The Big With the coldest weather reported in South Florida in over a decade, FPC members took a leap of faith and added a few extra layers as they boarded their boats in Miami on a chilly Friday morning in January, discovering this first 2022 FPC event truly lived up to its name...the WINTER FUN RUN! Story by Stu Jones
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ver forty Florida Powerboat Club teams from all over the US and Canada made the final roster in the weeks leading up to the January Winter Fun Run event- but in the final days at least a half dozen teams had to cancel. For what reasons? Four of them painfully admitting that the cold January weather, forecast to bring morning temperatures in 30’s Fahrenheit, appeared to be the deal breaker. As for at least two other teams, we can credit that ongoing COVID curse, often referred to as the New Normal, for keeping them at home. In fairness to these unfortunate few, not wanting to spread the dreaded curse further than their own front doorstep, was the right thing to do, and we salute them. But in spite of the doom and gloom in the weekend forecast, Mother Nature provided a much-welcomed concession, as rain and precipitation held off for the three days of the frosty fling. After the Friday start from Haulover Inlet and smooth offshore waters to Government Cut, the next leg along the protected waters of Biscayne Bay to Coconut Grove was calm, perhaps a little chilly, but otherwise uneventful.( a good outcome in the world of powerboating ) And while the winter weather gods dropped their guard on the cold chill of precipitation, they would not relinquish their
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control of the mighty winds, which often soared well into the 30mph gusting range on Saturday. With official gale force warnings on the FAA forecast, our Marathon-based chopper pilot elected to forego the $ 1,500 photo flight for the Saturday Run, which dampened any hopes of the aerial money shot so many had looked forward to. Nonetheless, as bound-and-determined as they can often be, there was no measurable limit of challenge among a certain group of our would-be adventurers, who eventually took to the waters of the Upper Keys. Indeed, a majority of teams were content to stay on hard soil at Post Card Inn, our headquarter hotel in Islamorada and a destination that has been off the FPC getaway list for number of years. Staying back wasn’t the worst idea, because there were certainly enough amenities, open bars and area restaurants to explore. Yet a handful of more “courageous” teams could not stand the idea of a full tank of un-burned fuel and a perfectly good-running boat tied to the dock. Alas, by late morning Saturday, with the mercury barely measuring in the 50’s, they took to the waters with most of them setting their GPS on a heading to Marathon, just thirty-five miles to the south.
