Inside SOTW Mag: Turning Bimini Into Reality

Based on an amazing trip my family and I took almost two years ago to Bimini with Stu Jones and the Florida Powerboat Club, the planning for this year’s return trip pretty much started right after we came back from the FPC Bimini Blast Run in October of 2016. That year my family and I had such a great time—meeting friends, celebrating my 38th birthday and experiencing something we’ve never done before—that we knew we wanted to go back.

Justin Lucas’ wife, Erin (left), and their kids—Alexandra, Emma and Jackson—enjoyed the trip to North Bimini in The Bahamas in their Concept Boats center console and can’t wait to do it again.

Fast forward a year or so, and we started getting serious about making the trip again and had several friends who wanted to do it as well so we decided to get a group together and plan the adventure.

Because FPC had a Bahamas run scheduled in June during the Lake Cumberland Thunder Run that I produce with my friend, Dan Weiss, and because I didn’t want to make the crossing again in October when the club had another run planned as the potential for the water to be rougher is greater that time of year, we started looking at dates and settled July 4 holiday week.

The trip started out with three boats owned by R.B. Hixon, Phillip Kile and me. By the time it rolled around, the fleet had grown to six boats, including those owned by Ronny and Carla Brown, Allen Wise and Brandon Arnold. Plus we met up in Bimini with Chris Ribeiro, who crossed a day before us.

To read the full story, click the download link for the PDF of the July/August 2018 Speed On The Water magazine, and please share any feedback with us below, via email or on social media.