2011 Block Island Race Week

Block Island Race Week is one of the best regattas we cover. One of the primary reasons is the first two words: Block Island. It's like going to summer camp, all the way down to riding bikes for transportation. The island is large enough to host everybody, but small enough to keep everything, and everybody, close by. It's easy enough to get to the island via ferry, but hard enough to leave to get to work or family commitments during the week. So without any distractions from the real world, everybody is free to have a good time.

The wind this year was a little light on average, but we still had a great experience. The highlight, as always, is the Around the Island Race. It's our favorite race to photograph because of the natural beauty of Block Island's lighthouses and cliffs. They create a terrific backdrop for photos. This year, the wind picked up to create some nice dramatic conditions on the east side of the island, and it made all the difference for us. See the photos here.

Marion to Bermuda Race Start

The Marion to Bermuda Race is run every two years opposite the Newport to Bermuda Race. In both '08 and '10, the Newport to Bermuda sailors (and photographers) lucked out at the start with beautiful, sunny weather and moderate but steady breeze. The Marion to Bermuda Race start in recent years is another story; in both '09 and '11, the conditions were just about exactly the same: nasty. This year a squall came through just after the start. We were taking photos in more than 30 knots...and rain. We got soaked, but were able to go to shore afterwards and dry out before heading to Block Island the next day. The race participants had to get their foul weather gear wet right from the start! Hope they had a second set. See the photos here.

Outside of the Box

When we’re hard at work doing our event photography, we take a lot of shots each day; while photographing a regatta like Charleston or Key West Race Week (200 boats or more), or even a smaller local regatta (75 boats), we click the shutter over a thousand of times each day. We strive to get a sizable and diverse collection of photos of each boat each day: upwind, downwind, crew close-ups, etc. 200 boats x 20 photos…you can do the math and understand how it gives our trigger finger a workout. Over the years we’ve heard comments like “I bet you go out and take thousands of photos to get one good one.” However, that’s not the case at all; we have developed a consistency that not only gives us a great yield of good photos, but allows us to display our photos on site immediately after the day’s racing.

But sometimes the wind doesn’t blow and we just can’t keep pressing the trigger. During a postponement due to lack of wind during Key West Race Week, I was frustrated that there was nothing to shoot. I knew that our normal customers would not enjoy buying photos when sailing in less than 10kts of breeze. So I changed my attitude and got an idea. Once the wind picked up to 6kts, I figured the race committee would try to start a race. I called Daniela who was on shore, and asked her to deliver (by bicycle) my 10.5mm fisheye lens and an old camera body to the end of a pier on the southern shore of Key West. I picked it up and raced back to the course where the IRC 1 boats were half way up the windward leg. I navigated my dinghy to about 3ft leeward of this boat’s starboard gunwale, put the camera over the side of my boat less than a foot off the surface of the water, and clicked off a shot. It has become one of my favorite shots and made this cover. While very light wind can put a damper on sales for photos of every boat, thinking outside of the box here helped me create a profitable day.

NYYC Annual Regatta

The NYYC Annual regatta in Newport this weekend was lumpy and rainy. We ended up taking our cameras out in the rain and got some cool shots. All the photos are posted, sorted by boat name in our online gallery. Enjoy.

2011 CPYC One Design Regatta

The Cedar Point One Design Regatta has been on the PhotoBoat calendar since 2006. This was our 6th year covering the regatta, but since 2010 it's been in the care of our associate photographer Michael Bagley as we've been on another assignment in Virginia. Mike covered the action again this year, capturing the nearly 40 boats from multiple angles. The One Design regatta has hosted a variety of fleets over the years, with some rotating in and out. Always present are the J30s and J105s. This year, there was a nice group of First 36.7s and Viper640s to round out the group. See the photos at PhotoBoat.com .

Southern Bay Race Week 2011

It was another great year for Southern Bay Race Week. 98 boats competed off of Hampton and Norfolk VA this past weekend. Friday’s weather was sunny with a 10-20kt breeze. All boats raced inside with a nice backdrop of docked navy ships. Saturday, the competitors saw light conditions but got off three races. Racing was very tight; see the results here: http://www.hamptonyc.com/2011_Raceresults/sbrw_standings.htm

Sunday was rainy with scattered thunderstorms, so racing was abandoned and the kegs were tapped early.

Yet again southern hospitality and expert sailing combined for an unforgettable experience for everyone.

All of our photos are posted online in our gallery. Click here to view the photos