Category: Life

This Friday I am embarking on a 10-day odyssey to the 2010 USODA Layline National Championship. Fishing Bay Yacht Club is hosting this National Championship in 8′ sailboats for the top 8-15 year-old sailors from around the country. Deltaville Virginia, a town of only 500-800 full-time residents, will be inundated with over 320 sailors, their siblings, parents and coaches. Three events will take place from Saturday to Saturday to crown the Team, Girls and Fleet National Champions.

Since October, I’ve created and managed the event website at http://optinationals2010.org. During that time it’s evolved as a pretty neat project. The goal of course has been to create a first-rate event website for the sailors, parents and coaches to get information about the event and make their plans. The site will also serve those who may not be making the trip and will be following along from their computers at home. Not only is there a website, but we’ve set up variety of other social media outlets to enable all of our fans and followers to keep up with the regatta in their preferred format. We’ve got everything from the website (including an online shop), twitter, facebook, youTube, flickr, email, webcam, and SMS Text.

To help facilitate this I’ll be the onsite blogger for the duration of the regatta. Throughout the regatta I’ll be writing blog posts, sending tweets, updating the facebook page and getting notices and results posted to the website. During the racing I’ll be stationed aboard the main committee boat with an internet connection where I can connect to the website and upload pictures and information as well as monitor the weather for the race committee.

My role is just one part of the hundreds of volunteers around FBYC and Deltaville who have a hand in putting on this major event. It’s going to be a great week and I’m really looking forward to it. To check out my coverage and see what’s going on, check out the event website at http://optinationals2010.org throughout the week.

By Posted on Posted in Life, Photography, Sailing Photography No Comments Tagged with , , , ,

Wavelength Crew Leukemia Cup

Last weekend was the 2010 Leukemia Cup Regatta. It was held in Deltaville at Stingray Point Marina/Fishing Bay Yacht Club. Above is a photo of the crew. After abandoning the first race on Saturday in a lightning storm, we only managed 1 race on Sunday before the wind let out. We finished 4th in our 7-boat fleet. We might not have gotten any hardware on the race course, but we were the top fundraiser raising over $11,000 to support cancer research.

By Posted on Posted in Life, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , ,

July 4th sparklers

I spent July 4 at the river in Deltaville. It was an incredible sight, just as the sun set, we could see people in all directions setting off their own fireworks along the banks of the Piankatank River.

By Posted on Posted in Life No Comments Tagged with ,

FBYC Junior Regatta Start

Photos are posted of the 2010 FBYC Annual Junior Regatta. I had a prime vantage point on the Race Committee boat where I was the scorer. It was also a great opportunity to do a trial run of some new technology I’m getting configured. I’ll soon have the ability to take pictures and beam them via wifi directly from my new camera to a computer or website. More on that once I get it completed.

By Posted on Posted in Life, Photography, Sailing Photography No Comments Tagged with , , , ,

Gynn Island Circumnavigation Map

Saturday I sailed the Laser out of Fishing Bay and circumnavigated Gywnn Island. The wind was out of the South-South East from 8-12 knots in the Piankatank to 14-18+ out in the bay. I started with a 2 hour beat upwind heading first east, and then south down the Chesapeake Bay. Out a mile offshore sailing upwind in 15+ in the standard rig was great with steady wind and some good wave action. At the 2 hour mark I entered the channel at the south end of the island and sailed the 1 ½ hour mostly downwind sail back to FBYC. I ended up sailing roughly 20 miles and I could not have asked for a better day of sailing.

By Posted on Posted in Life, Sailboat Racing No Comments Tagged with , , , ,

Nikon D3000

I pulled the trigger on a new digital SLR camera recently. My Nikon D70 is going on 5 1/2 years old and is starting to become un-reliable. I’ve got quite a few events this summer that I want to be able to take pictures at and need a camera that just works.

Unfortunately Nikon hasn’t come out with the camera I really want. I’d like to get whatever camera replaces the D300s assuming it does video with auto focus.

Since the D300s replacement is likely a year away, I bought a Nikon D3000. This is the most entry-level SLR in Nikon’s current lineup. It’s a cheap camera that I got factory refurbished on eBay that should hold me over for a year or so.

The camera doesn’t have stellar reviews, but it’s still an upgrade over my older camera. The bigger screen is a huge improvement. I’ll miss some of the dials and controls available on the higher-end camera, but again, this is a temporary camera. It’s a lot smaller than the old camera and I had to put one of my smallest lenses on it for the picture above just to make it not look like a dwarf next to the larger lenses.

Current camera equipment:
Nikon D3000
Nikon D70
Nikon 18-55 AFS F2.8
Nikon 70-200 AFS VR F2.8
Nikon 10.5 AFS F4 Fisheye
Nikon 50mm AF F1.8

By Posted on Posted in Life No Comments Tagged with ,