KW SBI / FPC News

[Bobcat]

Out with the old, in with the new?
Poker run offers options
BY TIMOTHY O'HARA Citizen Staff
tohara@keysnews.com
The organizers of an annual powerboat poker run have made their pitch to city commissioners and the media to either play a bigger role in the Key West powerboat races, or take over the event if the existing organizers move it elsewhere.

The Key West World Powerboat Championship has been held in the Southernmost City for 33 years but event organizer John Carbonell is considering moving the races to Sarasota or Clearwater. Carbonell has said he plans to negotiate with all three cities.

The City Commission has directed staff to try to negotiate a five-year deal with the Powerboat World Championship organizers.

The Key West Offshore Poker Run has been staged the same weekend of the races for 21 years. That event brings in 150 boats and 1,000 participants each year, said organizer Stu Jones, president of the Florida Powerboat Club.

Jones wants to have a bigger role in the powerboat championships, or he'll stage his own race-type event if the races leave.

City Commissioners Tony Yaniz, Billy Wardlow and Jimmy Weekley and several South Florida media outlets attended a press conference Jones held Saturday at the Conch Republic Seafood Co., which has been the poker run's staging grounds in Key West for more than a decade.

If the races stay, Jones proposed conducting shoot-outs and other manufacturer-sponsored events in Key West Harbor on days when races are not being held. If the races leave, Jones said he would extend his current poker run into a week-long event that would include shoot-outs, personal watercraft races and other race-style events.

"I'm all in," Jones told the city commissioners. "We don't want to get in the way. We have something we built that we are proud of. It is something that is unique. The sandbox is big enough for all of us."

Jones was not shy in saying that race organizers have mostly ignored the poker run and not included it in their events. He also plans to seek Monroe County Tourist Development Council funding for his event.

His attempt in 2007 to get Tourist Development Council funding in 2007 was unsuccessful, he said.

"I don't want to upset the applecart," Jones said. "I am not going after $100,000, but $30,000 to $40,00 sounds fair."

The World Powerboat Championship organizers received $100,000, down from $120,000 in the previous year, from the Tourist Development Council, records state.

Jones and fellow poker run coordinator Martin Sanborn reminded commissioners that some of the biggest manufacturers of powerboats, including Cigarette and Outerlimits, already participate in the poker run. The poker run is also televised on Fox Network's sports channels in Florida, and on other television stations around the world.

"Why can't we have more?" Sanborn asked. "Give us the opportunity."

Conch Republic Seafood Co. owner Jeff Gunther called the poker run the biggest annual event for the restaurant that also hosts events tied to the Drambuie Key West Marlin Tournament, Key West Songwriters Festival and annual Parrot Heads gathering. Poker run organizers set up several tents and place several large powerboats in the restaurant's parking lot. Poker run participants park their boats on the docks abutting the restaurant.

"It brings in a lot of people," Gunther said.

The three city commissioners who attended the press conference appeared open to Jones' proposals.

"This is a boating event," Yaniz said. "It's not their (the race organizers) race course. It's not yours. It's ours (the city's). We would like both events to work together. Key West is about the spirit of cooperation. Your event does not take away from theirs."

Attempts to reach Carbonell at the Superboat International's Key West office to discuss his feelings about including the poker run in the annual races were unsuccessful on Monday.

tohara@keysnews.com

[Ratickle]

This should widen the rift between Stu and John even farther (or further?). Gino found out how wide it already was a few years back when Mercedes broke down and he went to work on it in the pits at the invitation of one of the race teams to use their stuff.