Laser Midwinters - wrap-up

Racing conditions were up and down for the rest of Laser Midwinters East. Friday was a great day for racing and for photos. Competition was really tight. See more Laser Midwinters East photos on PhotoBoat.com .

2008 Laser Midwinters East - Thursday

Laser Midwinters East started off with good breeze this morning, but conditions diminished throughout the day on the Laser S/Radial/4.7 course in the Gulf of Mexico. There was a lot more breeze funneling down the inland waterway than there was just off the coast of Clearwater Beach where the racing took place. Clearwater Yacht Club will host three more days of sailing for the series and we look forward to some more tight racing in all three fleets.

See our photos at www.PhotoBoat.com .

Miami Boat Show 2008

We were hired to do some sea trials and interior shots for Mad Mariner, a daily online boating magazine. Pictured here is a Nordic Tug doing 15 knots. That's something we didn't know was possible, so we took this slow shutter-speed shot to show high boat-speed. Not bad for a comfortable home. Still, the boats are intended to cruise around 8 or 9 knots, but can go 15 in a pinch. The other boats we covered included models from Luhrs, Grand Banks, Mainship, Parker, Catalina, Lagoon, and a new Electric-powered cat. A few more of our slow shutter-speed shots can be seen at http://www.photoboat.com/ under Melges 24 Northeast District Champs 2007.

Yngling Worlds 08 - Medal Race

Yngling World Championship team GBR 12 was celebrating during a high-speed tow back to the US Sailing Center after today's quick medal race. FRA 9 won the 10-boat medal race, held in about 6 knots of breeze on Biscayne Bay.

See more details, results and our photos at http://www.yngling.org/ .

See all of our photos at http://www.photoboat.com/ .

Yngling Worlds 08

Today's final day of Yngling Worlds was full of happiness for some and tears for others, as several teams locked in spots in the Olympic games in China and others had to bid that prospect farewell. In this photo, the GBR 12 team celebrates after the finish of today's second race. The women had the world championship locked in with one race still remaining. France and Russia also had teams that took bullets today.

The conditions on Biscayne Bay were very light at the beginnng of the day, but the wind slowly picked up to around 12 knots and the racing got a lot more exciting. The fleet got three races in.

We were both out there taking shots for the International Yngling Association, Allen in the dinghy and I on a RIB. Conditions were tricky for photography with the combination of light breeze, low booms, and sun and wind coming from opposing directions...it made it challenging for us to capture the girls' faces in bright light. But we like a challenge and still came away with some nice shots. We were also asked to get some shots that can be used to advertise match racing since that's how the Ynglings will compete in China.

See more details about Yngling Worlds and the path to the Olympics at the Yngling Association's website,
http://www.yngling.org/index1.html

For more photos, go to www.PhotoBoat.com .

505 and A Cats finish with a great day

With 20 knots from the North on the heels of a cold front today, conditions were perfect on the South end of Tampa Bay for everybody but A Cats. Only one A Cat lasted all morning and no races were held for the class. Most of the high-performance cat sailors made a decision not to go out before breaking any gear or having serious wipeouts.

The 505s, on the other hand, were loving life (and breaking a little bit of gear and having a few serious wipeouts).

It was a great day for photos, and we really like the silhouette photos taken into the bright sun. When you take as many as 5000 photos a week, something different is really nice...


Check out the sequence below, caused by a big wave from a container ship's wake.


Hopefully Mike doesn't mind us posting this. He was not the only one who hung out in the water today.








See the photos at http://thephotoboat.com/505ACatMidwinters.htm and see the results and more info about the active 505 class at www.usa505.org .

505 and A Cat Midwinters 08 - Saturday

This Hall Spars-owned A Cat has a rigid wing "sail" which had us oogling. It is the only one of its kind at the regatta, but is still class-legal because it meets the sail-area specs. Cool.

We're looking forward to getting some good shots of this A Cat and all the other A Cats and 505s in action tomorrow, with 15-25 knots and sunny skies in the forecast. Today's weather was tough...while the wind was supposed to increase in the afternoon, threatening squalls forced the sailors to hit the beach at noon and they weren't able to go back out. We're concentrating our photo efforts on tomorrow's action. But still, we had a good time at dinner with the competitors and they had a good time too...

505 and A Cat Midwinters 08 - Friday

There wasn't enough breeze for the 505ers to really get out on the wire today, so the PhotoBoat coverage was brief. The forecast calls for increasing breeze throughout this three-day regatta with around 45 boats. Still, the A Cats can look fast in any breeze.

Having been to more Yacht Clubs than we can remember in the last few years, Allen and I find the venue for this event in St. Petersburg refreshing. The sailors are launching from East Beach in Ft. DeSoto on the Southern tip of the peninsula that makes up Tampa Bay. Ft. DeSoto National Park is one of our favorite spots around here and in anticipation of light breeze, we brought our bikes with us today.