Catching Up With Florida Powerboat Club Head Stu Jones

With its Destin Powerboat Week event in September, the Florida Powerboat Club signaled the end of its longstanding poker-run format. Some club members said they missed multiple cards stops and massive lunch gatherings. Others preferred their newfound free-time to the traditional club-planned travel routine.

Others simply didn’t care—they were boating off the Emerald Coast, and the weather was perfect.

With 209 registered boats, the 2025 Florida Powerboat Club Key West Powerboat Week event was an undeniable success. Photo by Jeff Helmkamp copyright Helmkamp Photos.

Now the club’s second event minus a poker-run format—Key West Powerboat Week—is in the books, and with 209 registered boats is fair to say the new format didn’t scare away a healthy contingent of club members and their guests. Some liked it. Some didn’t. Others didn’t care—from Duval Street to the waters off Woman Key, Key West is Key West.

Regardless, predictions for the club’s imminent demise are and were more than a little premature.

To learn more about the club’s ongoing plans, I reached out to Stu Jones, the president and founder of the organization. Here’s what he had to say:

Explain the current and direction of the Florida Powerboat Club. There’s been a lot of speculation.

Sure. The Florida Powerboat Club has established a new format in which it is strategically redirecting its role from being a “marine event-coordinator” to being a venue-hosting and media organization with a focus on managing an extensive selection lodging, dining and selection of marine services such as fueling. That’s what we did in Key West. To support club’s boating lifestyle media properties such as the FPC website, YouTube channel, social media pages and the Powerboating in Paradise print magazine, the content production agenda remained a top priority. We had helicopters and drones flying extensively on every day of the event.

From the name of the club’s signature Key West event to terms describing your operations, you, significantly changed you wording and practices.

We did. The name changed to “Key West Powerboat Week, LLC” and we dropped the words “poker run” acros the board. We abolished the practice of group-starts in Biscayne Bay. We replaced “poker-run card-stops” with “safety checkpoints,” where could earn bonus cards by showing compliance with mandatory PFDs for all crew-members.

After three decades of powerboating event-management, I felt it was necessary to remind participants that when it comes to operating powerboats on public waterways of this fact: The laws established by government agencies such as the United States Coast Guard solely take precedence when it comes to operating any type of powerboat rally or poker run.

Those are big changes. What drove them?

Unfortunately, over the last several years poker runs around the nation have developed this stigma of being the time or place where a boat owner can put on his “game-face” and drive like a weekend warrior, which puts his crew and others in danger due to excessive speeds, lack of knowledge of local waterways and general disregard for safe-boating guidelines.

As a career professional I have a deep passion for this sport and I will continue to promote the powerboating lifestyle for as long as I am able. I will never let down my guard of promoting safety as a top priority. But the time has finally come where my organization can no longer be held accountable for the careless actions of others who refuse to get on board with safe boating.

The Florida Powerboat Club has a tremendous team of dedicated hospitality and media professionals, and we will continue to host a wide variety of exciting events throughout Florida, the Florida Keys and Bahamas. Our message is clear: If you play safe you can join the fun. If you disrespect the rules, you can go play somewhere else.

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