OK, what is it about guys in high-performance powerboats during poker runs, or even “casual” fun runs, refusing to smile for the camera? Is joyriding in a go-fast V-bottom or catamaran very serious business or not as fun as we all think it is? From the thousands of photographs of guys packed into performance boat cockpits speedonthewater.com’s Jason Johnson and I have looked at during the years, you’d think most of them were on their way to a funeral.

Performance boating is serious business so don’t smile—even when you’re having a great time with your friends. Photo courtesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix (click image to enlarge).

Take this Pete Boden image from last weekend’s Fort Myers Offshore Sarasota Hyatt Weekend adventure. Boden captured this shot of FMO founder Bob Barnhart and several friends in Predator, his well-known Nor-Tech V-bottom, on their way back from the event’s Saturday lunch run to the Tarpon Pointe Grill in Bradenton, Fla. We don’t think we’ve ever seen a picture of Barnhart when he wasn’t grinning—and yet in this photo the typically joyful Canadian and his buddies look as though on they’re heading for tax audits.

Of course, the mandatory shades on each guy don’t just protect their peepers from the sun. They help with their deadpan, “This isn’t fun—this is serious business,” poker run poker faces, which brought grins to ours.

Related story: Today’s FPC and FMO Runs: As ‘Close’ As They Get