Jacksonville Poker Run in 2005

Donna and I arrived Thursday afternoon. The parking lot was filled with Very Large, Very Pretty, and Very powerful Offshore boats. There were over 125 Boats entered.

They included - 47 ft NorTech Cats, Every size Fountain and Velocity and Cigarettes. Top speeds were over 160 mph.

They were trailered in from all over the Eastern half of the United Stated.

Friday was a run down the intracoastal to Saint Augustine, and Saturday was to be the Poker Run.

Leaving the Docks Friday morning Donna and I received a lot of strange looks.

After playing with Offshore boats for 16 years on the Fox River in Illinois, we knew what they were thinking ." What is that?, isn't it Cute".

Contrary to our usual attempt to be out front, we hung back and waited for the water to stop boiling as the big boys took off. It was a thrill to watch.

It was a great run. on the way down we almost ran out of gas. We would have had enough but we were forced to show what Heartbeat was capable of two or three times.

On the return trip, we were running about 45 when 4 offshore's were bearing down on us.  A 38 Cigarette Topgun, a 42 Fountain, and two Velocity's. Donna said," We Can't let this happen", so I had to go.

Only the Top Gun with twin 525s pulled us. Their top speed is around 90 mph. We received more thumbs up from all of them.

The Top Gun crew approached us at the gathering that night. The owner/Driver said, "We were on the outside from you guy's and were concerned that we were going to swamp you.  When I thought we were by you, I was looking back to see if you were OK. My wife then pointed out that you were out front. Surprised, I had no choice but to push the throttles further."

We could have received another  WOFP award, but this time instead of "Way Out Front Paul",  it would have stood for "Watch Out For Paul" as in don't run over them.

Shortly afterwards we were passed by  a 47 ft Cat and a Fountain, both doing in excess of 120 mph. We had met them the night before and they both gave us thumbs up as they blew by us. 

The Poker Run on Saturday was rained out.  We all received our hands Saturday night. There we didn't do so well, but we had a great time and met some great people. People who who love to show and RUN their boats

We discovered there is another  Poker Run in Florida. It's called the  Angel Aid Poker Run and it's almost as big, but the largest boat is about 40 ft, because of the bends in the river it takes place on. When I get more information on the run, I will post it.

Paul & Donna Nowack