2008 Heineken High Performance Dinghy Open

The 2008 Heineken HPDO could have had more breeze overall, but we were still grateful for about two hours of ten knots between Saturday and Sunday. It's been a little bit frustrating for weekend sailors this fall, with heavy breeze coming more frequently during the week. But at least it's warm...

The HPDO has grown significantly since we first photographed it in 2006. With the growing RSK6 and Viper 640 fleets on Long Island Sound, the event has doubled. The Moths, of course, added some nice hype this year and a big A Cat fleet came from far and wide. But still, the classic High Performance boats are fun to watch: International Canoes, 505s, I 14s, Flying Dutchmen, Fireballs, Contenders and more. They'd be even more fun to sail, of course. If I had time to sail at these events instead of photographing them, I'd be in one of these boats, if not a laser.

Thanks to Heineken for being such a great sponsor, including covering our fees for the event CDs and awards photos.

See the photos here.

American Yacht Club Fall Series 2008

Despite a mediocre forecast for around 10 knots and rainy, the conditions in the middle of Long Island Sound created some dramatic photos afterall thanks to the fact that Long Island Sound opens to the East. After three days of strong Easterly breezes, the sound was still pretty bumpy on Saturday morning. Here, the J44s are looking good in tight competition. We played with the saturation a bit in photoshop. Normally we are minimalists when it comes to photo tweaking, relying on our ability to take good photos, not to make them, but when you take as many as 10,000 photos a month, sometimes you just need to do something a little different to stay interested.

Allen happened upon a classic yacht regatta out of Hempstead Harbor and got some great photos of classic yachts punching through the waves. The photos are mixed in with the AYC Fall Series photos, sorted by boat name. Check out the photos here.

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.

Connecticut Maritime Association 12 meter Regatta 2008

The Annual CMA 12 Meter Regatta in Greenwich almost didn't happen this year, with a forecast for 25-30 knots and 100% chance of rain on Friday September 26th. But they made a great call and nine 12 meters went out in moderate breeze and raced. In fact, the classic 12s were all asked to shake out their reefs by the end of the day. Pictured to the right are the two Grand Prix 12s, which were match racing each other during the CMA regatta. The significance here is that both yachts are named America II, both having been built for the same cup campaign in 1987. US 42, to windward with the unfortunate "Be Fabulous" on the jib, and US 46, to leeward, were built along with US 44 to become the NYYC syndicate. 46, deemed faster in the heavy air and big seas of Perth, Australia, went on to sail in the Louis Vuitton cup but did win the challenger position for the America's Cup; 42, it can be said became more notorious, however, as it "starred" in the '90s movie "Wind". In fact, it was repainted only last year after keeping the Geronimo name and design for years.

US 42 is owned and sailed by the 12 meter Yacht Development Foundation, which is dedicated to restoring and maintaining 12 meters. Read more about the Greenwich, CT- based non-profit organization's mission and become a member here.

US 44 is a charter boat in Hawaii.

See more CMA Regatta photos here.

2008 Viper ACC

The breeze was on the lighter side for the 2008 Viper 640 Atlantic Coast Championships, held Sept 20-21st out of Stamford Yacht Club, but the enthusiasm was strong. The Viper fleet has been growing rapidly on Long Island Sound, and across the East Coast. We're looking forward to photographing Vipers again during the Heineken HPDO in Rye, NY over Columbus Day Weekend. Let's keep our fingers crossed for some good breeze. Still, these boats look pretty good even in 5 knots.

See the Viper ACC photos here.

2008 Greenwich Cup photos

It's not an uncommon occurance for a group of 20 or so racing sailboats to be sitting around waiting for wind to fill in on Long Island Sound, but for some reason at the Greenwich Cup, people got very creative. The waiting became part of the action. It's a huge help for a photographer sitting alone in an 11' boat to have people doing tricks for him.



Here, SoulMate topped the USMMA's spreader jumping with a spreader dive. Kids, don't try this at home.



Still, the creativity points go to the USMMA for "floorboarding". Believe it or not, a Farr 40 can easily tow a USMMA male student standing on a floorboard.

The group still managed to get three races in over the light-wind weekend and PhotoBoat provided 8x10s in the club's engraved frames for the awards. They looked great!

See the Greenwich Cup racing and fun photos here.

The Vineyard Race and the Denmark Race

Ironically, the Vineyard Race is not quite to the Vineyard and back and the Denmark Race is most definitely not to Denmark and back. Both races are held by Stamford Yacht Club and are among the most important on the Long Island Sound annual racing calendar.

See the 2008 Vineyard Race Photos here

and the 2008 Denmark Race Photos here

Labor Day Weekend's Vineyard Race was a bit of a floater this year, but it's still a great race with a lot of history and importance on Long Island Sound. Conditions at the start were light, but the setting sun and some interesting clouds made the 60-or-so yachts nicely photogenic without even heeling over.


We got a kick out of seeing Donnybrook at this race just a few weeks after photographing them in a race from Annapolis to St. Mary's City, MD- the Governor's Cup.

The Stamford Denmark Race, also known as the Cheese Race, is a one-day race outside of Stamford Harbor that always has great attendance, particularly among boats that don't necessarily race a lot. This year the weather was similar to 2006, with nice clear skies on the heals of a cold front. The breeze was a lighter northwesterly, but still brought a few good gusts in.

See both events' 2007 and 2008 photos at www.PhotoBoat.com

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.

YRALIS Champs 2008

A little bit of breeze went a long way yesterday as it often does on Long Island Sound in the summer. The YRALIS Championship Regatta was rescued by about 12 knots from the Southwest at 1 pm Sunday.

See the photos here.



The YRALIS Champs, in its third year, is a great event that brings LIS clubs together. Larchmont YC hosted one-design racing for S Boats, Etchells, Shields and RSXs; Indian Harbor ran a very efficient Laser and Ideal 18 race course inside Captain Harbor, and Riverside managed the PHRF course mid-sound.

The three courses create a lot of distance for us to cover, but we had two dinghies out there to make it possible.

We got a chance to try out our new toy/lifesaving device, the latter feature being what justified buying it (though it is actually very affordable). SPOT gps tracker is pretty cool. See Allen's track from Sunday here.

For more info about YRA LIS Champs 2008, see the YRA website, www.YRALIS.org .

For photos, click here.

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...

CPYC One Design Regatta 2008

The 2008 Cedar Point Yacht Club One Design Regatta ended Sunday with a beautiful sailing day. After two days of focusing on close-ups of the crew due to light wind, we were thrilled capture the J105s, M 30s, Express 37s, J35s and J30s with a little bit of heal and some bow wave action...and a blue sky in the background.

See the photos here: http://thephotoboat.com/CPYC_One_Design_Regatta_2008.html

Competition was tight in all fleets, especially the M 30 fleet, which had a protest in hearing while the other fleets received their awards Sunday afternoon. The protest committee used video evidence and Kattack tracking in their decision.

We provided the photos for the awards again this year. They looked great!

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

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/

2008 Annapolis NOOD and American Spring Series

It was foul weather gear over sunblock this weekend on both the Chesapeake Bay and Long Island Sound, where two big beginning-of-season regattas were taking place.

See more photos from both AYC Spring Series and Annapolis NOOD at http://www.photoboat.com/

American Yacht Club kicked off 2008's Spring Series with a powerful Easterly and chilly temps.

Despite the cloudy day, the shots are dramatic and as always, a lot of great boats were out racing, including Rima, Devocean, High Noon, Swan 42s, and a bunch of JBoats looking good.

In Annapolis
...conditions were very light on Friday and Saturday, but Sunday's 15 knots helped create some drama on the Chesapeake. Around 270 boats are a lot to cover in one day, but Allen did his best to get as many as possible. The Melges 32s and Mumm 30s were looking particularly good, with 15 boats in each fleet. Other fleets, also looking good, of course, included J24s, Etchells, J22s, Cal 25s, Catalina 27s, Stars, Alberg 30s, S2s, Beneteau 36.7s, J105s, J30s, J80s, Melges 24s, and J35s. That's a lot of One Designs...nice job Sailing World and Annapolis sailors.

Getting There...And Back

Our plan was to hit Annapolis NOOD on our way North from Florida, just like we did for Charleston Race Week. But Friday's conditions on the Chesapeake were far from photogenic and Saturday's forecast called for more of the same.

We had wanted to take some shots at AYC Spring Series and saw that the forecast called for a strong Easterly. On Long Island Sound, that means big seas and good photos, so a day trip to Rye it was. Then back to Annapolis for Sunday's action.

We officially have a screw loose for making that trip, especially with gas prices where they are, but dramatic conditions generate our income, so we have to be a little crazy sometimes.

See more AYC Spring Series and Annapolis NOOD photos here: http://www.photoboatgallery.com/lightbox/index.php