Satellite Organizers In The Florida Powerboat Club’s Future

Stu Jones has been in the poker-run organizing game for more than a quarter of a century. His Florida Powerboat Club business has expanded and contracted during the years with the economy, life changes among club members, new poker runs outside his own and much more. For 26 years, the Florida Powerboat Club, which is based in Pompano Beach, Fla., has been a constant in the high-performance powerboating world.

For 26 years, Stu Jones has successfully organized poker runs through the Florida Powerboat Club. Photo from the 2018 Emerald Coast Poker Run by the Florida Powerboat Club.

Jones isn’t going anywhere, nor is the Florida Powerboat. But if you read yesterday’s story about the Emerald Coast Poker Run, you might have noticed an interesting statement from the FPC leader.

“After 21 years of enjoying this great poker run venue, I have come to the realization that this event really needs a strong local team to plan and oversee the event,” Jones said in the story. “Ryan Christen has worked with us for two years as our video and media support team, but he is also a retired firefighter, and has displayed tremendous management skills at safety support and course logistics. Along with a new team that he will assemble, I will work from the sidelines and stay very much involved with the event. And I’ll be enjoying it as a participant, rather than an organizer, in my Project 1080 Cigarette next year.”

My first question—of course—was if the Emerald Coast Poker run will still be a Florida Powerboat Club event. Jones assured me it would. My second was if this practice, a first for the club according to Jones, of having a local point person oversee “a local committee of key players that will handle all local sponsorship, safety management, course logistics and public relations going forward” is a future direction for the club. Jones assured me it is.

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