Sail the Bay 2010

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go out and shoot Hobie Fleet 32's Sail the Bay Regatta. We had great weather and a good breeze. I arrived early Saturday morning to meet the sailors and get some pictures of them setting up. The regatta was off of First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach.

There were 4 classes of catamarans; Hobie 16 single handed, Hobie 16 double handed, A-cat, and Open. All together there were 20 boats, the A-cats being the majority. It was not just locals that came out, there were people from the upper Bay, North Carolina and even from Tennessee. The Captain from Tennessee admitted he doesn't get to sail as much as he would like but gets out on the lake from time to time.

There were also 3 motorboats, one was the Committee Boat (race officials boat) and two chase boats. I started on the Committee Boat getting some start and finish shots, then jumped on one of the chase boats to get some shots as the catamarans were coming around the windward buoy.

The second day we started early and only had two motorboats (one had mechanical problems and had to leave early on day one). I stayed on the Comittee Boat and to get some images of the boats coming across the start/finish line. On day two the racing was much closer and the boats stayed in tighter packs.

After it was all over we looked back on a couple good days of sailing. We got back to shore and the committee ran the numbers to determine the top 3 of each class. The winner of the A-cat class won all eight races, of course everyone said it was due to his boat. I am looking forward to hearing feedback from the competitors.

Thank you to Hobie Fleet 32 for having me come out and get these great shots. The images from the event are available for purchase here.

There is a great story about the regatta by Tony Arends here.

At Hobie Fleet 32's website you can find information about their upcoming events, and membership.