Image Of The Week: Tampa Bay’s Gateway Beauty

Opened as a two-lane span in 1954, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge is—as a gateway to Florida’s famed Tampa Bay—almost as familiar to high-performance powerboat enthusiasts as it is to motorists in the Sunshine State. In fact, you could make a strong case that the four-plus-mile bridge is one of the most recognizable manmade features in the go-fast boating world.

Instantly recognizable to most high-performance powerboat enthusiasts, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge will provide a stunning backdrop for this weekend’s Florida Powerboat Club Tampa Bay Poker Run (click image to enlarge). Photos courtesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

With its captivating sail-like suspension structure, the Skyway Bridge serves as the perfect backdrop for the Florida Powerboat Club’s annual Tampa Bay Poker Run. And with that event happening this weekend we decided to look through our photo archives to find a couple of images—featuring go-fast boats, of course—of the famed span during last year’s run.

Approximately 40 boats will pass beneath the bridge next Saturday during the FPC event so we know that we’ll have more images coming our way in the near future. But like many of you, we never get tired of them.

Whether you’re departing or returning to Tampa Bay, the view of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge never gets old (click image to enlarge).

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