Spinnakers, colorful spinnakers!
It’s hard to ignore the cheerful, vibrant, billowing spinnakers on the June pages of the 2021 Ultimate Sailing Calendar! So few fleets fly colorful spinnakers anymore, it is a treat when I get to photograph an event like the Viper640 Worlds, featured here. Color adds such a tremendous dimension to an image: it draws your eye in and helps express the mood. And this was such a lively, joyful event to shoot!
I had just come back from covering the Transpac: big boats adventuring offshore. But after the Los Angeles start, there’s a long pause before I get to capture any more action, and then it’s just one boat at a time as they approach the finish off Honolulu. The Viper640 World Championship at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club (ABYC) was completely different! It was sporty and spiffy and non-stop, with happy, enthusiastic competitors of all ages.
Dozens of teams on supersonic 21-foot vessels blasting around the course in every direction, and the action happens so fast! I found myself wanting to be everywhere at once … but of course I couldn’t. It got really tricky as the fleet spread out, and we were constantly maneuvering to make sure I could get the shots without getting in the way!
The Viper640 is a great high performance sport boat that accelerates on a dime, and planes readily, making it a thrill to photograph. But it looks like a thrill to race, too! And the racing was so tight, the finishes were super exciting as well. Small boat racing is a big focus at ABYC, which has established an impressive record for hosting highly competitive sport boat events over the years.
Approaching it’s 100th anniversary, ABYC was the first yacht club in the United States to win the prestigious St. Petersburg Yacht Club Trophy: an award presented by US Sailing for excellence in race organization and management. Since then they’ve won it again, twice! The Club straddles the beach and bay where ‘classic Long Beach’ conditions guarantee that the seabreeze comes up in the afternoon like clockwork!
But not only is ABYC serious about racing, they’re serious about fun too. We enjoyed nightly parties, dancing and entertainment, and I was impressed and grateful that so many members and competitors thanked me for being there to capture their great experience.
Lately it seems I have been up to my ears in colorful kites, as I put the final touches on the 2022 Ultimate Sailing Calendar. Celebrating my 40th edition, our 2022 calendar is a retrospective of my favorite images from the last four decades, including a lot of iconic shots from the heyday of bright and flashy spinnakers and bloopers. I trust you’ll love this nostalgic and illuminating compilation of yacht racing around the world. Stand by for a sneak preview soon!
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+About Ultimate Sailing
Sailing is a magnificent, colorful and dramatic sport. This unique sport has many variables with the constantly changing elements, sea conditions, boats, events, competitors and locations. The challenge is to capture on film electrifying moments that take your breath away. Those moments and opportunities are very few, but when they happen... it is ultimate sailing." ~ Sharon Green
Sharon Green has been capturing electrifying images of performance sailing for more than 40 years. Her annual Ultimate Sailing Calendar, featuring the highlights of competitive sailing, is eagerly anticipated by yachting and photography enthusiasts worldwide. Sharon has been published in major boating publications, both locally and internationally, since she first took up a camera while still in high school.
The pursuit of 'Ultimate Sailing' images never seems to grow old. Four decades and I still love the challenge of creating memorable images for my clients and the calendar."
Sharon is happiest when she is on the water or hanging from a helicopter in search of the elusive image that can be called 'Ultimate Sailing'. "My greatest satisfaction is when it all comes together: the anticipation, planning, organizing, traveling and epic conditions that combine to create a thrilling photograph.
The passage of time eludes our grasp: we can only look back in awe and look forward in anticipation. Never did I expect, 40 years ago, that my vision of creating the Ultimate Sailing Calendar would endure and provide such an extraordinary life experience. boundless advancements in sailing, and concurrently radical developments in camera and photographic technology, have kept me on my toes and the years have swept by! I find myself at this landmark anniversary: humbled by your patronage and inspired by your support. To my many friends, colleagues, clients, and subjects who have sustained and fueled this endless passion for capturing the ultimate Sailing image, I extend my deepest love and gratitude.
View the images by clicking the 40th button
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