Inside SOTW Mag—Inside A Road-Trip Tradition

Gary Seeds, now a three-time Cigarette Racing Team owner who lives in Cincinnati with his wife, Traci, has big plans for his new Cigarette Racing Team 42X sportboat this season. Most notably, they include book-ending several events throughout the summer with more-local happenings, the Lake Cumberland Thunder Run in June and the Lake Cumberland Poker Run September, on his home waters in Kentucky.

For Gary Seeds—and a few lucky friends— taking delivery of a new Cigarette Racing Team sportboat translated to a fine adventure in the Florida Keys.

But whatever happens during those events and others—whatever good times will surely be had in his beautiful new boat—none will top the spring trip Seeds and his friends—Carl Marotzke, Phil Sousa, Bill Blaxton and Corey Duke—took on X-Factor2, his 42-footer powered by dual- calibration Mercury Racing 1350/1100 engines, to the Florida Keys.

“We stayed at Hawk’s Cay on Duck Key the whole time and romped around between there and Holiday Isle for two days,” said Seeds. “We ate and drank well. We put about 300 miles on the boat. That pretty much sums up the trip.”

But for Seeds and company, their journey into the Keys on his new sportboat was more than a typical boys’ trip. It continued a special tradition that Seeds started two new Cigarettes ago. As he did when he took delivery of his last two boats, he had custom T-shirts printed with “Maiden Voyage Tour” to celebrate the weekend adventure.

To enjoy the complete feature, click the download link for the PDF of the May/June 2019 Speed On The Water magazine, and please share any feedback with us below, via email or on social media.