Escape To KEY LARGO OVERWHELMINGLY POSITIVE FEEDBACK MAKES IT CLEAR THAT THE "BOAT SHOW" PART OF THE MIAMI BOAT SHOW POKER RUN IS HERE TO STAY. Story by Jason Johnson
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amazing boat. To be able to cruise at 90 to 100 mph is such a different boating feel. Don’t get me wrong, the center consoles are fun, but that style of boating is a different animal.”
And, based on the positive responses from the 2022 event, Florida Powerboat Club president Stu Jones and his team are likely to keep the same format going for quite some time. Especially when longtime FPC members such as David and Jennifer Landsman, who attended the 2021 and 2022 events, have praised the poker run with affirmative feedback.
Landsman was referring to the slew of Midnight Express Boats models he’s owned recently from the Miami-based company, which had a handful of new boats in the poker run, including Zach Polsky’s 43 Solstice powered by five Mercury Racing 450R engines. The poker run was the New Jersey boater’s first in the red-hot 43-footer that was delivered to Stephen Miles Design in Kentucky a few weeks after the event to get some accents and highlights added to its all-red canvas. “We had a great time in the new boat during the Miami Boat Show Poker Run,” said Polsky, who owns the King of Cars and Trucks dealership in Woodbury, N.J. “The Florida Powerboat Club sure knows how to organize an event. We brought the family down and stayed for 10 days. We did the first half of the trip in Miami and the second half of the trip in Key Largo. The boat was everything I expected and then some. Those 450R engines are something else. “And to me, you can’t beat the look of the Solstice,” he added. “I think our boat looked good all red, but it’s going to look even better once Stephen Miles Design is done with it.”
lways intended to be the show after the show, the Florida Powerboat Club’s Miami Boat Show Poker Run has taken on new meaning the last couple of years with the addition of in-water and on-land displays at Gilbert’s Resort and Tiki Bar in Key Largo in 2021 after the Miami International Boat Show was cancelled. While the boat show was back on in 2022 with a return to the revamped Miami Beach Convention Center, the club opted to keep its own show going the following week thanks to encouragement from sponsors, participants and manufacturers alike.
During last year’s Miami Boat Show Poker Run, David Landsman met with Randy Scism, the owner of MTI in Wentzville, Mo., and ended up ordering a new 390X catamaran with twin Mercury Racing 450R engines. The Maryland-based performance boater, whose new 39-footer was on display in MTI’s boat show booth at the Miami Beach Convention Center, said he had a great time at the FPC event, adding that the water conditions were perfect and that the weather was great. “The Miami Boat Show Poker Run is always one of the best FPC events of the year,” Landsman said. “It was great having the chance to run a cat again—I haven’t had one in five years so that made it a little more fun. The 390X is incredible. MTI builds an
14 | POWERBOATING IN PARADISE
Polsky praised Lesly Puentes and the Glaser brothers behind Midnight Express—Eric and Harris—for their support during the event, and for building such incredible boats. The company, which sponsored the event, showcased several new boats in front of Gilbert’s, including the Glasers’ personal boat, the 100th 43-footer to come out of the factory.
