Stanwich Sailing 2008

The water temp is 56 degrees, the days when it isn't blowing over 20 or raining are becoming fewer and farther between, and the air temp is rarely reaching 60 these days, so short of putting on dry suits, it's time to call an end to the Stanwich School sailing season for the year.

This was the second year of existence for Stanwich Sailing, which is an impressive program considering that most schools don't offer sailing in gym class. Our group of fourteen 7th, 8th, and 9th graders did a great job this season in their club 420 fleet. They proved they could sail in the cold, the rain, and wind gusting to 25. There were only a handful of capsizes. We ran close to 100 races run throughout the season. All we need is somebody to race against...

Thanks for a fun season!

2008 CT Opti Champs

These are the kids that don't just race in the summer to get a tan and go swimming; these kids were racing on a rainy fall Saturday, getting ready for the Atlantic Coast Champs (won by a Long Island Sound sailor last year) in a few weeks. Many of these kids go to regattas in Europe and other parts of the world, in addition to different parts of this country. See the photos here and look out for these kids in the future- they'll be the collegiate All Americans.

Meet Connor Fitzpatrick

Connor Fitzpatrick has been helping us cover local events this summer on Long Island Sound. He can call Longshore Sailing School his turf, and he’s done a great job capturing the kids in action. See the photos here. Connor got the hang of PhotoBoat-style photography very quickly- understanding how important close-up shots are and maneuvering confidently and safely in the dinghy. His AP photography training and professional equipment made the technical aspect easy for him. Connor has also done a lot of underwater photography and studied under Armando Jenik, who we had the pleasure of working with while shooting for Yacht Shots BVI in 2006.

Connor is a rising senior at the Brunswick School in Greenwich and a former JSA of LIS sailor out of Noroton Yacht Club. He’s got all the skills necessary to do well in this business, including a great entrepreneurial drive.

See more of Connor's work here.

Introducing Nick Pro

Nick Pro is a marine photographer to keep an eye on. At the age of 15, he has already been hired for some photography jobs and has collected a nice portfolio of images. Nick helped us cover the Red Grant Jr. Regatta in July, enjoying a first chance to try photographing while harnessed into the dinghy. He did a great job and his photos can be seen on our site, here.

Nick is a laser radial sailor from the Philadelphia area; he sails regularly on the Delaware River and also travels to Annapolis and other mid-atlantic sailing venues. He has also competed in some star regattas, including this year’s Bacardi Cup in Miami.

More of Nick’s photos can be seen on his Flickr site,

Keep an eye out for Nick Pro's work on PhotoBoat...he'll certainly be taking some more shots with us in the future.

Red Grant Regatta 2008: Fun, wind, and great photos

Raritan Yacht Club knows how to throw a party. Thanks to a great volunteer organizing committee, the forethought to hold a big annual event that includes many types of boats and sailors, a modern club, a good reggae band, and many other factors (including PhotoBoat slideshows, of course), the Red Grant Regatta is a good time.

The party was good, but the sailing was better! See the 2008 Red Grant Regatta photos here.

89 boats plus a bunch of Optis and other kids fleets, combined with good sea breezes and sunny skies, is enough to make you forget that the water isn't quite Key West green or BVI blue. Who cares? We had a lighthouse, the NJ and Staten Island coastlines, and a lot of commercial traffic to put in the background of our shots. When you take around 4,000 photos a week, little things like interesting backgrounds and this shot with the cormorant being startled by Project Mayhem on her way to the weather mark keep us interested.

The J80s called the Red Grant their ECCs and a 15-boat fleet added an exciting complement to the cruiser and PHRF divisions, which were also incredibly strong in numbers. Throw in some J105s and J109s and a couple of First 36.7s and you've got a diverse bunch of boats.

We thought the trophies were pretty cool, too.

Next stop, the Screwpile in Solomons Island, MD. We've never been, but it sounds like it will be another fun event.

Red Grant Results: http://www.redgrant.org/

2008 Red Grant Regatta photos: http://www.thephotoboat.com/Red_Grant_Regatta_Photos_2008.html

Law Trophy 2008: photo coverage

The Law Trophy 2008 was an event for photographing roll tacks and other close up action, just like many other events will be during the July doldrums that plague Long Island Sound Jr. regattas. But light wind sailing is a skill and these Law Trophy participants proved their prowess.

Competition was tight in the Laser, Laser Radial and 420 fleets, with some big names on LIS competing. The results can be found on IHYC's website, http://www.indianharboryc.com/.

Photos are sorted by last name and sail number and we have several of each boat. See them here.

The law trophy marks the first big event of the JSA season and we look forward to a month packed with regattas. For details, see http://www.jsalis.org/.

There's nothing like a PhotoBoat slideshow to kill time during a protest hearing...