2009 Key West Race Week Animated Slideshow

This is a must see.

See our Thursday highlights and all the other photos here.

Key West at its best

We couldn't ask for anything more today, with sun and wind in our favor and another great day of racing action. Our focus was on Division 1- Farr 40s, IRC 1, IRC 2, Swan 42s, and F30 classes.

The photos are a must see.

There will be some interesting changes in positions after today's racing, but there are still two more days.
Considering that last
year's Key West Race Week only had three days of racing due to bad weather, we're appreciating the extra days this year.

See the photos from Key West Race Week 2009 here.

Key West action: Tuesday

Speed was the word of the day today, as proven by many a Melges with a big wake. The day started off with a 48-knot gust, measured from the docks in front of the Half Shell Raw Bar. Had that continued, racing would have been cancelled, but we were fortunate to see those gusts pass through early in the day. Out on the race course, a consistent 20 knots helped produce some great action and we had another day of interesting Key West Race Week photos. See them here.

Key West Race Week 2009 - Day 1

From a photographer's perspective, 2009 Acura Key West Race Week had a very interesting start. With a stormy morning complete with squalls and diffused light, and a signature Key West sunny afternoon, we saw almost every type of light on the spectrum. See the photos here.

The racing was competitive and the wind was good- it was a great start to a Key West Race Week.

Though the number of boats participating is down about 40% this year, the competition is up and there is still plenty of action to photograph.

We've got 2500 great shots from Monday and are looking forward to showing them- and all the others from the week- at Schooner Wharf Bar on Thursday.

Please visit the PhotoBoat Regatta Gallery to see Monday's highlights now, and check back later in the week to view all of the 2009 Key West Race Week photos sorted by boat name.

Annapolis November 2nd

It was a great day on the Chespeake on Sunday November 2nd, and a great season finisher for many.Pictured above is the Soling fleet sailing their Nationals near the Bay Bridge. Also on the water were a J105 fleet sailing the Chesapeake Bay Championship and the IRC East Coast Championship Regatta- both sailing down near Thomas Point Light. It was a great day to get our last photos of the season and it's always great to have a reason to go to Annapolis. Next stop: Florida. We're looking forward to taking photos at Key West Race Week 2009.

See the 2008 Soling Nationals photos here.

Click here for the 2008 IRC East Coast champs photos.

J105 Chesapeake Bay Champs photos: click here.

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

2008 Opera House Cup photos

The 2008 Opera House Cup was an amazing regatta: big breeze, sunny skies, and beautiful classic yachts. View the photos here.

It was a perfect culmination for Nantucket Race Week, with more boats, more wind and a lot of spectators. The fanfare began with the Rainbow parade in the harbor at 10 am, then within a couple of hours, all of the classes in the classic yacht race were started and off around Nantucket sound.

The only negative for the day was the high number of boats that had to retire due to equipment failure. It's so great to see these old boats mainained in racing form, but when parts break, the owners can't just order new ones from West Marine.

But spirits were still high at the party and awards ceremony at Jetties Beach Sunday night, and with that it was the end of another Nantucket Race Week and Opera House Cup.

The photos tell the story; see them here.

Nantucket Race Week 2008: business and pleasure

Nantucket is the place to be for classic yacht enthusiasts. The local boats alone amount to a large collection of historic vessels that are wonderful to look at. Add Nantucket Race Week and the Opera House Cup, and you've got one of the biggest collection of classic yachts that we've ever seen.

See the photos here.

We can see it all from our spot on anchor in the harbor and even got to see some too close as we woke up in the middle of the night "rafted" with a ketch. Not our fault...we were here first and thought they had set hook a little too close. No damage done, just some time on deck during a downpour at three am.

We beefed up our anchor system in Key West so we are pretty confident in our hold here in 7 ft of water, even though we just watched an unmanned C&C drag by us and alerted the harbormaster.

We've got some great shots of 12 meters, International One Designs, and other classic and some not-as-classic yachts during Nantucket Race Week on Thursday and Friday.

See our photos here.

Saturday we did something a little different and opted to sail instead of taking pictures. With a pretty light forecast and overcast sky in the morning, and many of the same boats racing as the day before....and a desire to do more of the thing we like most that got us into this business...we "played hooky" and raced instead of photographing. The W class yacht White Wings had us aboard trimming jib and it was a great change of pace.

With the event-culminating Opera House Cup next on the docket, we're looking forward to even more classic yacht action and Nantucket harbor excitement.

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.

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.

Governor's Cup 2008

Yes, we were back on the Chesapeake, and here's a shot of another screwpile lighthouse to prove it. This time it's the Thomas Point light, left to starboard by Governor's Cup racers on their way from Annapolis to St. Mary's College at the mouth of the Potomac.

See the 2008 Gov Cup photos here.


We did this exact trip in November '06 on our way to Key West from CT, but we did not have to anchor in the middle of the trip to avoid drifting backwards like many of these sailors did. That's the beauty of a working engine (not always to be taken for granted) and a need to get South before it gets even colder.



But enough about us. Around 150 boats of varying sizes started at sunset and finished throughout the next day on the 70-mile race down the Chesapeake.



Conditions were very light at the start, but the setting sun created some nice soft light, as expected.



This event includes a photography competition and also draws a lot of spectator boats from Annapolis, especially on such a calm evening. The result, lots of spirit for the race- a good thing- but also a lot of big boats buzzing around the start on a light wind night. Dude, get a dinghy.


This wake was the result of something big. I watched American Flyer and Dame Blanche get knocked to a standstill. It took them several minutes to get any boatspeed back while the rest of their division pushed ahead.

As the sun set, we dinghied back to Annapolis, put the boats on the trailer and drove to Historic St. Mary's City. St. Mary's is the original capital of Maryland, but is not in our GPS or in Mapquest. It's a beautiful place if a little hard to find.

The next morning, with a dozen or so boats already on the dock after a nocturnal finish, we captured many boats heading toward the finish in a variety of conditions, including pouring rain in the middle of a storm.

The nice light before the storm and the banks of the river made for some great shots, like the is one of the St. Mary's College team on Hendonism.


With only one or two hours of sleep behind them, hundreds of sailors enjoyed a 12-hour party on St. Mary's College campus, with three bands, many local vendors, ice cream, and a beer truck that opened at 10 am.

For photos of the 2008 Gov Cup, click here.

For more about this event full of tradition and fun, including this year's results, see the SMCM website: www.smcm.com/govcup

7,000 photos later: Screwpile Lighthouse Challenge 2008

135 boats raced in this year's Screwpile Lighthouse Challenge in Solomons, MD...and two dinghies were buzzing around them taking photos. Three days, 20 knots, 4-foot seas, one super thunderstorm, countless bottles of Mount Gay, 3 bands, and 7,000 photos later, everybody was exhausted, but happy.

We had a great time at this event, which is packed full of onshore fun (it's the only regatta with a band formed in its honor and therefore named after it). It's kind of a mini Key West Race Week, just a little more friendly and laid-back. Chesapeake-style.
Sunday's conditions were first rate, with a building breeze and growing seas; by 2 pm it was hitting 20 knots and it was getting bumpy. Even this double-jibber in the non-spinnaker division is flying downwind. Double-jibbing was quite popular on the West Course and we got a kick out of it.

For more info and results, go to www.screwpile.net.

For the 2008 Screwpile Lighthouse Challenge photos, go to http://www.thephotoboat.com/Screwpile_Lighthouse_Challenge_Photos_2008.html

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