhandle hangout in mind that day.

Ison Marine campaigned the first Mercury Racing 500R-powered GSX 36 center console in the event.

“Most of our registered poker run teams went on the fun run to Juana’s, and combined with the largest group of other boats we’ve seen in a long time it was actually difficult for some of the attendees to find anywhere to raft up or beach the boat,” Jones said. “And there is 1,000 feet of beach at Juana’s.

“Nonetheless, the seafood-boil menu at Juana’s was spectacular and everyone enjoyed the venue, which obviously is extremely boater friendly,” he added.

Enjoy more images from last weekend’s Emerald Coast Powerboat Week Poker Run.

The 120-mile poker-run course include eight stops. Most boats returned with eight cards, meaning most ran entire course.

Still, everyone had more than enough time to get ready for the Saturday night celebration at Margaritaville. Cigarette Racing Team and Ison Marine, which owns the new Cigarette Racing Kentucky dealership, sponsored the buy-out event.

Stu Jones ran his Top Gun Flight 1130 Cigarette sportboat in the poker run.

Next up for the Florida Powerboat Club is its season-ending, signature Key West Poker Run set for November 5-11. Jones, who offered thanks to “all of the manufacturing sponsors and supporting members in Destin last weekend,” has already switched gears and is in full-metal Key West mode.

“Emerald Coast is the second-largest annual event behind Key West, but Key West is coming up quickly,” he said.

Next stop for Devin Wozencraft and his 34-foot Victory catamaran is Key West, Fla., for the Florida Powerboat Club’s signature poker run.

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