Block Island Race 2008

The conditions at the start of the Storm Trysail Club's Block Island Race made for some tremendous photos. What a beautiful start to the 2008 summer season for Long Island Sound sailors. 101 boats sailed the 185 nautical mile race from Stamford around Block Island and back. Last year's winner, Rambler, was first to finish again, completing the course in 17 hours and 17 minutes. However, this year Rosebud and Blue Yankee corrected over her, taking first and second respectively in the IRC Super Zero division. For more information and results, go to Storm Trysail Club's site, http://www.stormtrysail.org/ .

See more great sunset sailing photos from the 2008 Block Island Race at the link below.

http://thephotoboat.com/2008_Block_Island_Race_Photos.html

J24 Nationals 2008

54 J24s battled for the 2008 J24 National Championship this past weekend on the waters between Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Sandy Hook, NJ. What a weekend of weather! Friday brought rain pretty much all day long and increasing wind that was knocking down J24s left and right by the second race. Saturday's sun would have given racers a chance to dry out their foul weather gear except that building conditions and big seas made for a wet ride by the end of the day. But who's complaining...we're always greatful for big breeze. Sunday started out slow and sunny, but a few hours later brought wind and pouring rain. Gotta love the spring in New England. No really, we do. Consistent rain is an enemy to our cameras but at least there was breeze and we still came away with a bunch of great shots and working cameras.

Twins and the Z sails crew (pictured, bow 10) defended their title with a solid performance again this year. For the complete results and other info about the event, held at Richmond County Yacht Club on Staten Island, go to http://www.j24nationals2008.com/ .

See the rest of the good, bad and ugly in the PhotoBoat.com J24 Nationals 2008 gallery. http://thephotoboat.com/J24_Nationals_2008_Photos.html

AYC Spring Series 2008 - Epic Conditions

Here's Rima2 on one of the downwind legs at American YC Spring Series on Saturday. The course was 2 miles each way and Rima2 did 3 laps in 78 minutes. Even better, they did each downwind leg in just 6 minutes at a speed of 18-19 knots with TWA of 155. It's no surprise that this photo is from behind...it was hard to catch this heavy weather speed machine built by Reichel-Pugh. Thanks to owner John Brim for the stats.

Mother nature whipped up a nasty combination on Saturday, with 30 knots of breeze, an Easterly on Western Long Island Sound, and, worse, opposing tidal current. For an Inland body of water, Long Island Sound can get surprisingly rough when the stars are aligned like this.

As a result, some crews were not as gleeful as the Rima2 team. We heard of at least two blown out spinnakers, a broken mast, two broken booms, and a collision. Ouch. Nobody likes a gearbuster at the beginning of the season.

This brings up a controversial question...is it okay for photographers to post photos of carnage?

We do post those photos - though we make sure not to post thirty photos of one incident - because 1. it can happen to anybody and 2. those photos help describe the day. After the initial emotions pass, it is important for boat owners and crew invovled to be able to look at the photos and remember what happened.

American Yacht Club Spring Series lived up to its reputation for us this weekend. Both Spring Series and Fall Series frequently have big winds and always have big boats and big fleets. What a great combination. The photos are portfolio quality and are must-see action shots.

See more photos at http://thephotoboat.com/American_Yacht_Club_Spring_Series_2008.html

See results at http://www.americanyc.com/

See more about Reichel-Pugh Yachts at http://www.reichel-pugh.com/

PhotoBoat in the APS Catalog

Thanks to APS for supporting sailing industry photographers! Good photos help sell gear! See our photos in the 2008 Annapolis Performance Sailing catalog and on the APS website, http://www.apsltd.com/ . Find out more about our commercial and editorial photography at www.PhotoBoat.com .