Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Charleston Race Week 2011

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!