Athough I try to use Ruffled Feathers, my 32-foot Skater, as often as possible, including traveling to events such as the Pirates of Lanier Poker Run in Georgia, the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Missouri and the Key West Poker Run from Miami to Key West, it doesn’t get much better than an enjoyable Sunday Fun Day right here at home.

Frank Areces and his girlfriend, Barbie, love spending time in Ruffled Feathers, Areces’ 32-foot Skater. Photo by Jason Johnson

An ideal day for me begins with putting the boat in at Matheson Hammock Marina or Haulover Beach and heading to Elliott Key, which is always a fun place to gather and visit with friends. Ideally my girlfriend Barbie is with me along with her daughter, Cynthia, and her fiancé, Eric, as well my family, Michael and Brigette, plus their beautiful little girl, Jade.

From Elliott Key we’ll usually head down the Keys to Gilbert’s, which is one of our favorite places to visit for obvious reasons. We usually hang out there and get some food and then either head back to Miami or travel a little farther down the Keys to Tavernier and stay at my place down there. If we do that, we’ll often head over to Islamorada to the Postcard Inn and Tiki Bar.

Fortunately the boat has been running great all year and we’ve been able to enjoy several Sunday Fun Days and plenty of awesome events, such as the Fort Myers Offshore Post-Thanksgiving Run we did recently. I definitely have to thank Tommy Hofstetter and Chris Roper for all they’ve done to make the boat as sound as possible. I’m a hands-on guy, but some of the stuff is beyond my capability.

The Ruffled Feathers Poker Run team recently took the boat to the Fort Myers Offshore Post-Thanksgiving Run. Photo by Michael Areces

Editor’s note: Former offshore racer Frank Areces is a partner in the law firm Areces & Rodriguez, P.A., in Miami. When he’s not practicing law, chances are you can find him working on or playing in Ruffled Feathers, his 2002 32-foot Skater Powerboats catamaran powered by a pair of racing engines Areces used in his Pollo Tropical Cigarette Racing 38 Top Gun that he drove to the P3 World Championship in 2005. He had the twin 825-hp, 598-cubic-inch engines were refreshed in 2015 by the crew at Chief Performance in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

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