2023 Bahamas Poker Run - Episode 1

we are back with more Adventures of the Florida powerboat Club St Jones along with producer Ryan McCoy in the pompo beach studio and we are truly seeking an adventure on this event that's because it's the annual Bahamas Poker Run 32 years guys uh since this event started way back in 1992 and we have got a fleet of 17 boats heading off to bimy chub key NASA and beyond for this 7-Day Adventure so before we get started let's thank our sponsor sponsors our presenting sponsor for the FPC 2023 series of events is Mercury Racing celebrating 50 years of wide open and by these sponsors in alphabetical order Big Thunder Marine Blackwater boats cigarette racing team concept boats Deep Impact Custom Boats Fountain power boats Midnight Express boats nortech high performance boats performance Boat Center Plantation Boat Mart SD Marine Group Isa marada and by statement Marine okay getting uh started here on Bahamas uh Poker Run 32nd Year guys it's uh 32 years running it's the longest Florida powerb Club event uh a nice uh day shaping up here 7:15 on a Wednesday morning why Wednesday well because you'll figure it out as we go uh Wednesday Thursday Friday and bimy best time to be there before the crowd comes over for the weekend but 17 boats registered today we're going to ride with Simon and D on this brand new Fountain 38 SX it's got the brand new Mercury Mainline v10s uh so we're excited to see how this boat performs um but um otherwise it's going to be an uneventful trip from what I can see looking forward because we've got light winds uh virtually no winds actually uh and Comm Seas going to be like a lake out there and I think everyone's happy about that uh for sure as we now set out start starting early as we always do so we can get a jump on the season no Seas to contend with but helicopter's going to be joining us shortly and uh it's going to be an exciting ride over a lot of new boats on the run a lot of first timers on the run and a pretty eclectic mix of boats and people now from all over the United States joining us and a couple Canadians too uh here as we kick off Bahamas Poker Run 32nd year here for uh our summer 2023 adventure and all the while we are getting prepared for the takeoff in Port Everglades we've got a helicopter getting ready to be fired up just about 8 mil further to the north at the pompo Air Park going to be flying in this r44 our usual platform with the two left doors off and we're going to have Jerry shooting Stills and Joe from Sky View shooting video we've got the chopper for about 90 minutes and that should be all we really need uh to get a good coverage of all of the boats uh and just look at these conditions guys uh nice shot of the Pier 66 Resort being redone as we speak I think it's going to be open in 2025 so it appears that the helicopter got here a little bit earlier than normal I think we got a later start off the dock we we just not in a huge hurry this morning because the weather is so nice and conditions are ideal uh but just getting everybody in the boats and off the dock and be sometimes quite an exercise because most of our events do not have such an early departure but because we're going to the Bahamas the idea is that we get an early launch around 7:00 a.m. from bamar it's about a 10 or 15 at idol to Port Everglades and we're basically hitting the inlet at about 7:30 a.m. and the reason for that is to enjoy the ride across and get the best possible SE conditions because once Daybreak hits uh I think the sun came up at 7:05 and soon after Daybreak that's when the conditions will start to pick up the winds will slightly pick up and the conditions in the Gulf Stream can change quite dramatically in a matter of say 20 or 25 mil we only have a 56 mile cross ing today from Port Everglades to bimy so it's going to be a relatively short ride especially with most of us cruising at speeds in around 55 to 60 [Music] mph [Music] he [Music] and we've got a lot of great shots of the various boats as we uh putt putt out here to Port Everglades there our first glimpse of the helicopter who's already been with us for well over 5 minutes and getting some great coverage of the start of the event and as always we like to just kind of Mill around here in Port Everglades the official past boat of course is that fountain 38 scx sponsored by Cortez Cove Marina Simon Williams at the helm and that's going to be the lead boat as we take off and once again we're not going to take a straight heading to bimin and the reason for that is the limitations on the helicopter to be able to fly offshore and most of those are related to FAA and also to the helicopter operator remember it's a Robinson r44 piston helicopter it does have uh act actuated floats if we need them um but for safety reasons they don't let the helicopter get more than about 10 miles offshore so once again we're going to follow the practice of driving down the coastline from Port Everglades to Miami which is alog together about uh just over 20 25 miles then we're going to make a turn when we get to government cut and take a heading for bimy at that point it's going to be a 49 M straight shot across the Gulf Stream to bimy and by now you've seen uh pretty much most of the 17 boats registered and quite a nice mix of boats so strong from ntech I think we have three or four ntek 39s registered and in addition to that we've got a Sunseeker a scout a right performance cat a Freeman an adrenal two adrenalin new 47 Reapers there's the 420 cat right there the right performance as well as a 40 Mystic a 39 Deep Impact a 40 sensation and a 38 Fountain lightning with Stern Drive power and they came all the way from Kansas to join us and as we now prepare for the start uh let me remind everybody that the previous evening we all stayed at the beemar resort in Fort Lauderdale that gave us a chance to get together for a captain's meeting we went through all the procedures of getting ready to clear Customs uh in the Bahamas and that's of course the new click to clear process which is an online portal uh which you can register for and pay your fees and it does make things go much more smoothly on the other end when we arrive in bimy later this morning and here's our start in Port Everglades uh right on schedule again uh leaving sometime close to 7:30 a.m. going to give us about 90 minutes really to get to bimin especially with our D2 we going down the coastal Waters down to Miami before we turn and go offshore I'm not going to maintain any big Cruise speeds today again we're riding on this 38t Fountain SX capable of speeds well over 80 mph Simon tells me but remember we are the pace boat for a group of a total of 17 boats and not everybody's going to be wanting to go too fast so I think that for the Bahamas events we really like that 55 mph cruising speed and uh remember we do have the helicopter with us right now so some of the teams are going to want to push the throttles and go just a little bit faster to get some nice pictures but for the most part we're just going to try to stay close to those kind of cruising speeds uh because that's going to keep the group together and really that's our goal for when we run over to the Bahamas especially crossing the Gul stre we don't want to have too much separation of all the boats [Music] and riding along today that's my wife Jackie as well as my two sons Tyler and Maxwell so it's going to be a family boating adventure for the [Music] Joneses [Music] [Music] so let's start things off with our team introductions uh starting off with Brandon May team Sweet Water Landing came over from the fort Meers area this is a 40 foot Mystic carbon fiber cat par Mercury racing 450 RS 2022 model so he's uh this is actually his second 40ft Mystic cat says he really enjoys it riding on board today is uh Brandon's first mate Skyler as well as another couple Dylan and Matia I hope I didn't butcher your name dear uh but you can see he's got the bat dialed in nicely and uh just great conditions here as we kick things off here running down towards Miami yeah you're going to love these new 47t adrenaline Reapers they're called this is Anthony Sasso with his wife Jamie and they are one of two 47 adrenalin uh here's Mike Leighton and first mate Robin they've got the family aboard as well and of course Mike is from the adrenaline Factory and this is his demo boat first time now taking it to the Bahamas probably the biggest trip that they've done on this new 47 Reaper there's not very many of these out maybe three or four so far but we really got a chance to see how this boat performs five Mercury racing 450 RS and really a family affair they've got their son-in-law Caleb Madison Ellie and Ava riding along today so a nice family adventure for the lon who came all the way from Georgia to join us so nice to see them getting out for a family boating adventure and here's a team we've seen a lot of this is James and Sonia reading another team from Georgia with lab Mexicana Deep Impact 399 quad Mercury Racing 450 RS and they've got some other FBC members riding along today Shane and Vicky Franks from Michigan as well as Brett and Ali lasso from South Carolina and we do have another Deep Impact sister ship riding along another Deep Impact 399 we'll get a chance to catch up with Eddie and Emma just a little [Music] later and it's two years in a row for Daniel dickard and his friends on this 42t Freeman Daniel and his wife L but this isn't their boat they have ntek but Joey and Sonia Anderson as well as Justin and Priscilla Jones and Captain Chris here at the helm are a team that they got together with last year to do this run in this same Freeman and they said they had such a great time they came back again check out the power guys quad Mercury Racing 450 RS this is a fantastic Bahamas cruising machine and here's that other Deep Impact we told you about Eddie col your firstate Emma they're joined by John and Michelle luse as well as Michael crane so the five of them are going to have a nice ride on this Deep Impact 399 and of course another quad Mercury 450R package and what a great cruising machine for heading to the [Music] Bahamas and here's a right performance 420 uh the Bryant family dug Brian at the helm and first mate Tria his wife and I really like this Common Thread that we're seeing on this event with a lot of families getting together for this Bahamas Adventure interestingly they're from Nashville Tennessee but they keep the boat and do most of their boating in the Thousand Islands area where they do the poker run up there of course we saw them this past summer when we visited got the entire family on board Whitney Molly Nelly and Christian their son all enjoying this ride today and they said that in their event highlights uh it was really once in a-lifetime trip for the entire family and they decided to stay a little longer they went four more days and went up to the abacos by themselves after everybody came back so that really turned out to be a great adventure for them well I mentioned earlier there's a lot of nortex on this run so let's kick it off with Roger and Pam Anderson and their ntech 390 sport this one's powered by quad Mercury Racing 450R SK it doesn't get much better than that this is their second nortech 39 they actually kept their first one and it stays back at home in Texas but I don't think they go to Texas very often because it's June now we're into our sixth event of the season and I think they've done every single event since January amazing record of attendance oh there's the money shot guys uh up nice and high looking across to the east now you can see the sun kind of behind the clouds on the horizon remember we're still headed south towards Miami we kind of got our money shot you know right out of the box and we often stop and Stage this shot but we kind of got it really already here heading south and everyone is spaced out nicely and keeping their lanes and I just love these kind of images now we're catching up with Joe and Jen grulich another ntech 390 sport this one powered by triple Mercury Racing 450 RS and uh just got a light load on board today just the two of them they tend to do their boating uh just as a couple which is great they're about 12200 mil from home which is akan [Music] Ohio [Music] he well you can tell now that we've just hit the reset button uh we stopped everybody just off of South Beach uh that's Miami Beach off on the distance and we turned everyone to the east now with our heading on bimin and did a restart and this is a program that has worked out quite well for us now because we've already got a lot of good helicopter time flying south from Fort Lauderdale so now our pilot can stay with us for about another 15 20 minutes still stay within the parameters of his flight but looking down on the entire group everybody looking fabulous and maintaining their Lane as they head off Eastbound and now catching up with Mike and Olivia Lopez on this uh brand new MTI 42 and check it out guys five Mercury Racing 450 RS and look real closely guys you can see different engine cing covers to pick up the graphics on the boat what a great looking ride and it's one more time with the Andersons on Wild Horses uh 39 ntech looks like Rogers got the trim out just a little now throwing a pretty decent rooster tail off the back of those Mercury Racing 450 [Music] RS and another angle of this Deep Impact 399 Ed Coler at the hel and seems to be really enjoying this Deep Impact uh 399 open quad Mercury Racing 450s took delivery of the boat couple years earlier I think it was at the Emerald Coast poker run so it's done a lot of poker runs ever since same same thing with the readings you know they really got active with Florida powerboard Club after their first Deep Impact 399 now they're on hole number two it's their second one they've had this one for well over a year and they really seem to be loving the boat oh and finally a little love from the helicopter on our Pace booat Simon Williams at the helm of this brand new Fountain 38 scx model triple Mercury Mainline 400 v10s and uh a lot of accessories on the boat mostly speakers and a big audio system but one thing that this boat doesn't have guys is rod holders the 38 scx is all about poker runs and I can't help but notice that this uh helicopter footage we're getting is so amazing it really showcases these new models Mike Leighton putting this 47 Reaper through the paces remember he's got five Mercury Racing 450 Ys a step bottom a carbon fiber laid up boat a really really good performing boat i' I've been on one of these earlier actually very fast and great styling it really is a nice looking boat and it's one more time with Joe and Jen r on their nortek 390 sport I I like the name of the boat Endless Summer I think that's an appropriate name for you know heading out to the Bahamas for several days this nk's been in Fort Lauderdale for the winter season but after this event they're going to trailer at home to akan Ohio and nice to see Dominic and Christy bagle are back joining us with this 38 foot Scout and this is just a wave crushing machine they join us for the spring Key West run back in March so took a little time off and back again with us in June heading out for this adventure to the Bahamas and it's a first time for this family adventure Mike and carlen Ley joined by their kids Mike Jr and Abby and again another family doing an adventure together in this uh 38t Fountain got Mercury Racing 525s a lot of Firsts on this event for them first time in the ocean first time going to the Bahamas and it's their very first FBC event and keeping that nortech representation strong is Ivan Lopez uh his wife Kyle and they made it a family affair also with Tristan and riding along they also have another couple named Lana and Jacob that came with them so they're making good use of that nortech 39 and it's big open cockpit in that second double row seating big Power on this 39 quad Mercury Racing 450 RS and in addition to uh Ivan's crew I want to welcome NX Jeff Tomlinson who brought his daughter for a little daddy daughter getaway they're riding on board with Ian today and now we'll spend a little more time with this other new uh 47 adrenaline Reaper Anthony sass his wife Jamie with their little girl Ella and they've been joined by their friends Amy and William Smith and their little girl Zephyr so this is going to be a great family getaway for the two families so this will be their first event for the new boat and probably a great Shakedown run well I can't see the speedo but I'm pretty sure that once the helicopter got everybody all excited they pushed the throttle forward and I think our 55 was a thing of the past most of us running now well into the 60s as we cross the Gulf Stream and say goodbye to Miami I think we're a good ways offshore because I don't see any skyscrapers on the [Music] horizon and it's one more time with our Fountain 38 scx Pace booat Simon Williams at the helm and of course Cortez Cove new dealer for Fountain they're based in Bradenton Florida they've got a full service Boatyard there and uh also Simon has sh thing which is a giant a boat and RV storage facility located just a few miles away from Cortez Cove so thanks to Simon and D for letting the Jones family ride aboard one more time with Mike and Olivia Lopez uh they are from Chicago but they've got a home over in the Bradon area along the manity river and that's where they're going to keep this 42 MTI on a boat lift so they can go boating all over the West Coast of [Music] Florida [Music] and here's a great wide angle from inside the cockpit of our r44 helicopter from Florida coast to coast helicopters and I'm guessing the pilot is looking at his GPS and saying we got to get home soon guys we're getting way out here and catching up now with j Bing in shaana Tolliver in this sensation 40 CCX it's got triple Mercury Racing 450 RS and a boat that they have very familiar with they've had several in the past but they just picked this one up recently they seem to love the Bahamas because they've done this event a number of times in the past well guys that was some great aerial coverage from the helicopter crossing the Gulf Stream but sooner or later here we are in bimin there's a great shot of us rolling into bimy Harbor on board the fountain 38 scx Jackie Happ to be there she's got her phone out taking pictures and thanks to Simon and D for a great ride over to bimy we're going to get up to the big game club now where we're going to clear customs and get all the boats settled in for the next couple of hours remember we've got a full day ahead of us so it's still early in the day not really a big hurry to get up to Resorts World biny Hilton uh because it's still another few miles up on the North side of the island and just not a rush to get there because you know most of our activities today are on the water activities at some of the local attractions including the sapona and honeymoon Harbors so that's our plan for the day a couple of hours here at the big game club you can see it's not very busy here this is why we like to use the big game club for clearing customs because the Bahamas customs office is right on the property and the immigration office is just a few steps up the road uh altogether even with click to clear it still takes about an hour or more to get cleared uh you know with a big group it could take a little longer uh but it's important to be prepared to have all of your paperwork and your passports ready and remember that while the captain goes to customs to clear everybody must remain on the boat and that's part of the rules guys and uh if there's ever a customs boarding and people are not on the boat you could get in trouble but you know for the most part we haven't had any issues in the past and nice to have some nice aerial coverage uh Tyler Jones using the family DJI mini uh drone and getting some great stuff he's actually practiced up quite a bit and we don't really have these shots in previous episodes but nice to see really the big picture here at Big Game Club it's a beautiful property with a lot of docking and there were days in the past where you couldn't even get in here they sometimes would have fishing tournaments here where you couldn't get a slip uh so now it seems to be just nice and Casual we can hang out here there is a restaurant does take a little while to get um breakfast or lunch so if you do get situated uh be ready to sit down for about 90 minutes maybe a couple of hours it's going to take you that long to dine but nobody's in a hurry today as long as we get back on the Water by about 12:00 noon we got plenty of time to enjoy the day and it goes without saying that uh it's nice to take care of your dock Master when you pull in here and uh a lot of times they'll come out to greet you and tie you up and give you some immigration cards but the yellow quarantine flag should be flown when you arrive here at the big game club and then upon clearing customs you can take that flag down and put up your Bahamas courtesy flag and that can stay up uh pretty much through throughout the entire [Music] weekend well with everybody clear and back on the water shortly after 12:00 noon we headed southbound uh towards the sapon Shipwreck I wanted to show everybody where it was uh that wasn't on our agenda for today but I wanted to show everybody at least where it is and to Market in their GPS but our destination today is about 5 miles further to the South and that's honeymoon Harbor uh where there's a nice Sandy Beach we're going to pull in there and that's where we're going to have a controlled Stingray feed and here we are and this is why you want to come to Honeymoon Harbor on a weekday remember now it is a Wednesday and this place is swarmed on a weekend we pretty much own it today uh all this entire nice long Sandy stretch of Beach uh and everybody got nestled in here you can see just how beautiful it is guys this is Paradise and there's our little friends all those stingrays who are enjoying the feeding that we set up for everybody uh but just look at the row of beautiful boats all pulled in and remember this is only our first day you know we're in the early afternoon now and everyone has had a nice ride across the Gulf Stream they cleared Customs had lunch and for the rest of the afternoon this is just Paradise for us to enjoy the controlled feeding is important learning how to feed the Sting Ray and doing it properly uh is important because you can do it the wrong way and it won't work out too well for you some people are afraid of them but they are very docile creatures but the part that gets scary is when they swarm uh and there's no need to be afraid but the important thing is is to be planted in the sand and let them move around you don't try to move around them and certainly don't stand I think what happens is if people stand they get afraid and they start dancing around or trying to run out and they'll end up stepping on a stingray and could possibly get a sting we don't want that to happen so the food is uh the bait that I pick up is I get it at the big game club it's just Frozen squid we get it in five PB blocks and you get a sharp knife you open it up and get a chopping block or a board a cutting board and chop it up into small pieces and then give everyone a little cup a plastic cup with about 10 or 15 chunks of squid in the bottom and they can just hand feed so it really is an easy process and the Stingrays will just come up as you see here uh very casually and you put your hand out and they'll just suck it right up out of your hand sometimes you'll get a little nibble or a little bite but they don't really have teeth so you won't be cut or bleeding um but they have been known to give you little hickeys on your thighs or your butts and trust me I've seen it and it's pretty funny when it happens so we made sure that we had enough bait that everybody got a chance to feed the sting rays and some people were again a little Fray at first but once they got past that fear they kept coming back and saying Stu can I have more bait can I have more bait and that's what I want to see and you and it never gets old for me look at I'm having the time of my life I've been doing this for 20 years and it never gets old for me I could sit in the water here for an hour and feed these little guys it's so much fun and in the handful of video bios that we got back from some of our attendees I think most people said that this was uh surely one of the highlights of their trip and while everybody else was having fun we were shooting a new segment for the fountain uh website uh displaying this new shower feature on the fountain 38 scx good job Simon [Music] w [Music] [Music] to well guys we have uh just had a fantastic day of boating with Florida powerb Club uh here in bimin and you know it's only our first day of a 7-Day event but well we hit the half hour mark so we're going to have to close it off for now guys the good news is we've got an entire episode two with complete coverage as we continue the adventure from bimy on to chub key nasaw and Beyond so stay with us for the next episode and you guys know what to do uh click that uh Subs subscribe button and hit the notification Bell so you'll get an update every time a new episode is [Music] released be sure to check out the website at falp powerboat do.com for all of the details about upcoming poker run events in 2021 as well as membership information you can follow us on Facebook at Florida powerboat club and you can follow us on Twitter and on these Instagram Pages thanks to all of our viewers uh for your wonderful comments on our page and you guys know who you are and I really do appreciate that but if you have questions or comments you want to direct to me specifically please use my personal email at stfl powerboat do.com I check that daily and I'll get back to you as soon as I can we're going to sign off for now this is Stu Jones along with our producer Ryan McCoy in the pompo beach studio have fun out there guys be safe on the waterways wear your life jackets when the time is right and always respect your fellow boers bye for now [Music] now

Channel: Florida Powerboat Club Stu Jones

Views: 609,828

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Id: HToL_jJxIuo

Length: 31min 3sec (1863 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 11 2024