With this image from ace photographer Jay Nichols of Naples Image, we kick off our new Photo of the Week feature on speedonthewater.com. Each week, we’ll present one remarkable image from Nichols and other outstanding photographers.

The picture was taken by Nichols on Lake Havasu at the southern end of Topock Gorge during the annual Desert Storm event in late April. Nichols captured the two Dave’s Custom Boats catamarans (one can be seen in the distant background of the image) returning from the Manufacturers’ Poker Run to Pirate Cove Resort early in the week.

Jay Nichols captured two DCB catamarans exiting Topock Gorge during the Desert Storm Manufacturers’ Poker Run

For Nichols, who lives and does most of his work in South Florida but spent the week shooting the events in and around Desert Storm for the popular website River Dave’s Place, it was yet another spectacular day on the Colorado River-fed waterway in Arizona.

“Any time I can get backdrops like that, I’m happy,” said Nichols, who took the photograph from a stationary boat on the river. “With boats like the DCBs as the subject and that backdrop, it’s kind of like a one-two punch. You can plan it as a ‘shot,’ and that’s what we did as we waited for the boats to come out of the gorge, but you can’t predict it. The combination turned out to be amazing.”