Miami Boat Show Poker Run Wrap-Up—The Elevated View
After spending three days at Hawk’s Cay Resort during last weekend’s 29th annual Florida Powerboat Club Miami Boat Show Poker Run presented by Mercury Racing to the famed Duck Key location, here is the worst thing I can say about the host venue.
The WiFi sucks.
The 2024 Miami Boat Show Poker Run delivered a sweet mix of sterndrive- and outboard-equipped performance boats. Photos courtesy/copyright of the Florida Powerboat Club.
Then again, if you’re spending a lot of time online during your stay at Hawks Cay, you’re missing the whole point of being there.
Or you’re a daily reporter with stories to file.
Though he is a publisher, Florida Powerboat Club president and founder Stu Jones, is not a reporter. So not only does he love everything about Hawks Cay, the resort holds a special place in his heart and the history of his poker-run production business.
Card distribution began in its typical orderly Florida Powerboat Club fashion at Grove Harbour.
“We begin visiting here in November 1994 with the second annual Key West Poker Run,” Jones said. “But this time around was undoubtedly our best event at this first-class resort.”
That Hawks Cay was the final destination Jones and his staff, 73 registered Florida Powerboat Club members and their 200-plus guests was something of a last-minute move. Jones began mapping out the event last year and his plan was for the group to stay at the Post Card Inn on Islamorada. The venue was slated for renovation and would be closed to guests after February—at least that was his understanding at the time.
But the work actually began earlier than Jones expected and he found himself without a destination for the popular event.
“My head was spinning when we were told that the Postcard Inn venue was going to be closed and we had to scramble,” he said, then chuckled. “But sometimes, things just have a way of working out.
“My wife, Jackie, our new management team of Amy Plumstead and John Wittenberger, Jr., and I all agreed that this venue was really quite enjoyable and the staff was great to work with,” he continued. “I am certain that we will give this Hawks Cay Resort venue careful consideration when planning ahead for our 2025 events.”
A Florida Powerboat Club poker run veteran, Michael Tandoi demonstrated the art of the swooping turn in Speed Racer, his 44-foot MTI catamaran.
Saturday’s scheduled raft-off also required a list minute location-pivot as strong winds out of the northwest made the waters of its original destination too rough. So the fleet headed to the Islamorada Sandbar, which also was the planned destination for the annual Keys Island Runners Winter Fun Run. By the time Florida Powerboat Club fleet arrived, the sandbar was teeming with what Jones estimated to be 200-plus boats.
As for the 2024 Miami Boat Show Poker Run fleet, it delivered a perfect showcase of today’s finest outboard- and sterndrive-engine catamarans and center consoles—with a few brawny sterndrive V-bottoms including Jones own Top Flight 1130 Cigarette Racing Team 38 Top Gun thrown in for good measure. Among those boats was a new MTI 390X catamaran dubbed Fast Lease and owned by new Florida Powerboat Club member Owen and Lauren Middour of Georgia.
Enjoy more images from the 2024 Florida Powerboat Club Miami Boat Show Poker Run.
The Middour’s 39-footer netted them the club’s “Best Outboard Catamaran” award during the Friday night poker-hand-play and awards dinner on property at the Hawks Cay ballrooms.
“It’s my first poker run with the Florida Powerboat Club and I’m blown away that I actually won that award,” Owen Middour said. “We had a fantastic time. To take home this award really has made it a great experience for us.”
And as Jones and Middour’s fellow participants in the 2024 Miami Boat Show Poker Run know, Hawks Cay Resort was a great place to start with the club.
Enthusiasm ran high throughout the three-day event.
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