Clearwater Wants The Worlds
 

Interesting and likely to be a hot topic, http://speedonthewater.com/in-the-ne...nts-the-worlds.

I, along with 150-200 Poker Run boats, will still be in Key West but good luck to them. Clearwater is a great town but it's not Key West and it's no vacation destination to go boating like the Keys.

I love the idea but I might be a bit bias.

Definitely a hot topic I bet. No Clearwater has nothing in key west. However Clearwater has more in the way of lodging and easier on tourists.

I think KW might be a closer boat ride for us than Clearwater.

I think it is too.

Very much so when talking about the grand picture.

Easy for flights with a major hub just 20min away and a straight shot or even small st.pete/clw airport. Also plenty of lodging along the beach and at all sorts of prices from high to low.

I will agree with Cash though that in terms of fun boating, Clearwater is nothing like K.W.

I'm with you Greg, We will be in Key West as well.

I also think it would be easier for the average joe or (mike) in my case to watch. Key west ain't cheap and I ain't rich!! Lol

Even in the off season KW is pricey.

This is 100% true.

There is plenty of lodging for $100 and under a night near by and lots of white sand beach that free to watch the race on.

Ummmm, no. Key West is where it is at. As far as ease of access to KW, Southwest Airlines flies there daily. If you can't swing a ticket on the Greyhound of the skies.....
There are plenty of options in KW for inexpensive lodging. On that note, if you think lodging is expensive in KW, you aren't drinking enough. Your bar tab should easily be $500+/day if you are doing it right.

You can't compare SW flights into key west with Tampa, KW flat out is harder.

Buy I love KW, and you can get B &B's pretty cheap. Just a whole different vibe,,,,,,,, I'll take KW.

Key West is to powerboat racing as Wimbledon is to tennis.

Changing it would be a downright shame. Simple as that.

key west is the best

I didnt know there was an off season in Key West...

Actually, last December I was in KW with my wife and asked at the hotel desk "Whats a good time to come when KW isnt as busy..." The chick behind the counter "Ummm, we pretty much have something every weekend 12 months a year..."

What's the attendance and dollars for the KW Worlds?

Your post just proved the exact point i was making.

The general mass doesn't have $500 a day to drop on a bar tab and what not. Flights are a bit more costly as only a small few major airlines run direct into the Keys.

Trust me I love the keys and have been there at least once a year minimum to 3 or 4 times a few years.

I am not saying they should move those races, I am simply saying I can see why the talks are there. The Clearwater race has grown in size and money brought in each and every year since it started here and as said, it can be a bit easier on the general population to watch that doesn't have hundred of $$ to blow on a day out for fun.

You've got that rite!

Hey, Clearwater can take the races.

That leaves a LOT of extra rooms in KW for the Poker Run crowd. Better show, more fun, no Harbor closings, I could go on and on...

I don't think they would move it from Key West! That would be a bad move.

They can move the races but we'll still be shipping the boats to North Miami and boating to Key West every year. I've been doing it since 2005 because I enjoy boating down to KW and back up, as well as watching with races with friends and running with poker runners. We just don't have any where like that to boat on the left coast. I'm not giving that up to go sit on some beach and watch a race. We come to boat... So good luck with that Clear Water..

Just an FYI, supposedly the Clearwater Race has the Largest Spectator Fleet in the whole circuit...so lots of great boating and you wouldn't be relegated to watching from the beaches.

However, even as a resident of the Tampa Bay area, I think the Worlds should stay in Key West...it wouldn't be right for it to be anywhere else...PLUS, it gives me the incentive to leave Tampa Bay and go to Key West!!!

Cheers,

Dave

It would be a colossal failure for SBI to move out of Key West (on the same weekend as the poker run). The two bodies (FPC / SBI) feed off each other to create arguably the largest performance boating destination and event weekend in the world. You take one of the two out of the equation, it will have noticable negative efffects on the weekend.

But lets just be frank, While FPC/Stu began his poker runs to Key West to watch and support the racing venue, over the past 5-10 years, racing has seen a huge decline in participation and fans. Many that have the means to race or have raced in the past have turned to poker running due to the fact it's cheaper, there's less drama and the totality of poker run event (what you get out of it) offers more. Thus, I'd wager the majority of people that travel to Key West that weekend are connected to the poker run or run their boat down there as if they were connected to the poker run and enjoy the party, poker run, event atmosphere that comes with poker running. Where once the racing was the draw, now has turned into the poker run and party weekend atmosphere that is the draw.

Huge mistake to mess with success.