Photo Essay: Tampa Bay Plays Nicer

There’s a reason weather and conditions predictions and forecasts are called predictions and forecasts. Sometimes, those conditions are worse than predicted. Other times, they’re better. There are no guarantees.

Calmer water prevailed in the second day of the Florida Powerboat Club Tampa Bay Poker Run. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

Such was the case yesterday for part two of the Florida Powerboat Club Tampa Bay Poker Run. Friday’s sporty conditions were predicted to persist through Saturday. Club president Stu Jones was concerned enough to change the course so participants could avoid heading into the Gulf of Mexico.

But to the delight of many of the 55 powerboat captains and their crews, yesterday’s conditions were far tamer than Friday’s.

“We are in Florida and the weather here changes quickly, so I wasn’t surprised the conditions got (better despite the forecast),” Jones said, then chuckled. “We work with what we have. It’s all about adapting.

Enjoy more images from yesterday’s poker-run and raft-up in the slideshow above. Raft-up images courtesy/copyright of the Florida Powerboat Club.

“The alternate course was ideal,” he added.

In addition to a new two-day poker-run format, Jones and company—as previously reported on speedonthewater.com—added post-run raft-up as large a large lunch spot of sorts to the Tampa Bay event.

“The location for the new raft-up was priceless,” said Jones. “It is such a great spot.”

Though most participants joined the raft-up, several went to designated lunch spots. Among them was South Florida-based Tim Gallagher of Performance Boat Center. Gallagher delivered a new Sunsation 40 CCX to repeat buyer Scott Farve, who also owns a 40-foot MTI catamaran, and joined him for the run on Friday and Saturday.

“We went to this little lunch stop The Getaway in St. Pete,” said Gallagher. “Saturday was really nice. Friday was rough.

“The 40 CCX is a very cool boat,” he added. “Scott had a 32 CCX before this one and he’s been longtime Performance Boat Center customer. We had a really nice time.”