After checking the good old BBC and Met Office weather sites, I took up an offer to crew a friends yacht which he races as part of the Royal Temple Yacht Club spring series. The yacht, Magnum, is a MG335 with a very good record of finishing first (unless the weather prevents sailing!).
Now, I’ve been on many many dive boats in my time but hadn’t experienced life on a racing yacht. Much to my surprise, the yacht spends 90% of the race at angles between 45 and 70° (even more when the wind picks up). Why the surprise? Well, standing while holding a Canon 7D and 100-400mm lens as the yacht tacks back and forth is not a good idea. So, after adopting a seating position behind the skipper, I started shooting the other yachts which can be seen below or on my flickr page. I also took along the Kodak Zi8 and filmed the crew briefing and exit from the port and also my Garmin 405 which logged the route of the race.
Most importantly of all, Magnum one the race with only 30 seconds to spare!
vimeo.com/23488299
