Image of the Week: Dwarfed at Desert Storm

The mix of big and small high-performance powerboats can be intimidating in poker runs, especially if your ride happens to be on the smaller side. Then again, checking out the big boys before or after a poker run such as Desert Storm, which is about a month way on Lake Havasu in Arizona, gives you a chance to ogle some serious hardware you don’t get to see every day.

During the 2013 Desert Storm Poker Run Team CRC treated the folks in this single-engine V-bottom to a view they don’t see everyday. Photo courtesy/copyright Jay Nichols/Naples Image.

That’s exactly what the five people in this unidentified, 20- to 25-foot, single-engine West Coast custom bowrider are doing in this Jay Nichols image, checking out Team CRC, a Marine Technology, Inc., twin-engine offshore racing catamaran piloted by Mike DeFrees and Tim McDonald of Oregon Custom Marine.

In the moment this photo was taken, all eyes but two sets—those of the driver and a woman in the open bow—in the open-bow go-fast V-bottom are on the big cat. We weren’t in the bowrider, but it’s a safe bet that “awestruck” described the mood in the boat. That’s one thing we love about this photo.

The other thing? Both boats have Desert Storm Poker Run numbers on them. That means both participated in the run, nowhere near each other during the action of course but close enough before or after for an excellent view for the folks in the bowrider.

Given the relatively restricted visuals from the cat’s canopied cockpit, we’re not sure what sort of look DeFrees and McDonald have of the bowrider. But without question, the people in the bowrider people appear to be enjoying and soaking in their view.