Mystic Powerboats Wraps Up 25th Anniversary In ‘Post Card Beautiful’ Style

As befits a company celebrating its 25th anniversary, Mystic Powerboats had a big year that included everything from record sales of its luxury performance center consoles and catamarans to a 25,000-square-foot expansion of its home-base in DeLand, Fla. So it was equally appropriate that Mystic founder/owner John Cosker and his team wrap up the year with last weekend’s customer celebration in Cape Coral, Fla.

New Jersey’s Rich Devecka was among the Mystic catamaran owners who enjoyed last weekend’s customer-appreciation event. Photos by James Gilbert copyright James Gilbert Photos.

Asked what he enjoyed most about the second-year event, which returned to the Westin Cape Coral resort, Cosker offered an entire list.

“Seeing the customers interact and get to know each other better,” he said. “Meeting customers for the first time who bought used boats who we had not met before. Seeing customers interact with my factory team. Seeing vendors so happy to be with Mystic.”

But he saved his best moment for last. “Seeing 20 Mystics roll up on plane together,” he said.

The weekend fun started Friday with a demo day at the docks behind the Westin venue. Representatives from Mystic vendors Garmin, JL Audio, MYCO Trailers and more were on hand—as they were throughout the weekend—to answer questions.

More than 20 Mystic owners brought their boats to last weekend’s event.

Current Mystic owners, as well as potential future Mystic owners, kept the company’s Greg Weber and Ryan Zivitski busy with demo rides throughout the day.

“We got a bit of a late start announcing it, but ended up have a very successful day,” said Weber, Mystic’s national sales manager. “Ryan was out on the water all day. We had one couple fly down for the day from the Midwest just come to see the boats. Next year, we’re going to focus on it earlier to make it bigger and better.”

An evening welcome party at the Westin followed the demo day. By Saturday morning, 22 customer-owned Mystics, in addition to the company’s trio of demo boats, filled the docks. In addition to the clients who brought their boats, Weber said several current Mystic owners enjoyed the event without bringing own center console or catamarans. For Saturday’s lunch run from the Westin to Fisherman’s Village on Punta Gorda, they caught rides with friends in their Mystics.

Conditions for Saturday’s lunch run from Cape Coral to Punta Gorda were flawless.

“They Mystic owners group is great,” said Tom Dekrone, who owns a Mystic M3800 center console with his wife, Tracey. “They’re very relaxed. If you buy a Mystic, well, you know, you’ve purchased a phenomenal product so everyone at these events is just happy. These guys, Ryan and John and Greg and their crew, they take care of you. You never feel a sense of urgency with them—you never have to worry about anything getting done. When you’re in that environment, everyone is in a good mood.”

Even a plumbing issue at their home in Long Island, N.Y.—they also have a home in Naples, Fla.—wasn’t enough to keep the Dekrones from coming to the event.

“We just shut off the water and left,” he said, then laughed.

Since taking delivery of their 38-footer in March during the Mercury Racing “derivative” product unveiling that combined the Fond du Lac, Wis., company’s 300R outboard engine with its Advanced Mid-Section, the couple has put more than 100 hours on the boat.

Said Mystic M3800 owner Tom Dekrone (captured here with his wife, Tracey), “When you’re in that environment, everyone is in a good mood.”

“The boat has been awesome,” Tom Dekrone explained. “We’ve had no issues with anything. The fit and finish is above everything else out there as far as I’m concerned, and Mystics are the prettiest boats on the water. They don’t look like anything else—everyone knows what a Mystic looks like.”

Added Tracey Dekrone, “Mystic makes the only boat that satisfies both ‘Mars and Venus.’ It has the performance for the men and has all the sex appeal and looks for the women—and it is easy to entertain on.”

After hosting an owners event in Key West, Fla., several years in a row, the Mystic team made a change in 2020. (Race World Offshore did cancel its races that year, but the Florida Powerboat Club still produced a modified version of its annual Key West Poker Run.) Weber explained that the very nature of Key West during the offshore racing and Florida Powerboat Club events made hosting an owners rendezvous difficult at best.

Mystic’s Ryan Zivitski enjoyed a fine weekend with the company’s colleagues.

“The challenge of that week in Key West is that the schedule is so tight with everything going—and some people just want to go down there and do their own thing—that it’s hard to wedge in something else,” he said. “Having a separate owners event not tied to anything else is much better.

“This is our way of saying thanks to our customers and it was a great, great event,” he added. “We ran in the ocean on the way to lunch on Saturday. We came back on the inside. We simply could not have asked for better weather and water conditions. It was post-card-beautiful, all weekend long.

Said Mystic M4200 owner Bob Barnhart, the Canada-based founder of Fort Myers Offshore, who spends winters in Marco Island, Fla., “The whole weekend was first-class and the Mystic crew did a great job of keeping their guests entertained.”

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