Story and photos by DinaRella / Additional photos from Devin Wozencraft, MPH Motorsports, J Wyszatycki , T Jones & J Heimcamp

Ironically, more than one insurance-sponsored, feisty green cat was spotted prowling around Key West at the Race World Offshore Championships and 31st annual Florida Powerboat Club Poker Run. Steering clear of the catastrophic Wednesday Class 1 crash with X-Insurance, the second kitty was literally a “knockout Victory.” Scoring big points with the powerboater crowd, the Wozencraft Insurance G.O.A.T. “Greenest of All Time” 34-footer pounded Florida waters like a champ from TNT Marine Center in Miami down to Mile Marker 1.

Standing on Gilbert’s dock during the FPC’s Thursday lunch stop in Key Largo surrounded by a sea of sherbet-colored center consoles flexing four to six outboards in matching shades clamped to transoms, is where I first set eyes on the sparkly green and black machine dressed with dual Mercury Racing 450s.

Since Devin’s hugely recognizable red, white and blue Skater 308 is a staple in poker run stables across the nation; I was surprised to see a Wozencraft-emblazoned Victory. Due to his full agenda as a sponsor of the FPC luncheons each day at Gilberts and the10th annual Speed On The Water Bash (which brought in $200,000 for local charity later that night), I didn’t get the full Skater-swap story until we finally connected after all the fastboat festivities finished.

1 Wozencraft 34 Victory.JPG
2 Wozencraft Victory Key Largo.JPG
3 W Victory Gilberts FPC lunch stop.JPG
4 W Victory Team cleats.JPG

5 W Victory transom.JPG
6 W Victory twin 450s.JPG

7 W Vic Devin Tanah Dan.JPG


Bourbon, Buds and Houseboat Banter
Shortly after the LOTO Shootout, the 2023 Wozencraft Insurance World Tour headed to the Lake Cumberland Poker Run in early September, and tagging along with Devin was a buddy from high school that’d never been to Kentucky. “While showing him the houseboat dock, I bumped into a friend Greg Scheller. Soon we were on his houseboat, bourbon was being poured, and talk turned to the 34’ Victory, manufactured by the Victory Race Team owned by the UAE government, that he was selling,” explains Devin, before confessing, “I always admired that boat, and when he mentioned getting rid of it, we discussed some numbers, but I wrote it off. I really didn’t have the time to put my boat up for sale and be buying another one.”

That Friday on the lunch run to Lee’s Ford, the Skater and Victory happened to be tied off each other at MPH Motorsports. Greg started checking out the 2015 model Skater and said, “You know Devin, if you’re interested in buying my Victory; I’d be interested in trading it for your Skater.” Both surprised and intrigued, Devin asked why, to which Greg tells him, “I’m in the process of building a new DCB M37 and would like to have a filler boat for the next year and a little extra cash for the progress payments.”

The Skater Swap

Working out a deal took a few weeks and was finalized at the precise moment Devin was pulling into the parking lot for the Emerald Coast Poker Run in early October. “Greg got a driver to bring the Victory down to Destin, and he asked me to keep the Skater salt-free and not put it in the water. The 308 stayed on the trailer for the entire event, and there in Destin is where I took delivery of the Victory.”

Continuing, he says, "After 7.5 years with the Skater, it was like the end of an era. But going forward, what’s positive is that the Victory boat is so minor here (only four pleasure models were brought over and there’s no plans to bring more), but also so respected because of their strong racing history. I felt it was a good move; it also lets me be more neutral in the industry.”

8 W Vic Lake Cumberland.jpg
9 W Vic MPH Motorsports.jpg

10 W Victory Skater Lake Cumberland PR.JPG

11 W Destin Skater Victory meet n greet 1.JPG
12 W Destin Skater swap.JPG
13 W Skater Victory farewell.JPG
14 W Devins Skater farewell.JPG


Key West Knockout

Devin, who was joined by Tanah Kinsey, one of the hardest working women in offshore who heads up his operations and marketing department, ran the Victory for three days at the Emerald Coast run before it came south for a Fort Myers Offshore event, then over to Shaun Torrente Racing for some tweaking. Certain that the high performance insurance and finance man out of Southern California keeps his new cat at reasonable double digit speeds, next he shares, “It performs fantastic and runs like a champ, with the 34 pitch props, it red lines at 118 mph.”

Curious about the color scheme, Devin delves, “We really liked the colors of the Skater and had done a lot of branding with it. The Victory is obviously not anywhere close to that, which was a bit of a concern at first, but with all the speckles, it pops in photos and on the water, it’s kick-ass! People were talking about it non-stop on the docks of the Conch Republic. At least three guys told me they were in line to get that boat, but we got it before any offers were made.”

15 W Vic TNT Marine.JPG
16 W Victory coming out.JPG
17 W Vic going in Miami.JPG
18 Devin Wozencraft new Victory.jpg
19 W Vic FPCPR start cr J Wyszattycki 1 rdc.jpg
20 W Vic KW Poker Run.JPG
21 Wozencraft Victory running.JPG
22 W Vic Tanah poker run.jpg
23 W Vic KW aerial cr T Jones.jpg
24 W Vic Conch Republic aerial cr T Jones.jpg
25 W Victory meets Reaper.JPG
26 W Victory at the Conch.JPG


The Wozencraft Insurance Victory will return to fight the Sarasota seas on January 1st at the Joey Gratton Memorial News Year’s Day Fun Run, until then the G.O.A.T. is getting some sleep in St. Petersburg where it’s stored. RDP wishes Devin the best of luck!
  • Like
Reactions: RichL