Orange Beach Powerboat Week Day 1—Weather Or Not

If the show really must go on—as it must with a poker run despite a rainy morning and a blustery afternoon—you could do worse than Orange Beach, Ala., as your stage. That’s what Florida Powerboat Club president and his prime-time powerboat players had to deal with yesterday during the first of two poker runs happening this weekend as part of Orange Beach Powerboat Week. The water, when not stirred, is emerald-green, the beaches are dressed in blinding-white sugar-sand The Wharf host venue offers everything a poker-runner could want.

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Just two Cigarette Racing Team models ventured into yesterday’s rough water in Orange Beach, Ala. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

Weather delayed the poker-run start until noon and the seas remained rough for the rest of the day. Exactly two of the 50 boats on hand for the event braved open water in the Gulf of Mexico while the rest stuck to the Intracoastal Waterway,

“The weather included some high winds and choppy seas so just two Cigarettes, I think, ventured offshore, “ said Jones. “I wouldn’t say that the entire 50-boat fleet ran today, but the majority certainly did. We visited a number of different lunch stops including Juana’s Pagodas in Navarre Beach.

TNT Custom Marine Sales’ Steven Fernandez delivered this MTI 440X to repeat customer Clark Beecher.

“By mid-afternoon, the sun came out and we had wonderful conditions for the ride back to The Wharf,” he added

MTI vice-president Taylor Scism was among the participants, and she and husband Shaun Peters ran the company’s new 440X demo catamaran.

“We took the inside and ran all the way to Navarre Beach,” she said. “Despite the starting delay in the morning, it was a really nice run.

Enjoy more images from the first day of Orange Beach Powerboat Week in the slideshow above.

“The new demo cat got a lot of attention,” she added.

High-performance insurance and finance man Devin Wozencraft brought his 34-foot Victory catamaran—recently repowered with Mercury Racing 500R outboard engines by Manatee Marine Unlimited in Palmetto, Fla.—and invited Arizona-based relatives Lisa and Andy Ratledge and Tammy and Chad Ash to join him.

“None of them have ever been to a poker run, been on my boat or boated in the Gulf Coast region,” he said, then laughed. “Now, all of them want to be part of my poker-tour. The had a blast.”

And the show goes on.

MTI’s latest 440X demo catamaran turned plenty of heads.

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Source: https://www.speedonthewater.com/orange-beach-powerboat-week-day-1-weather-or-not/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=orange-beach-powerboat-week-day-1-weather-or-not

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