New Video! In The Lead With Stu Jones—The King Of Poker Run Clubs

Familiar faces and events tend to get taken for granted, especially when they’ve been around for 30 years. Their compelling back-stories often are forgotten—or were never told in the first place—as time passes.

The remarkable story of Florida Powerboat Club head Stu Jones is captured in the final segment of the 2023 In The Lead video series produced by Speed On The Water and Scrapyard Media. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

Such is the case of Stu Jones, the president and founder of the Florida Powerboat Club, which produced its first poker run in 1993 and has been cranking them out ever since. Jones and his wife, Jackie, have been in the game long enough to see for-profit poker-run organizers like themselves come and go. They’ve watched nonprofit, volunteer-driven events such as the Boyne Thunder Poker Run in Northern Michigan and Upstate New York’s 1,000 Islands Charity Poker Run rise and take center stage during the summer months when the Florida weather is less-than-inviting for outdoor events.

But just when fall and winter shut down boating in most places around the country, Florida comes into its own and Jones’ events become the hottest tickets. And it’s been that way for the better part of three decades.

A hardworking immigrant with a can-do attitude, Jones has come a long way since he ditched Ontario, Canada, for South Florida in the early 1990s. By sheer happenstance, he ended up organizing powerboating events not long after he arrived. But through his own sweat equity and vision, he turned event organizing into a business—make that a lifestyle–based hospitality business—and the Florida Powerboat Club became a brand.

The story of how it all happened is compelling and inspiring, and we’re betting you’ll be captivated the 18-minute Speed On The Water/Scrapyard Media video chronicling the rise of Jones and the Florida Powerboat Club. You may even learn a few things about the outfit’s future.

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During the past 30 years, Stu Jones has organized and produced events that cater to high-performance powerboat owners from across the country and around the world.

But you’ll have to watch the video to find out.