Nice cars like this Lamborghini LP570 Gallardo Spyder Performante may not be that big of a deal at an event like the Florida PowerBoat Clubs Key West Poker Run, But when a beautiful girl shows up in her bad ass ride like this one then it usually draws much more attention.

When our friend Beth Ann needed a place to park her Lamborghini at the the Key West Poker Run. PowerBoat Nation just felt a little compelled to help her out with a parking spot after taking some pictures of her with her car and one of our PBN girls!

She was so cool she even dressed up in one of our PBN model outfits!

The Key West Poker Run put on by the Florida Powerboat Club his year has proven the sport of power boating is not only alive and well its thriving! Not since the pre economic collapse has the sport shown such a positive vibe and feel. This years Boca Grande raft up was amazing, the sights and vibe on the beach was fantastic. It was hard to get an accurate boat count but it must have been close to 200 boats and many of them are the industries most dazzling. The Powerboat Nation Reality media crew spent the entire day capturing it all for your pleasure Here is a peek of what we will deliver later this week as the media team processes the spectacular video content we captured.

Trust us, this is something you won’t want to miss.

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Power Boat Nation Rocks the Florida Power Boat Clubs Poker Run Village hosting the Thursday Night welcome party

If you are still wondering if the economy is not in recovery then your doubts would have been squashed by the turnout at Power Boat Nation welcome party for the Florida Power boat Clubs Key West Event.

Hundreds of visitors showed up to relish in what is sure to be one of FPC’s biggest events. With over 170 plus boats registered the who’s who in the high performance poker run scene are all in attendance.

Power Boat Nation had their full staff of beautiful PBN models on hand for pictures and PBN provided music, refreshments, and a party that was a hit to start the week off the best way possible. And to think this is just day one for most of us!

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Hardin Marine has brought $100,000 parts supply to service Key West Poker Runners. Everyone with a boat knows there comes a time in their boating experience that either bad luck or a parts failure occurs. For many this means the end of boating until they can return home to fix the boat or a wild hunt for a high performance part that’s often not available locally. The guys a Hardin Marine made a conscious effort to offset lady luck and those possible failures by coming to the Florida Power Boat Clubs premier Key West Poker Run with a complete full line of products service center full of goods. Everything from spare out drives to cooling equipment to a host of engine products.

An interview with one of the companies’ principals said the following. “Our commitment to this sport has never been stronger and we recognize that so very many of these boats use our product proudly and we want to support them as they have supported us. The industries best riggers service providers like Jason Ventura of Brand X Hi Performance come to this event fully stocked with specialty tools and the man power to service a fleet of boats. Even thought they brought a good stock of their own parts. Often what you think you need is what you don’t so what they really could use is a rolling warehouse of products to service the unforeseen or emergency needs of some boaters. The working relationship between the service providers and the parts suppliers is one that links to get the boaters back on the water.

BrandX has a rolling shop and either directly repaired boats with their staff working all night or supported other service providers to help them get the job done. Literally working all night they get boats back on the water!

While Brad Smith is no longer with us the power of his brand is living on in Key West this year. A sea of Brad Smith Power Shirts and Brad Smith Powered boats can be found everywhere in Key West. The overwhelming feelings where also expressed at the Wednesday night Captains meeting where Florida Powerboat Club President Stu Jones dedicated this years Key West Run to the memory of Brad and Jeff.

Now, here in Key West everywhere you look you see the power of the Brad Smith brand. Brad Smith was considered by everyone who new him to be a great person with an overpowering enthusiasm for building the best motors available. At Thursdays Power Boat Nation welcome party there was a sea of Smith Power shirts every where you looked. There were many smiles as stories were told and found memories remembered. It does seem as though the brand is much more recognizable today than in the years past.

The guys at Hardin Marine worked in conjunction with Brads son whom is a masterful painter to build a “Tribute” engine that was proudly displayed at the Hardin Marine Trailer. A spokesperson from Hardin said that Brad was a dear friend and customer and that it is a heart warming event to have so many people come by and share stories about their experience with Brad Smith.

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Chief engine has been turning out performance marine engines for more than a few decades now and has established themselves as one of the most significant engine package developer in the market today. While the company has had numerous ventures and offerings from the sales of Skater boats to being a key service center for Mercury Racing. The one constant has always been marine engine building and re-building. The company’s owner Tommy Hofstetter was doing electronic fuel injection development and tuning long before it was ever a industry standard.

Tommy says “if we have had any weakness it has been our company expansion often over shadowed our core product offering and I’m surprised at some of the misconceptions of my brand. We have never slowed our product development and engine packages continue to evolve today. Our products are used and tested in the harshest environments anywhere and by some of the industries most recognizable individuals”.

While many know but Tommy reminded me that the Chief Hi-Performance engines have been the power behind Bill Pyburn’s record holding Pure Platinum Skater for years. We know Bill as a guy that uses his boat a lot as well as a guy respected amongst the industry. The Pure Platinum Skater is literally a bullet when it comes to fast and reliable.

Chief Hi-Performance factory support trailer has also just been completely updated to provide service to their customers attending the Key West Poker Run. It will also show case a number of the engine packages that are their 2014 product offering. Tommy points out that Chiefs business model spans from consumer rebuilds on stock engines all the way to the stratosphere of 2000 horsepower turbocharged engines and that the Florida Powerboat Clubs flagship event provides them a great chance to visit with the industry.

The Fort Lauderdale Boat has never really been a huge show for the sport boat / performance boat market but it has always been a very important show because of the international draw and the massive amount of money spent on boats. It is the largest boat show in the world with over $3 Billion worth of boats on display.

The performance boat dock has changed greatly over the past few years and it was very evident at this years show that the outboard market has taken over. Nor-Tech, Formula, Fountain, and Baja did display a few I/O’s but where overwhelmed by center consoles.

Walking the dock we first came upon Midnight Express who has built CC boats for years. They are busting at the seams trying to fulfill orders. Fast Boats Marine Group is the exclusive Dealer for Midnight and FastBoats owner Randy Sweers told us they just can not keep up with demand.

Nor-Tech was next on the dock to which they dominated, Nor-Tech took over and had a total of six boats in the water. A 40 Roadster Cat, the new Monte Carlo and four CC’s They also had a full display in the convention center with two more center Consoles. Scott Conrad from Nor-Tech echoed the same theme. “We just cant build them fast enough”

Sunsation was on hand with a fished up boat. The boys from Michigan are so busy building boats. Joe was all alone on the dock because Wayne as at the factory busy building boats. Sunsation’s new 34 is a huge hit and Joe told us the boat at Lauderdale was rigged with fishing in mind, Rod holders, Live well, and a reconfigured transom brought in a huge new crowd. The Florida market has a long established fishing core and this boat was hit with them.

The word from MTI was if they had the time to build boats on spec they would still be sold out. The Slot V 42 garnered huge attention because when you are strolling the dock to find the proper companion to your 150 ft plus Mega Yacht or just need to make a progressive statement with your watercraft choice you stop at MTI. All I can say if the looks and amenities of this boat don’t grab you then do a sea trial. Unbelievable! and if you are doubtful of my word then MTI dealer Larry Goldman of Xtreme Powerboats will be all set up at the Key West Poker Run Village to take you on a boat ride.

Finishing up at the end of the dock was Concept Boats who for over 20 years has been building what everyone else is doing today. Concept is business as usual steadily building great all around fun boats that match the South Florida Lifestyle.

nside the Convention Center, Statement, was certainly making one with a great display in the center of the show with Boats Direct USA who in addition to Statement had their new 399 Deep Impact on display as well as the newly revitalized Ocean Hawk 33. Overall theme from these guys. “Cant build them fast enough!” Check out our interview below with Monique and Mark from Boats Direct USA:

Deep Impact had an additional display with a Pink wrap on a Lamborghini Gallardo to raise money for Breast Cancer Research. Deep Impacts problem: “Cant build them fast enough!”

At the show the lines were long, parking was terrible, and good luck calling a cab. It sure felt like things are getting back on track, The dock looks different but it felt good, comfortable, and most important to our boat building and selling friends it was profitable which means the new boat owners will be happy with all the new choices being presented to them!

See you all in Key West.

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