Key West Poker Run Wednesday Departure Wave Canceled
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In the News: Key West Poker Run Wednesday Departure Wave Canceled
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Participants slated to depart tomorrow from Miami, Fort Lauderdale and other nearby South Florida cities for the 30th annual Florida Powerboat Club Key West Poker Run will have to wait at least another day. With subtropical storm Nichole predicted to become a hurricane before it makes landfall in the region, the waterways will effectively be shut down this evening and will not reopen until Thursday.
Tomorrow’s Florida Powerboat Club departure for Key West, Fla., is a no-go thanks to weather spurred by subtropical storm Nichole. Photo from the 2021 FPC Key West Poker Run by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
Stu Jones, the president of the club, informed participants via a group text message this morning
“Just spoke with Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alvarez,” Jones wrote. “Port Miami operations and all local boating going into ZULU condition tonight at 8 p.m. No area boating, Port Operations closed. Bridge closures. No active safety response from USCG, Florida FWC and MDFR through late Wednesday.
“FPC will therefore cancel all Wed boating plans,” he continued. “Thursday and new Friday departures still on agenda. All check-in locations remain open at Bahia Mar, Haulover, Venetian and Grove Harbor today.”
Reached via phone this morning, Jones could not recall canceling a departure in the history of the club.
“It’s a little foggy, but if it happened it was a long time ago,” he said. “I’m sure it has happened at least once or twice as back in the day we used to have Key West departures from Tuesday through Friday.
“We’ll probably send an email or a text blast to everybody to confirm who is going to run on Friday,” he continued. “I’m starting to put together a short list and I’ll probably announce that Thursday morning once we see how many people actually showed up.”
Jones said that so far “only a handful” of would-be poker runners have canceled their plans.
“Instead, people are just changing their programs—driving down, trailering down, going down a day early. There are a lot of variations but everyone still wants to be there.”
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