I'll soon be a Florida poker run first-timer as well. In my bone stock 502 B1 271 FASTech, I'll be cruising in the chill group. Albeit likely with the throttle burried doing a blistering 60 mph. Its going to be awesome... come on down!

as others have mentioned, it’s all about the experience...no sense in beating the crap out of your equipment.

you will never be the fastest boat..so why try.

find a nice cruising speed and enjoy yourself. open it up when you feel the need too.

make friends and memories. that’s what it’s all about.

We had a couple guys from NY do the Key West Poker Run in a 25' Active Thunder with a single HP500 years back. They had enough beer on the floor of the cabin to suffice them for likely a month, but I think they drank it all by the second day. They had all the luggage suspended up in the bow, and the first part of their ride was wet. After the first stop, they slid all the luggage on top of the cases of beer, and they ended up running the rest of the way to Key West at the front of the second pack.

Bring what you got and enjoy. Every time you get to a stop you need to wait to get card anyway. If its an event like the ones in NYS, maybe 75-100 boats need to pick up a card. That takes time. Everyone catches up. Plus the lunch stop, everyone needs to dock, raft, get lunch etc. No need to be 100 MPH. Also many groups usually have speed classes. 50 MPH Group. 70MPH Group, 90 MPH Group and Unlimited group. Just saying, most events will accommodate anyone.

I've owned everything from a 57mph Fountain to a 170mph+ Skater, and a few in between. I can tell you that there is always a group that runs "your speed" so just go and enjoy it. With more and more CC boats, and less 150++ cats, the average speed has probably dropped significantly over the last ten years. It's all about the experience now.

Nice thread here, is there a length minimum?

There are some runs that have a length min. Florida power boat club has it I know. But most runs have no min. If in smaller open bow just be careful waves from bigger boats creates that washing machine wave action. Makes sure to bring good fenders and lines for both sides of your boat if plan to raft-up. Nothing worse than the guy that pulls up puts lifejackets and anchor line out lol.

Great post, going to look into some here on the east coast. Thanks for the info and inspiration!

I am contemplating also joining in some casual Poker Runs.

From what I have seem, at all the poker runs I have had the pleasure of attending, it,s a huge dick swinging contest. If you don,t have a beautiful attention getting boat, pack on a lot of beautiful, skimpy bikini clad women, to get you some attention. LOL