PhotoBoat.com Sailing, Boating and Regatta Photography

Key West 2012 Wrap Up

2012-01-23T14:20:00.005-05:00

Key West Race Week finished strong this year, with one more sunny and windy sailing day on Friday. So that makes four terrific race days, one perfectly placed mid-week lay day, and 6 evenings of fun at Kelly's Caribbean. It doesn't get much better than that. Pictured here: the Teamwork crew looking good on Friday before racing to seal their first place position in PHRF 1. Other division winners included Ran (Mini Maxi), Quantum Racing (52 Class), Antilope (IRC 3), Barking Mad (Farr 40), Red (Farr 400), Carbonado (High Performance), Samba Pa Ti (Melges 32), New England Ropes (Melges 24), Groovederci (Farr 30), Le Tigre (J/80), and L'Outrage (PHRF 2). See the full results here and the photos here.

Great Start to 2012 Key West Race Week

2012-01-18T09:49:00.008-05:00

We are not even half-way through 2012's Key West Race Week, but we have been served two days of incredible photography opportunities. Day 1 was a day for adrenaline junkies, with lumpy seas and 20 knots of breeze. In spite of diminishing breeze on Tuesday, all three circles were able to sail three races, and Key West translucent waters were at their best. With a good fleet of TP52s, new Farr 400s, the always competitive (and photogenic) Melges 24 and 32 fleets, we've been busy. And Circle 3 is full of competitive J80 and Farr 30 one design teams, plus high-performance PHRF entries like J111s and 1D35s. We look forward to the rest of the week! See the standings here, and our photo highlights here.

Islamorada: Tradewinds Catamaran Regatta

2012-01-18T09:30:00.004-05:00

The Tradewinds Regatta is what sailing is all about- a bunch of beach cats launching from a palm-tree filled public park in the Florida Keys, and racing in a protected sound right off the beach. Even better, when we showed up on Saturday to shoot the 70-boat fleet before making our way down to Key West Race Week, the palm trees were shaking violently, reflecting the arrival of a cold front and it's accompanying 20 knot Northeast breeze. Another cool thing about this regatta: high-performance F16s and F18s were racing on one course, the juniors competing in F16s for the US Sailing Youth Multihull Championship; next door, Hobie Waves and Hobie 16s had close competition of their own, with many father-son teams and local sailors enjoying the waters. See our photos here, and the regatta report and results at CatSailor.com.

IFDS Worlds 2012

2012-01-16T08:58:00.004-05:00

42 teams of disabled sailors from around the world competed for their world championship this past weekend on Charlotte Harbor in Southwest Florida. Many of these teams will go on to represent their respective countries in the paralympic games this summer in London.

Frenchman Damien Seguin won the singlehanded 2.4meter class without question. In the SKUD 18 class, Britain's Alexandra Rickham and Niki Burrell won by two points over the second-place finishers Americans Jennifer French and Jean-Paul Creignou. The Norwegian team won the 12-boat Sonar fleet.

See our photos here. For more results and reports, visit the event website: http://www.ifdsworlds2012.com/

St. Pete Boat Parade

2011-12-13T18:04:00.002-05:00

This is one of those shots that would be tough to take from a boat; we captured the action at the St. Petersburg holiday boat parade this weekend with a tripod and a long exposure to get this cool motion effect. And don't be thrown by the non-PhotoBoat watermark; when we're shooting on shore, it's same photographer, different website. Aka www.PhotosbyClark.com.

PhotoBoat South

2011-12-08T12:21:00.002-05:00

We had a great time photographing on Tampa Bay this past weekend. It was the first of what will be many Bay outings for us, as we've just moved into our winter headquarters in St. Petersburg. During our Florida stay, we'll be covering a number of events here on the west coast, but will also be photographing in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and the Keys. Look for us on the water, or get in touch soon to have us put your regatta on our calendar. It's filling up fast!

F18 North Americans

2011-10-07T11:50:00.003-04:00

This photo says it all- we had a great time shooting the very photogenic Formula18 cats for a week in Nantucket Sound. We had sun, rain, fog, and all ranges of wind and sea conditions for this super technical, high speed fleet of boats to deal with. All competitors are enjoying our photos courtesy of title sponsor Siemasko + Verbridge. See the results here and the photos here.

IHYC Classic and IRC LIS Champs

2011-10-06T11:31:00.005-04:00

The weekend of Sept 17th and 18th, Greenwich Harbor was hopping. Indian Harbor held their 2nd annual Classic Yacht Regatta, while Riverside in cooperation with Storm Trysail Club hosted the 2nd annual IRC LIS Champs and PHRF Fall Classic just outside the harbor.

The Classic Yacht Regatta, organized by Ted and Shelia Graves, owners of the gorgeous 1926 Q-Class yacht Nor’easter, debuted in 2010 to provide local classic yacht owners with a chance to race their boats on their home waters. Many of these boat owners normally race in Newport. But with the 31-boats fleet looking grand on Saturday, the group proved that Long Island Sound is home to a great group of classic yachts. See more photos here.

IRC LIS Champs and the PHRF Fall Classic reaped the benefits of being a two-day regatta on Sunday. A lumpy Easterly, bright sunshine, puffy clouds, and 15-20 knots of breeze provided some great conditions for sailing, and photography. It was one of those days when we hear screams of "who-hoo" as boats plane downwind past us, and we become more jealous than usual that we're not sailing instead of photographing. But we had a good day out there as well, especially loving the way our new VSR handled the conditions. See the photos here.

New York Architects' Regatta Challenge

2011-09-28T18:15:00.004-04:00

The New York Architects' Regatta is a terrific charity event that provides New York City architecture firms with a chance to battle it out with each other on the race course, right on the Hudson off of lower Manhattan. Having the New York cityscape in the background is particularly fitting for this group of professionals that help to shape the look of the Big Apple.

This year, it was not a night for a sunset and cocktails on the water, like many of the spectators on Manhattan Sailing School's unique floating clubhouse would have likely expected to experience. Instead, it was blowing over 20 as a cold front slowly settled in with record low tempuratures for mid-September. Not to mention periodic rain showers. Not everybody had the kind of top quality foul weather gear we are used to seeing (and we were wearing ourselves), but that didn't hold anybody back. They sailed hard and had a good time! See more photos here.

Stamford Denmark Race

2011-09-28T17:58:00.003-04:00

Stamford Yacht Club's Denmark Race is always one of our favorite events to photograph. This year, we had great coniditions for photos, and also had some interesting moments to capture- like a couple of close encounters with a couple of tug-and-barges that went through the course. Everybody was operating safely and responsibly, though! For more about the story behind the Denmark race, check out the boating lifestyle blog that Daniela co-writes for Westport News. See all of the Denmark Race photos here.

The 77th Vineyard Race

2011-09-04T11:39:00.004-04:00

Last year's Vineyard Race was a sprint, which made it easy to forget what a Marathon the race usually is. This year's race took between just about 1 full day (Gadzooks, 1 day, 6 min - Cornfield Point Course) and nearly 2 full days (Letting Go, 1 day, 22 hours, 17 min - Vineyard Course). We had to be patient just like everybody else as we sat off of Norwalk for 8 hours yesterday, only seeing a boat every half an hour or so. But thank goodness for Kattack and an iPad, and the fact that our VSR has seats. The wind at the start was a bit light, but we enjoyed photographing a bunch of boats as they sailed toward the finish with a little bit more breeze. We'll be at the party displaying photos on our terminals and providing awards prints. But in the meantime, see the photos here. We got photos of 90% of the boats. Thanks to Rick Bannerot for helping with awards prints for the two boats we missed.

J105 North Americans

2011-09-04T11:27:00.003-04:00

Because our business is weather-dependent, we have to admit we spend a lot of time

frustrated by the weather. However, for all of those days when there's not enough wind or not much light, days like the first day of J105 North Americans make up for it. It wasn't even that windy, but 10-15 knots of breeze and an incredibly high pressure day made for some terrific photography conditions off of Marblehead. And to top it off, the fleet raced a very long triangle course for the second race of the day. This course didn't turn out to be very popular with competitors (too long, difficult to find the marks, too much of a navigator race), but it was popular with photographers! We had 40 J105s sailing directly at us under spinnaker- on both downwind legs! See the photos here.

2011 Governor's Cup

2011-09-01T08:50:00.004-04:00

"Whenever I print a Gov Cup order, I get a warm fuzzy feeling," Allen joked recently. It's true- Gov Cup is such a great event, with such enthusiastic participants, that we always love covering the race. This year's weather helped us create some especially good photos, as the wind picked up and the seas became lumpy as nearly 150 boats tacked their way down the Chesapeake. Add sunset lighting to the mix, and we're a couple of happy photographers.

Gov Cup was also special for PhotoBoat this year as it was our first event with our new VSR. We went through the entire 10-hour break-in period for our brand new Honda 60 during the race. We had no problem varying the throttle during the break-in period as we chased down more than 100 boats at full speed, then slowed down to photograph them! The VSR handled extremely well, as we knew it would, and moving forward we're extremely excited to use the boat in combination with our dinghies.

See the Gov Cup photos here.

2011 Screwpile Lighthouse Challenge

2011-07-27T15:25:00.004-04:00

Screwpile is one of our favorite events to shoot. Solomons, MD is a beautiful area, the regatta is very well run both on shore and on the race course(s), and the participants are there to have a good time- and it shows.

Better yet, we had some good wind this year. Nothing crazy, but just a good steady 12 knots can make all the difference. See the photos here!

2011 Flying Scot North Americans

2011-07-27T15:11:00.004-04:00

More than 70 boats competed in the Flying Scot North American Championship in Westport, CT this year. What a week! The wind was decidedly well above average for Long Island Sound in July. Thursday's Northwesterly created some memorable moments for participants with some pretty intense gusts.

The Flying Scots are a great bunch of sailors, especially with a lot of parent-child and husband-wife (or wife-husband, as they call it) teams in the mix. We happened to take a lot of photos at the finish line at this regatta, and we caught a shot of a celebratory kiss from a wife-husband team that just had a good race. Awww.

See the photos here.

The Law Trophy

2011-07-27T15:03:00.005-04:00

This was our 5th time shooting the Law Trophy; this year, we mixed it up a bit by shooting both photos and video. We were pleasantly surprised by a high pressure system and the accompanying gusty Northwesterly breeze...what a great way for JSA to start off the season. Click here to see the photos.

Click here to see the video.

2011 Block Island Race Week

2011-06-27T10:11:00.005-04:00

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

2011-06-27T09:41:00.004-04:00

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

2011-06-25T17:40:00.001-04:00

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 year’s 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

2011-06-14T22:19:00.003-04:00

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

2011-06-07T08:35:00.003-04:00

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

2011-06-06T10:47:00.009-04:00

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

2011 Block Island Race: Summer's Here

2011-05-30T11:58:00.003-04:00

The 2011 Block Island Race kicked off the LIS summer season this weekend with some sunny warm weather and light wind- how appropriate! We had a great day on the water, especially after the breeze clocked around to turn a slow upwind sail into a swift spinnaker run. It was like photographing two different events in one day. We enjoyed shooting with both a wide angle and a zoom from the VSR to create a nice collection of images for each boat. See the photos here.

Boat Names: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2011-05-10T16:58:00.004-04:00

The BoatUS list of top ten (a.k.a. cheesiest) boat names for 2010 gave me- well, a feeling of nausea- but also some motivation to step back and think about all of the boat names I see every year. In my post on WaterViews, I discuss the meaning of some of the names I see on the race course all the time but never stopped to look up.

Keep up the creativity, racing sailors.

Speaking of the APS Catalog

2011-04-22T09:49:00.004-04:00

We came across an interesting post on the APS website, celebrating their 20th year in business. Check out all of the catalog covers they've had over the years.

2011 APS Catalog Photos

2011-04-21T15:28:00.003-04:00

As you flip through your 2011 APS catalog this season, you might notice that our photos are used exclusively. Take a look- you may even find yourself! This is our 4th year working with APS.

Also check out the Annapolis Performance Sailing website at APSLTD.com

Charleston Race Week 2011

2011-04-20T08:20:00.005-04:00

Charleston Race Week provided another long weekend full of activity and great sailing this year. This is our 5th year photographing the regatta, and the participation has more than doubled across the years. In fact, it has nearly tripled. We had our hands full with more than 250 boats to photograph this year, but we came prepared with years of experience and help from associate photographer Michael Bagley. We enjoyed Friday's 15-20 knots and lumpy seas on the offshore courses. Saturday, the weather threw us a curveball and racing was cancelled due to high winds. We did enjoy photographing a handful of Melges 24s that decided to practice- and show off for photographers- anyway. Sunday's weak high pressure system made inshore racing a little bit dull, but the offshore fleets were able to wait for the sea breeze to fill in and enjoy some good racing. But racing is only part of a regatta experience for most people; the race village on the sandy beach at Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina was full of action. We enjoyed having our booth with display terminals set up right in the middle of it all, and participants enjoyed viewing their photos as always. See the photos here. We look forward to coming back to Charleston again- this event is always a success!

2011 Prosser Trophy Team Race Championship

2011-04-10T22:56:00.002-04:00

Who would expect a weekend in early April in Ithaca, NY to be sunny and 65 degrees? To be fair, today was overcast, but still not too cold. Lake Cayuga's water is still in the 30s, and there are still traces of snow in the hills in upstate New York, but as far as we're concerned, it was a great weekend in Ithaca. Thanks to Cornell Sailing for hosting us. Even with generally light breeze, the college sailors competing for the Prosser Trophy know how to make slow sailing look good. See the photos here. The series consisted of more than 60 races sailed by 8 teams across two days. Daniela was pleased to secretly cheer on her alma mater's team, Georgetown, as they won the regatta and their place in the National Championship at the Gorge in Oregon. If only we could fit a trip to Oregon into our busy Spring schedule...

Another stock photo put to good use

2011-03-28T15:08:00.003-04:00

The folks at Tyler Yacht Club in Texas used one of our J80 Worlds photos and some creativity to make this cool t-shirt design.

Don't delete that shot...

2011-03-22T15:44:00.011-04:00

Everybody has their own taste when it comes to photos. Some people like full-boat shots that show the sails; others like close-ups with facial expressions. Some like a serene sailing scene, others like epic action. Some like to see boats in the background (especially boats behind theirs), others prefer a solo shot. We've learned to take enough shots to cover all the angles, and to keep everything, but we still get a kick out of unusual requests.

For commercial and editorial photos, we never know what will be useful- we've sold capsize shots to positive flotation manufacturers, countless sail shots to sailmakers, and photos of lobster pot buoys showing current. We had another somewhat unusual request from WindCheck recently, but given our past experiences, we weren't surprised.

We inadvertently take "dirty bottom" shots all the time, especially in late summer when the water's warm and the boats have been in it for a few months. Usually these dirty bottom shots lead to a conversation about whether we'll offer photoshopping services, and they may occasionally lead to a fired bottom-cleaner. But we got a kick out of sending this shot to WindCheck for their latest article on selecting a bottom paint.

2011 Key West Race Week presented by Nautica

2011-02-01T10:51:00.006-05:00

2011's Key West Race Week was a warm and sunny one. In Key West in January, this can be a blessing, as we've seen all sorts of conditions in the 5 years we've covered Key West, including 50 degrees and rainy. Though we didn't have any days with epic conditions for photography, the sun and green water were plentiful and we were very pleased with our coverage. We were really impressed yet again with the handling of the VSR we chartered. We used it and a wide angle lens to get this shot right alongside Oracle Racing.

See all the 2011 Key West Race Week photos here.

The 2011 J/Boats Calendar: January

2010-12-07T17:52:00.002-05:00

We're proud to be a contributor for the 2011 J Boats calendar. They're a great gift idea and can be purchased in the J Boats store.

October, 2010 Action

2010-11-24T16:51:00.002-05:00

October was a wet and wild month. Here's a montage of our broach and capsize shots from J80 Worlds, Heineken HPDO, and US Sailing Championship of Champions. Click the link below or press the play button to view the video!

October, 2010 Action

2010 US Sailing Championship of Champions

2010-11-05T09:22:00.003-04:00

Between AYC Fall Series, J/80 Worlds, and the HPDO, we had 10 straight days of shooting and took, edited, sorted, and posted more than 20,000 photos. The 3-day break before the Championship of Champions was much needed, especially since the C of C proved to be another very intense event. Put champions from 20 different fleets around the country in Ideal 18s and send them out in 35 knots, and it makes for some interesting photos (yes, apparently Ideals like to pitch-pole).

To get the full flavor, see Carol Cronin's write-up about the event here and more shots on the US Sailing site, and ours, of course.

2010 Heineken HPDO

2010-11-05T09:00:00.003-04:00

The High Performance Dinghy Open was a fantastic event again this year. Better-than-forecast breeze and good participation (including a huge Viper fleet) made for another photogenic weekend. Having packed up our boats in Newport at 11 pm after the final evening of J80 Worlds photo displays (and after 5 hours of photographing in 30 knot conditions before that), we were pretty tired when we got out on the water in Rye for the 11 am start the next morning. Adrenaline kicked in, though, and the HPDO is one of our favorite events to photograph, so we were fine. The fact that Heineken sponsors our coverage, and participants receive free medium-res photos, makes this a happy event for everybody. See the 2010 Heineken HPDO photos here.

2010 J80 Worlds

2010-11-01T15:09:00.010-04:00

The word of the week at the 2010 J80 World Championship in Newport was Epic. All 4 days, plus the practice day before the event, we saw wind speeds above 15 knots. The event started with a nasty, grey-skied Noreaster that brought huge seas to the offshore sailing area, and ended with a 30-35mph westerly with bright skies and porpoises playing off of Newport. Every day was memorable in its own way, including Wednesday, during which we all got drenched by pouring rain for several hours. We probably took more photos of broaching boats at this event alone than we have in our entire career so far. Even the winner was caught on her side at one point- it was just part of life during this regatta. The photos are a must-see. Check them out here.

AYC Fall Series

2010-11-01T12:37:00.002-04:00

AYC Fall series was a 2-weekend, 4-day series, as always. This year mother nature delivered for us on the last day, starting off a long stretch of extremely high-wind shooting for us in October. In fact, we shot for 10 consecutive days, with the wind speed averaging around 25 and reaching a max of 35. We know everybody loves high-wind photos, and we had so much web traffic in October that we had to increase our bandwidth- twice!

Check out the 2010 AYC Fall Series shots here and stay tuned for the rest of the October story.

IHYC Classic and IRC LIS Champs

2010-11-01T12:10:00.005-04:00

The weekend of Sept 18-19 brought two new regattas to the Long Island Sound sailing scene, right in the heart of the busy fall season: the Indian Harbor Yacht Club Classic Yacht Regatta and the IRC LIS Champs/Fall PHRF Classic. We covered both- not only were they both run out of Greenwich, but some of the classic yachts actually sailed through the IRC/PHRF course while sailing their distance race. It was great to see so many sailboats out on the sound, though apparently not everybody thinks so. I was photographing at the windward mark of the IRC course when one of the big charter fishing boats- the kind that takes hundreds of people out at a time- actually came over to race committee to complain that the course was taking up too much space...

It's nice to still have some surprises out there after shooting 50 regattas a year for the past 5 years.

We're looking forward to shooting these two great events again. As always, the classics are beautiful. Check out the photos here.

2010 E-Scow Nationals

2010-09-13T19:31:00.004-04:00

70 E-Scows gathered at Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club this past weekend for three days of extremely varied sailing conditions (Fri: NW 15-20, Sat: NE 5-10, Sun: rain, no wind) and two days of similarly varied post-sailing activities and attire (Fri: formal banquet, Sat: pirate party). The club volunteers spared no effort to put together a memorable Nationals for the class. We got some exciting shots in the big breeze on Friday, and captured some beautiful, colorful images on Saturday.

See the photos here.

Shooting The Vineyard Race 2010

2010-09-09T07:21:00.008-04:00

Although Hurricane Earl barely gave us a drop of rain or a gust of wind, the cold front that came through on its tail provided a lot more drama for those sailing the Vineyard Race, and those photographing it. The 25 knots from the West with gusts to 30 at the start of the race provided the opportunity for a quick spinnaker run down the Sound, many boats breaking personal speed records.

We were contracted to provide an 8x10 photo for each class winner. For a distance race, this means we have to really focus on catching every boat at the start. For this race, we knew it would mean focusing on catching all 70 boats as they sail downwind at 8-20 knots, depending on the size/design. Our strategy was to use two dinghies and each cover a side of the Sound about 1/2 mile East of the start, and communicate via VHF about who covers which boat as they sail towards us. Because there's a tendency to travel downwind extremely quickly in these situations, and end up dozens of miles away from our starting point with a long, painful upwind trip in heavy seas, we avoided this by being quick and efficient with our photos and motoring back upwind after every start. Two hours after the first gun, the last class started and we finished out the day with photos of photos of all but 3 boats that started.

This would normally be enough of an effort, but with the addition of Kattack Live tracking, our ability to see exactly where all the boats were and how fast they were going introduced a new temptation to us. We got in the car with a dinghy in tow and headed towards the turning mark, which was in the Groton area. Though we should have had an easy time beating all the boats- and leader Vela Veloce- to Groton, when we reached terrible holiday-weekend traffic in the New Haven area, things changed. We were now in a race with Vela Veloce, and it was apparent that we might lose.

We plugged along on I-95, carefully watching Vela Veloce on Kattack and making every move we could to win. As we pulled off 95 in Waterford, with the self-imposed race down to the wire, we sped towards the boat ramp we had picked out- one we had never been to before, but selected because it was a state ramp and had easy access to the Sound. We are always in search of ramps that do not require us to go down a river, through a 5-mile no-wake zone.

This ramp was, in fact, right on the Sound. However, it faced Southwest, and there were 3-foot waves breaking over it and a lot of rocks in the area. Nobody in their right mind would have launched from this ramp. In fact, a few cars pulled up with boats in tow and left while we were there. But we were still in the middle of a race with Vela Veloce and if we didn't launch now, we'd lose. We had a crowd of people watching, including a police officer, as I put the trailer just barely in the water and Allen waited for a wave to crash into his transom and float him enough to reverse off of the trailer and turn quickly in reverse to avoid the rocks. It was a success and as he went off to get some great shots of Vela Veloce and a number of the other faster boats, I reasearched another boat ramp where I'd pick him up at sunset.

Step 3: why not catch a few boats finishing. Putting the Stamford lighthouse in the background made for some great shots and another angle on a race to remember.

Riverside Yacht Club Vespers

2010-08-27T11:42:00.006-04:00

Tight racing and lots of smiles during Riverside Yacht Club's Vesper racing series last night.It was fun to get some interesting shots in fading light, and when it went down... adding some flash made it even more fun.

Click Here to View the Photos

2010 Summer Cruise(s)

2010-08-23T08:22:00.009-04:00

We cruised to the Cape Cod area last week and were asked to shoot the Riverside Yacht Club cruise and the American Yacht Club cruise along the way. Both of these premier yacht clubs from Long Island Sound know how to have a good time, whether at their dinghy raftup, or beating their way through 15-20 knots of wind on current in the rain between Mystic and Block Island. We had never been part of a dinghy raftup before, but were impressed at the great time had by all as hors d'ouevers were passed from dinghy to dinghy in Quisset Harbor. Even the harbormaster laughed and took photos as we towed the whole group of rafted dinghies over to the commodore's boat. You never know when or how that 20 hp Honda on our dinghy will come in handy.

The AYC group got the harcore award for sailing through a rain storm with 15-20 on the nose. Many would have either motored in these conditions, or simply stayed put in Mystic, but this group deserved their mudslides at The Oar when they arrived.

Westport CT to Nantucket

2010-08-12T05:03:00.000-04:00

An hour before sunrise, and so far so good. We left Cedar Point Yacht Club at 7pm Wed and our eta in Nantucket is 5pm Thursday. We plan to photograph the opera house cup and a few more regattas in the region before ending our yearly sailing trip during the week of the 22nd... Track us with this URL: http://thephotoboat.com/location/

See you on the water!

2010 Gov Cup - St. Mary's does it again

2010-08-08T09:15:00.002-04:00

It's a beautiful, quiet Sunday morning at St. Mary's College. I'm sitting on the upper deck of the state-of-the-art boathouse uploading our photos and occasionally looking out over the water to see another boat leave the perfectly protected anchorage to begin the trip back to Annapolis. As a boater, I can't imagine a nicer setting for a college. Do the kids who go to school here put "kayak" on their back-to-school list?

The conditions for this year's Governor's Cup race from Annapolis to St. Mary's College were absolutely perfect - the participating boats had a long moderate-breeze spinnaker run down the bay, then turned the corner around Point Lookout and beat their way up to the finish.

The day-long post-race party was a huge success as always, making the Gov Cup a fantastic experience for everybody.

See the 2010 Gov Cup photos here and the results here.

William (Michael) Clark 1943-2010

2010-07-13T17:08:00.004-04:00

Dad died at 11:15 this morning from brain cancer. He was 67. We learned about his tumor in January, 2009, and we’ve been battling hard ever since. He had two brain surgeries, radiation, and various forms of chemotherapy including clinical trials at National Institute of Health.

He loved traveling, sailing, photography, friends and family. He never accepted anything but perfection and it was apparent in all of his endeavors, including bird photography, gourmet cooking, fine carpentry, and in his professional life as a business executive.

He is the reason I sail, and the reason I took up photography. He was the best father that anyone could have ever asked for and we already severely miss him.
This photo is of Dad on the left, with his two grandkids and two daughters-in-law off of Martha’s Vineyard on his boat, “Expeditious” Aug 2009.

Love you Dad, Rest in Peace.
- Allen Clark

Here is a link to is obituary.

7/4/2010

2010-07-04T11:40:00.007-04:00

Today marks our first wedding anniversary, so we dug up this fun "team PhotoBoat" photo to remember last year's celebration.

Newport-Bermuda Start: Copyright...Clark

2010-06-25T11:49:00.003-04:00

The Newport-Bermuda Race is always one of the highest-profile events on the East Coast sailing circuit, and the start on Narragansett bay just off of Newport is full of excitement. This year was no different, with a 180+ boats and dozens of spectator boats, the starting area was packed and the warm, sunny light-wind weather made it a great day for onlookers.

We opted to rent a VSR for the job this year, with the hope that a bit more speed would help us catch more boats. Without a tiller setup like our dinghies, driving and shooting cannot be done as adroitly, so we divided responsibilities for best success: Allen drove and I- harnessed in at the bow- took the photos. The setup worked extremely well- with all of Allen's experience driving the dinghy, I had the best driver possible- I don't think there could be anybody better at putting the boat in the right place for the shot. But it begs the question, who deserves the copyright for these photos? Technically, it would be me, but it doesn't seem quite right. It was a team effort, with Allen's job being as important as mine, as he was creating the shots. For us, as partners and husband-wife, it doesn't really matter how we get the shots, or who takes them...copyright Clark, or PhotoBoat.com works for us.

posted by Daniela

Newport Bermuda Race Photography 2010

2010-06-15T10:36:00.011-04:00

Newport Bermuda Race Start in 2008; I had just completed taking some of my most favorite shots of my photography career. I stood in my custom photography dinghy, - harnessed in - watching the last of the boats disappear over the horizon on their way to Bermuda. I was very tempted to keep following the boats and to continue to get fabulous shots of hundreds of anxious but excited sailors.

Then it dawned on me, I was so caught up in the moment of gathering these images that I didn’t realize my own situation.I had hurled my 11.5ft dinghy over larges breaking swells in a good following breeze, to a distance of nine miles offshore. It hit me, though i did have a SPOT gps emergancey transponder, a handheld gps, life vest on and enough fuel to make it half way to bermuda. Still, if anything happened to my engine, or if I took a wave incorrectly, then I would probably join these sailors in Bermuda, just in far worse shape.

After carefully weaving my way around steep breaking waves that were easily over my head, I did make my way home just fine (after narrowly missing a collision with what must have been a 8ft shark on the surface). But this year with self-preservation in mind, we have chartered a VSR to photograph the 2010 Newport Bermuda Race Start.
Daniela and I have sailed to Bermuda on a Delivery but have never raced. We look forward to participating in future races.

Here is a link to our 2010 Newport Bermuda Race Photography

Sailors: Please, be safe and enjoy the ride! Good luck!

Allen Clark - PhotoBoat.com

PhotoBoat in search results- a fun little video

2010-06-02T08:16:00.001-04:00

PhotoBoat's Been Busy

2010-04-30T20:49:00.013-04:00

While we photograph each regatta during the season, we love providing an opportunity for boat owners and racers to buy quality photos of their boat, or a cool shot of crew on the rail. But this isn't how PhotoBoat stays out of the red. We're really looking for those quality shots that make it into ads, magazines (online and print), catalogs, websites and email bursts that keep sailors up-to-date with the latest products, boats and sails, etc. If you have a sailing industry business, please contact us about our stock photo rates.

Check out these three loyal PhotoBoat customers:

APS 2010 Catalog (www.apsldt.com)

2010 Dinghy Locker Cover (www.landfallnavagation.com)

Sailing World Magazine May 2010 "Centerfold" (SailingWorld.com)

American Yacht Club Spring Series (Week One)

2010-04-27T11:00:00.007-04:00

Week one had two opposite weather days. Saturday was light breeze, warm and sunny. Then Sunday brought in some heavier breeze, cold and rain.

Welcome to spring sailing on Long Island Sound.

Let's see what this weekend's weather brings to the table.

For our sake, we're hoping for a nice 20kt easterly on a bright and sunny day with a few puffy white clouds in the background.

Is that too much to ask?

Here's a link to our photos. Enjoy!
AYC Spring Series Photos

2010 Charleston Race Week Photos are Online

2010-04-12T16:27:00.004-04:00

Click Here to view our photos of 2010 Charleston Race Week.

Three great days of racing made for some exciting photos!

Great Breeze in Charleston: Race Week Day 1

2010-04-10T09:07:00.002-04:00

The breeze held longer than forecasted yesterday and we were busy capturing about 5000 photos of 180 boats on 4 courses. Today's weather looks good as well, so here we go again.

See the daily highlights on our website.

Charleston Race Week 2010: The Day Before

2010-04-08T17:59:00.004-04:00

We've arrived at Charleston Race Week 2010 to a nice VSR waiting for us. We chartered the "Very Slender RIB" from Coachboat Management to cover the outside courses. I know, I know.... we've always covered the outside courses with our 11ft RIBs. But this year, with a record high turnout and a tight deadline for displaying the photos daily, we'll make sure we can get in and out faster, safer, and in style! We'll still be using our smaller boat for the two inside courses, because a dinghy is still the best platform for photography!

Charleston Race Week kicks off tomorrow morning with 4 courses, 183 boats, and 15 knots in the forecast. We'll be set up on the patio displaying photos on our terminals every evening.

Here's a shot of the Dinghy Locker crew from today.

Press from OceanLines

2010-03-31T23:08:00.003-04:00

This is a belated post featuring a belated article, but it's still fun to share. We have enjoyed working with OceanLines writers for a couple of photoshoots to accompany their articles, like this one about the Nordstar31. But enough about that...as if we didn't publicize our wedding enough last summer...

http://oceanlines.biz/2009/09/congratulations-to-our-favorite-marine-photographers/

Website redesign complete!

2010-03-31T22:48:00.003-04:00

We've spent the last month building our own new website, and we're happy to announce that it's now online! Check out the new look at www.photoboat.com .

Announcing PhotoBoat and Charleston Race Week 2010

2010-03-07T18:43:00.003-05:00

We're pleased to announce that we'll be working with the South Carolina Maritime Foundation as a sponsor of Charleston Race Week 2010. We'll be taking great action shots of every boat and displaying them on our terminals and our big screen at the party every night. Charleston Race Week is a growing event and we're thrilled to be a part of it. For more information, visit www.charlestonraceweek.com.

PhotoBoat is a DryCASE dealer

2010-03-07T18:23:00.004-05:00

No, we don't normally sell anything except our own photos, but we think the DryCASE product is so great that we've become a dealer. The case works with a vacuum seal- you actually suck the air out of it after it's sealed. The result: not as clumsy as other cases. The other quality that sets DryCASE apart from the rest: it has a headphone valve and still maintains its seal.

We'll have a few cases with us at events this coming season- check them out, buy them on site, or use the code Photo Boat at checkout for 10% off.

Key West Race Week 2011 Press Release

2010-02-25T09:35:00.002-05:00

KEY WEST RACE WEEK
January 17 – 21, 2011

Key West Florida, USA

A Premiere Racing Event

Key West Race Week 2011 will take place in Key West, Florida in January 2011.The 24th edition of North America’s first major regatta of the winter season offers five full race days for IRC, One-Design, PHRF, multihull and 20’ sportboat classes.

Enjoy world class competition and fun shore side parties in this warm water, spectacular venue. Premiere Racing’s reputation for excellent race management and regatta organization promises to deliver another great winter get-away for racing sailors.

Details on invited classes, exciting new information on logistics and planning will be posted on: Premiere-Racing.com

New England Boat Show

2010-02-24T21:54:00.004-05:00

The New England boat show in Boston was hopping this weekend- perhaps a good indication for boat manufacturers that things might be picking up. The most notable display had to be the amphibious vehicle made by SeaLegs. No, it's not street legal, but it does roll right onto its custom trailer. And if you have waterfront property, you can bring her up the beach and right into the garage after a day of fishing.With the powerboat manufacturers down in attendance this year, the smaller businesses really stood out, including boat time-share companies like Freedom Boat Club (power) and SailTime (sail). And the sailing schools were quite popular, including Boston-based, award-winning Black Rock Sailing School.

The boat show continues through this coming weekend. For more information, go to the event website.

Gulfstar 37 Sailboat for Sale

2010-02-18T08:51:00.003-05:00

FYI, after paying for an expensive dock space. We didn't even sail our boat once last summer.

We used it for our dream adventure down the entire east coast in 2006, and some cool cruising in LIS, Nantucket, and Buzzards Bay. But since our business (PhotoBoat.com) has become as successful as it has, we don't have time to sail our boat.

We're selling her, so please spread the word.
We've made a spec sheet on my other website, www.Boat-Delivery-Captain.com .

Key West 2010 Animated Slideshow

2010-01-29T11:59:00.006-05:00

Click "play" above to watch the slideshow, or click here to see all of the Key West 2010 photos.

2010 Key West Photos are Online

2010-01-23T21:03:00.005-05:00

It was another dramatic week at Key West Race Week. Even though we only had one day of good breeze, it was enough time to get great shots of every boat crashing over waves. Our photos are online, sorted by boat name, here. If you weren't racing and just want to take a look, check out the highlights.

Key West at its Best!

2010-01-21T18:48:00.002-05:00

What a great day for photos! We enjoyed decent breeze and some nice waves rolling in from the South today off of Key West. Today's highlights will be posted later tonight.

Making things interesting

2010-01-20T20:57:00.002-05:00

Sometimes you have to go wide (angle) and up close to make things interesting. This is a shot from a few feet off of Highland Fling's starboard quarter today.

When there's not much wind....

2010-01-20T17:41:00.004-05:00

We look for other things to photograph...

Key West's dolphin and turtle populations have been quite visible this year in the light breeze.

2010 Key West Race Week mid-week update

2010-01-20T08:19:00.004-05:00

Key West Race Week started on Monday with a beautiful sunny day- it was everything everybody comes to Key West for, except the wind. But the 9 knots or so was enough for the race committees to run two races on each course.

With "Near 10 Knots" in the forecast again for Tuesday, the 11 or 12 knots were a blessing, and though the clouds came in in the afternoon and the temperature dropped to the low 60s, a little bit more wind helped to feed the action. We have a bunch of great shots from both days, and look forward to today, Thurs, and Friday for some more great Key West Race Week Photos.

See our 2010 Key West Race Week photo gallery here and our highlights on Premiere Racing's site here.

Small Craft Advisory

2010-01-15T16:24:00.001-05:00

Key West Race Week is still three days from the first gun, but we're here, so why not start putting our cameras to work. Today's bright sunshine, 25-29 knots from the ESE and a bunch of boats out practicing combined for some great photo ops for PhotoBoat. Still, the Coast Guard did not think so, as they felt it necessary to remind us that there was a small craft advisory, and we are, in fact, a small craft. The warning was much appreciated, but not heeded.

Keep an eye on our Key West Race Week Photos page for photos throughout the event.

Halfway to Miami

2010-01-13T15:06:00.003-05:00

The Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race start today led to the same dilemma we have every year: you're in a dinghy off the Florida coast, 7 miles from the Port Everglades Inlet (the one from which you left) and 5 miles from Baker's Haulover Inlet in Miami. Do you turn around and go back or just keep going? We've even scoped out a good boat ramp at Baker's Haulover. As it turns out, we usually prefer extra mileage in the dinghy- even upwind- to sitting in traffic. So Fort Lauderdale it is.

We are always trackable with our SPOT at www.thephotoboat.com/location

YRA LIS Annual Meeting

2009-12-07T08:54:00.002-05:00

Check out our video from the YRA of LIS annual meeting: Best of LIS

Three Covers in a Row.

2009-12-02T20:15:00.004-05:00

It's rare that people question our consistency. But it's nice to have a little reinforcement once in a while. Also keep an eye out for our photos in Sailing World magazine over the next year.

Check out WindCheck Magazine at http://www.windcheckmagazine.com/

Another Windcheck Cover by PhotoBoat.com

2009-11-05T09:01:00.004-05:00

J105 North Americans

2009-11-02T10:06:00.003-05:00

J105 North Americans ended yesterday with another day of great racing. The concern that a regatta on Long Island Sound in early November would be cursed by bad weather was wiped away as the 29-boat fleet sailed 11 races over four great days with winds that spanned around 8-30 knots and temps that were suprisingly bearable.

We saw the entire spectrum of conditions for photography. Check out the photos here.

Video Clip of the Summer

2009-10-28T08:25:00.001-04:00

This is our favorite clip from the on-board-cams this summer.

October Windcheck Cover

2009-10-19T08:04:00.004-04:00

We haven't tried counting how many times Chris Gill has used our photos on the cover of WindCheck Magazine, but it's always nice. On the cover here are our friends Chris and Michelle who didn't realize what they were signing up for when they decided to sail in the Denmark Friendship race this summer. Check out http://windcheckmagazine.com/.

Storm Trysail Intercollegiate Regatta

2009-10-15T17:35:00.002-04:00

What a great event- you can tell these guys are having fun, and so did we. 40 college teams sailed aboard the same boats we're used to photographing all the time on LIS, but the college kids added some new flavor.

See all the photos here.

2009 Heineken HPDO

2009-10-15T17:14:00.006-04:00

The weather couldn't have been better for photos at the Heineken HPDO this weekend. Saturday we saw winds reaching 30 knots as a front passed through and the sky changed from overcast to bright and sunny, with a lot of interesting clouds and light in between.

See the photos here.

Given the windy conditions, the competitors should really enjoy getting their complimentary photo CDs this year- thanks to Heineken for sponsoring us again this year to make it happen.

J30 North Americans

2009-10-15T17:01:00.003-04:00

The October 3-4 weekend was a tough one for sailing weather, not that it was windy and rough like it usually is in October, but the opposite extreme. The J30s were on the calendar for Friday through Sunday, and Friday's light breeze that peaked around 10 knots was the best we got all weekend. Still, it was enough to make this 14-boat J30 fleet look good as they sailed on Westport waters. See the photos here. Cedar Point Yacht Club has hosted a number of important regattas this year. Next at CPYC: the impressive Laser frostbiting fleet kicks off their season.

Viper NAs

2009-09-27T17:33:00.003-04:00

Stamford Yacht Club and Indian Harbor Yacht Club hosted 2009 Viper 640 North Americans and delivered two days of great wind for the sport boats- exactly what they need. 37 boats competed in the teaching regatta, which included after-racing chalk talks for the growing class that's rapidly recruiting new boat owners. As always, Vipers look great in big breeze, so take a look at the photos here and look for them in Sailing World in the spring.

Star NAs: an Easterly and a Westerly

2009-09-27T17:08:00.005-04:00

We had two complementary great-weather days during the 4-day Star North American Championship held at Cedar Point Yacht Club in Westport this September. Tuesday was a quintessential Long Island Sound Easterly, with gloomy skies and big seas on the body of water that opens to the East. Friday's Westerly was a familiar weather pattern as well, with high pressure, bright sun, and strong winds. 50-something stars had 4 great days of racing- what a treat. Take a look at the photos here.

NY400 Flying Dutchman Regatta

2009-09-27T16:46:00.005-04:00

Around 100 Flying Dutchman sailors from around the world convened in Manhattan this month as part of the NY400 celebration of the 400th anniversary of Captain Henry Hudson's arrival in New York and establishment of New Amsterdam. For a full history lesson and information about the Holland on the Hudson celebration, visit NY400.org.

The waters between Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty are an interesting place to sail and a wonderful place to take photos.

See all the photos here.

The Vineyard Race and The Denmark Race

2009-09-27T15:24:00.006-04:00

Two of Long Island Sound's biggest annual races have come and gone again: the Vineyard Race and the Denmark Race, both hosted by Stamford Yacht Club. Labor Day Weekend's Vineyard Race was a drifter this year; the Denmark Race weather was much more interesting for photographs.

See the Vineyard Race photos here and the Denmark Race photos here.

America II and the 12YDF

2009-09-04T20:33:00.004-04:00

This photo speaks for itself...

It was a perfect night for a sail on America II (US 42) last night, as we had yet another beautiful evening with clear skies and a little bit of breeze. It's been a great week and it looks like the Vineyard Race participants will get more of the same this weekend- as long as they have some breeze.

We hadn't been aboard a 12 meter since we ran US 42's sister ship, US 46, in 2006. It was good to be back, especially with such a great group of people.

We look forward to photographing the 12s at the 2009 12 Meter Worlds and the rest of the local fall circuit, but also hope to be aboard US 42 and the newly acquired Lionheart more often for the 12 Meter Yacht Development Foundation.

CT Leukemia Cup Regatta

2009-09-04T11:19:00.003-04:00

We were thrilled to be involved with the 2009 Connecticut Leukemia Cup Regatta, hosted by Duck Island Yacht Club and North Cove Yacht Club in the Westbrook-Old Saybrook area. This is a very well-planned event for a good cause, and the regatta party was held in a big work shed at Brewer's Pilot's Point Marina. We were not quite as thrilled with the weather that we got, but that goes with the territory, and it certainly makes things interesting. The remnants of hurricane Danny didn't deliver any excessive wind, but did dump buckets of rain on us throughout the entire distance race. Everybody put their foul weather gear to the test during the 2-3 hour race and came in with a good attitude and eagerness to help raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. See the photos here. Click the logo for more info about the event and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

PhotoBoat Annual Cruise

2009-09-04T11:02:00.004-04:00

We didn't get to cruise on our Gulfstar 37 this year (at least not yet), nor could we fit in 3 weeks, but at least we got an upgrade on the boat. We had a great time sailing with family aboard the X412 Expeditious- here's a Christmas card shot during a daysail off of Martha's Vineyard. We took care of the delivery home and despite threats from Hurricane Bill, the weather turned out the be quite calm. We just motored along, bobbing up and down with the big swells from the North Atlantic, like this one breaking on the Point Judith breakwater.

Introducing Harry Katz

2009-09-01T08:05:00.004-04:00

Thanks to Harry Katz, a photographer and videographer who worked with us this summer. Harry is a Sophomore Photojournalism major at the University of Missouri School of Journalism- one of the top Journalism schools in the country. Harry's comfort with his camera was obvious to us right away, and no wonder, since his father is a well-known commercial photographer. Harry also worked as a photojournalist this summer for the Baltimore Sun. He's built quite a portfolio and is a true professional photographer already.

Harry helped us with video this summer, added to our photo inventory, and was instrumental in helping us with our event set-up.

At each event, we have four terminals networked for participants to view their photos from the regatta, including photos taken that day, searchable by boat name or sail number. With our pop-up tent, our viewing terminals, our projected slideshow going on in the background for those who just want to see a sampling of all the boats, we've got a lot of entertainment going on. Participants and organizers love it. Thanks, Harry, for helping us get to the next level.

Change of Seasons

2009-09-01T07:38:00.005-04:00

It's back to school time and things have been busy. We've been covering a number of end-of-summer championships, particularly on the Jr. scene.

The Junior Sailing Association of Long Island Sound 2009 Summer Season ended with some great regattas. We covered Opti Champs at Pequot Yacht Club and Laser/420 Champs at Beach Point Yacht Club.

In spite of the fact that these are the best Laser and 420 sailors on Long Island Sound, when they got an Easterly thrown at them on Western LIS, things got a little messy- as usual. It's such a stark contrast to average LIS summer fair weather conditions. These kids will remember this day for sure, as I remember each one I experienced growing up sailing in Pequot's JSA program.

Be sure to check out the rest of the dramatic photos here.

Opti Champs was not as epic, but there was consistent wind and nice sun, and for that we are grateful. Pequot and Southport Harbor were absolutely overflowing with Optis, but everything was very well orchestrated- nice job, organizers.

I caught this Opti sailor waving to his parents at the jibe mark, which is a fun photo considering the fact that Opti racing can be very competitive.

See all the Opti Champs photos here.

Thistle Nationals 2009

2009-08-09T18:18:00.005-04:00

What a week! More than 80 boatloads of Thistle sailors converged on Cedar Point Yacht Club for five days of sailing and a remarkable number of other activities. We've observed a lot of regatta parties, and we have to say, these Thistle sailors made an impression on us. They had costume nights, talent shows, bands, bocce competitions, blender wars, volleyball, and more. Cedar Point was the perfect venue for such laid-back family fun and we were thrilled to be working less than two miles from home.

This group was having a good time out on the water as well- and showing off for the camera- in spite of a week largely full of 5-knot days.

We got a lot of great shots throughout the week; check out our photos here.

2009 Governor's Cup Photos

2009-08-01T21:55:00.006-04:00

The 2009 Governor's Cup start was very dynamic this year, with a lot of weather changes on the heals of a day of thunderstorms. The skies cleared just in time for the start and 15 knots filled in from the North on the heels of the front. It didn't hold for long, but a steady breeze held long enough for us to chase 100 boats 11 miles and get some nice shots. The light was constantly changing, and we were lucky enough to have a few moments like this one, where we caught Age of Reason looking good in some nice light. When the last bit of useable light was gone, we took the 11-mile trip back to Annapolis, packed up our boats, and headed to our dorm room at St. Mary's college...always fun. The next day's conditions were light but pretty, and as always, Southern Maryland knows how to party.

We always get a kick out of the photography competition that goes with this event- it's safe to say that there are more photographers at the Gov Cup than there are at Key West Race Week! Maybe we should enter the photo contest...

See the 2009 Gov Cup Photos here.

Across the Sound

2009-07-29T08:22:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-23T16:03:00.005-04:00

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

2009-07-20T09:38:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-14T12:07:00.004-04:00

Coastal Living Newport Regatta Action

2009-07-12T08:32:00.007-04:00

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.

2009-07-10T09:55:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-10T09:40:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-10T09:22:00.002-04:00

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.

2009 Youth Champs gets underway...aboard Rambler

2009-06-27T08:17:00.005-04:00

The most important youth sailing event in the country kicked off on Thursday; high school and college kids from around the country arrived by car and plane for this week-long event hosted by US Sailing. But in addition to the usual registration and setting up event boats, the Indian Harbor Yacht Club event organizers arranged a special treat for the kids: sailing aboard the 90-foot Rambler.

The US Youth Sailing Championships is packed with racing and other seminars and activities for these top sailors in the United States. See the photos, updated daily, here. At the end of the week they'll be sorted by sail number.

Block Island Race Week 2009

2009-06-27T07:30:00.005-04:00

Monday at Block Island Race Week 2009 was a day to remember. Even leaving the harbor was an adventure, as can be seen from this shot of Loki 3 popping over a wave. After Monday's 30 knot winds for the around the island race, the excitement slowly declined throughout the rest of the week. Imagine being out in an 11' dinghy in these conditions. Needless to say, it was a tiring day, but the shots were well worth it! Be sure to check out these great photos here. See you at Block Island Race Week 2011 (and 2010).

Graves Marine Art and PhotoBoat

2009-06-24T22:39:00.007-04:00

We're proud to announce our partnership with marine artist Tom Graves. Tom is a member of the American Society of Marine Artists and has been capturing the essence of the sea for over 40 years. Even better, he is an avid sailboat racer himself, currently calling Long Island Sound his home turf.

Tom created this beautiful piece from one of our photos, and he can do the same with our photo of your boat, whether it's a Farr 40 or an Optimist, a 12meter or a Laser. A commissioned paiting is now an item on our product list for each photo on PhotoBoat.com. Tom offers two different sizes of framed paitings: 24x36 or 18x24.

For more information and to see examples, visit Tom's website.