Across the Sound

KFAC IX took place last Saturday and between 200 and 300 kayakers made it across the Long Island Sound again this year. We always feel so lazy for powerboating across when all these guys are limited to self-propulsion, but they don't seem to look down on us. In fact, the KFAC group is one nice bunch of people. We always enjoy interacting with them both on the water and at the party. For more info about the event and all of the money raised for local charities, see the KFAC website. See all of our photos here.

Screwpile Lighthouse Challenge 2009

The overall winner of the Screwpile Lighthouse Challenge this year was Remedy; we're not sure where Still a Gorilla (last year's overall winner) was, but though they didn't sail this year it looks like they might have sent a representative...

The Screwpile is the kind of regatta where you can show up in a gorilla suit and start dancing. The Chesapeake sailors know how to have fun and the three-day regatta at the Holiday Inn Resort and Marina on Solomons Island is the perfect venue. The Screwpile is also the only regatta I know of that has a band named after it. The Screwpilers put on a good show again this year and so did the racers. The breeze was on the lighter side, but had it's moments- enough to get some great photos. See the photos here. Also see our photos and read about the event on the Screwpile event website and theBayNet.com.

2009 Red Grant Regatta

The Red Grant Regatta delivered good breeze, good racing, and a great party again this year. The wind was so good on Saturday that the fleet stayed out late and got a fourth race in-- a wise decision given the light-breeze forecast for Sunday. Saturday's conditions were picture-perfect, and we can't believe this is the third year running that we've had great conditions for photography.

Raritan Yacht Club was absolutely overflowing with people long into the night on Saturday- it seems that the party just keeps getting better and better.



Check out 2009 Red Grant Regatta photos here.

We also covered Friday's junior regatta- see the photos here.

Thanks to Amy and Doug for 3 years running great Red Grant Regattas.

2009 Newport Regatta: SB3 Sailing

Coastal Living Newport Regatta Action

What a great day on the water! Saturday's conditions in Newport were optimal, with sunny skies and a 15-20 knot sea breeze. Narragansett Bay was hopping with activity as racers and cruisers alike enjoyed another sunny Saturday.

The Coastal Living Newport Regatta- which concludes after one more day of racing today- has 250 entries. All four courses plus the around the island race enjoyed great conditions on Saturday and we were able to cover all of them. With so many boats looking so great, Allen may have set a personal record for number of photos taken in one day- yesterday's count came in at 3600. As usual, they're all great photos and will all go online.

Special thanks to Laser Performance for having me ride with them on their support RIB. I added 1000 photos to the count- all from the SB3/Viper/RSK6/F18/A-Cat/505 course- and had a nice chance to concentrate on the SB3s. We also got some good onboard-cam video footage from one of the LP-staffed SB3s...edited video coming soon...

Our Saturday highlights are up, and we'll have all the photos from the weekend sorted and online on Monday morning.

from LLP to Mr. and Mrs.

Unfortunately, we had to miss the Marblehead to Halifax start on Sunday, July 5th, but no regrets. We had something more important going on...and we were grateful to have what is normally perfect marine photography weather for our wedding weekend.

In fact, we actually got to sail on Friday night-- somewhat unusual these days, as we are always too busy photographing-- in a casual pre-wedding laser regatta that we hosted with JK at Longshore Sailing School. It was blowing 15-20 and we were out racing against all of our old co-instructor buddies- couldn't have been better.

We have this shot in an elegant silver frame on our dresser and it continues to make me laugh. Not quite the usual wedding photo.

The Law Trophy kicks off summer on LIS

The JSA of LIS 2009 season kicked off with the 2009 Law Trophy at Indian Harbor Yacht Club. These are Long Island Sound's best sailors and they know how to make their boats go in under 5 knots. Hence, we have many photos of roll tacks from the two-day Laser, Radial, and 420 event.
Of course, there was some play time, as with most JSA events. That's what sailing in the summer is all about. See the Law Trophy photos here and the results here.

Youth Champs ends with a bang

It only takes about an hour and a half of good breeze, a dinghy with a 20 hp engine, and a very active trigger finger to get the shots we had been waiting for all week at Youth Champs. After four days of very light wind, in the final hours of 2009 US Youth Sailing Championship, we got an unforecasted gift. The 15-20 knots from the east for an hour and a half were just enough to capture everybody looking good. See the photos at PhotoBoat.com and the results at ussailing.org.