Image of the Week: About That Hole

Few things are more jarring than “falling into a hole” when you’re running fast offshore. One moment you’re skipping from swell top to swell top with a comfortable rhythm. Then without warning “the bottom falls out on you” and you slam down hard on the water below. Unexpected troughs in the water, “holes,” as they’re called, are the bane of any offshore racing team’s existence. Sometimes they see them, sometimes they don’t—but they always hurt.

You may not see a hole when you’re running hard offshore, but you’re sure to feel it. Photo courtesy/copyright Jay Nichols/Naples Image

We don’t know if former Stihl team teammates J.R. Noble and Grant Bruggemann saw this one coming during the 2013 Super Boat International Key West Worlds in November, but we’re dead sure they felt it. We wince every time we look at this Jay Nichols image.

Nichols captured thousands of images of offshore racing and high-performance pleasure boats last year. That this one entitled, “About That Hole” made his “50 Favorites of 2013” image set on his Flickr Gallery is no surprise. But the hole itself probably surprised the heck out of Noble and Bruggemann.

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