Image of the Week: Vested Interest

Photographer Jay Nichols came back from the Florida Powerboat Club’s annual Key West Poker Run a couple of weeks ago with thousands of images. In fact, he’s still uploading them to his Flckr Gallery, which is getting tens of thousands of views per day. Such is the desire of go-fast boat lovers to see warm-weather shots of their favorite subject when the weather starts to get cold.

Five guys, five PFDs worn—proper math. Photo courtesy/copyright Jay Nichols/Naples Image.

What we like about the image above—and why it’s our choice for Image of the Week—isn’t the hardware, the high-speed action or the spectacular scenery. (Search Nichols’ gallery and you’ll find plenty of those shots.) What we like is that all five of the guys on board this Skater catamaran are wearing their Lifeline high-performance jackets.

Yes, we know it’s a Florida Powerboat Club rule. Yes, we also know it’s just common sense to wear them—PFDs don’t do much good when you’re not—supported by endless research and statistics. But we also know that vests aren’t the most comfortable things to wear on a hot day in the Florida Keys.

That said, they sure don’t appear to cutting into the good time of any of these guys in this boat.