Image of the Week: A Not-So Emerald Coast

Some of the most breathtaking photographs of performance boats have been taken on the beautiful waterways of Northwest Florida’s Emerald Coast. Between the white sand beaches and bright green water, practically every boat looks great skimming along the coast.

As evidenced by the dark, white-capped water in this great shot of four Skaters running together on the Sunday after the 21st annual Emerald Coast Poker Run, the decision to call off Saturday’s run was a good call. Photo courtesy Florida Powerboat Club

That’s why this shot of four powerful Skater Powerboats catamarans running together a couple of weeks ago at the popular Emerald Coast Poker Run is our Image of the Week. Of course the boats in this picture still look good, but the water is drastically different than most of the photos that have come from the event over the past two decades.

And that’s because for the first time in the event’s 21-year history, participants in the Emerald Coast Poker Run weren’t able to run their boats to all of the fun stops between Destin and Pensacola on Florida’s Panhandle due to intense weather on Saturday, Aug. 17. Luckily for the Florida Powerboat Club (FPC), the organization that manages the poker run, the weather cleared for the early part of the day on Sunday, and the FPC crew flew in a helicopter for two solid hours capturing photos and video of dozens of poker run teams that squeezed in some last-minute fun before putting their boats back on trailers.

According to FPC founder and president Stu Jones, many of the participants made the best of the situation on Saturday and opted to rent limos and hit the poker run stops by land. And the best part? Even with the boat count down around 120 boats due to the poor weather, the event still managed to raise more than $100,000 for charity.