Maidentrip

If you’re hibernating in Newport, R.I., and dreaming of the next time you’ll get out on the water, you should head over to Jane Pickens Theater on Feb. 18 to check out MAIDENTRIP, the story of singlehanded sailor Laura Dekker.

For more details on the screening, presented by Team One Newport and Gill North America, visit newportFILM’s website. Director Jillian Schlesinger will be in attendance for a post-film Q&A.

ABOUT MAIDENTRIP:
Born on a boat and raised in shipyards, Laura Dekker grew up with one dream: to sail around the world alone. At thirteen, her daring plot sparked resistance from Dutch authorities and a global storm of media scrutiny. A year later, she won the right to set sail. Now, far from land, family, and unwanted attention, Laura spends her pivotal teenage years exploring the world alone in search of freedom, adventure, and lost childhood dreams. Jillian Schlesinger’s debut feature amplifies Laura’s brave, defiant voice through a mix of Laura’s own video and voice recordings at sea and intimate vérité footage from locations including the Galapagos Islands, French Polynesia, Australia, and South Africa.

To read more about the movie, check out Tim Zimmermann’s recent blog post. You can find a complete screening schedule here.

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**

Tell us about this photo.
The event was the ICSA/LaserPerformance Men’s and Women’s Singlehanded Nationals in Newport, R.I. I was in a mark boat at the weather mark, and John Ingalls, the Salve Regina coach, was driving. The day was blustery, lots of wind and waves–ideal for exciting action shots. As we were hovering at the weather mark, Paul Foley from Western Washington University made his approach, and as he cracked off toward the offset, he took a wave that spread the water in a spectacular way. I was fortunate to have my camera up and ready when it happened.

What kind of camera did you use for this one?
I have been a Nikon fan since I bought my first Nikon F camera in 1972, which I still have! When on the water, I always have two cameras with me. My primary camera is a Nikon D4 with a Nikon 300mm F2.8 lens affixed to it. My secondary camera is a Nikon D3 with a Nikon 70-200 F2.8 zoom to provide flexibility when shooting a starting line or other shot where a wider angle approach is called for. This shot was taken with the D4/300mm lens combination.

You are at a lot of college sailing regattas taking photos. What’s it like and how did you get involved doing this?
I am an avid sailor and have always enjoyed photography on the water. I was provided with a venue to begin photographing dinghy events when a number of our kids became involved with junior racing. My introduction to college sailing came in 2007 when my daughter Emily began sailing her freshman year for Boston College. She was a skipper through her junior sailing years, and I had logged many hours photographing her, and her siblings and friends, at numerous regattas. She was transformed to the crew position in college, and I went to as many of her regattas as I could. College sailing is really exciting to watch, as well as photograph, and it is especially great when you have a front row seat. I was able to establish a rapport with many of the college coaches and they were kind enough to allow me on the water to photograph the events; and in return I supplied them with images of their sailors. The crowning moment, which I was present to photograph, was Emily’s achievement of All-American crew her senior year. I still love to shoot college sailing and attend local regattas whenever possible, and I still supply images to the coaches.

Any unique challenges to photographing college sailing?
I have photographed big boat events as well as dinghy events. To me, the former is more about the boat, and the latter is more about the sailors. Generally, my style of photography is to “fill the frame” and be “up close and personal.” Dinghy sailing affords a real opportunity to focus on the sailors. Their expressions are often priceless, and with college sailors, if you are in a good position, you can grab a shot that exemplifies their outstanding boathandling skills.

Photographing any sailing event presents special challenges, especially when there are waves. My standard lens is a 300mm F2.8 which brings me to the action, but it also magnifies the bouncing around caused by the waves. By keeping my center of gravity low, I have a better opportunity to control that motion. On top of that, my goal is to be as close as possible without interfering with the sailors. So, it takes a lot of work to keep the action/subject in the frame and the focus point where I need it to be for the image to be sharp. For most of the images I took at the Singlehanded Nationals, I was kneeling just forward of the console in the mark boat. My lens was effectively a foot or two off the water, and for this image in particular, as Paul sped by the mark, the shot materialized in my viewfinder and I grabbed it.

Any particularly memorable regatta you photographed? You must have plenty of good stories!
The Singlehanded Nationals event was one of the windiest and coldest I have attended. The College Nationals in 2011 were at The Gorge in Oregon, a place known for extreme current and wind. While the wind was not as consistently strong as it was expected to be for that event, there were a few days where it did not disappoint, and when running against the current, the river was a veritable washing machine providing many wonderful photographic opportunities.

One of my most memorable regattas, though, was a junior NBYA event many years ago. One of my other daughters, Liz, was crewing in a 420 at the time. They were headed downwind with the spinnaker flying. The wind had increased to 15-20 knots. I was in a fast RIB that a friend had loaned me, and I had just left the weather mark to get down to photograph all the kids as they rounded the leeward mark. We passed by Liz’s boat so I slowed to grab a few shots. As soon as I got my camera up and focused, the bow of her boat dipped into a wave and they began to pitchpole. I suspect photographing a boat that is pitchpoling is every photographer’s dream. And when it is your daughter, it is priceless! In any event, they recovered and were fine, the expressions were fabulous, and the event was forever etched in my brain.

**Photography is more your hobby, right? What do you do for work? **
Correct, photography is not my day job. I am a partner in the Providence law firm of Cameron & Mittleman, and have been practicing law for over 30 years. I primarily represent banks in all kinds of commercial, construction and real estate lending transactions.

How did you get started in photography?
Photography has been a hobby of mine for 50 years. My dad first introduced me to the art when I was seven, and since then, I have been addicted. I began exclusively with black and white, and did my own developing and printing. In high school, I took lots of sports images, was the Sports Photography Editor for my yearbook, and I supplied action shots to the local newspaper. In college, I was on the yearbook photo staff. As our kids got involved with athletics, I found myself taking pictures on the sidelines again-–kind of a déjà vu. I did not switch over to digital until 2004, and was loathe to make the change. But I have to admit, while I miss the darkroom, I have not looked back.

Any advice to pass along?
As with anything, I learned long ago to never rest on your laurels. There is always something to learn with photography, so read, and then read some more! There are great photo communities on the internet with a wealth of information, how-to’s, advice and experience that can expand your personal knowledge base. With the advent of digital photography, great phone cameras, relatively inexpensive DSLR cameras and in-camera software that can make the shot “great,” it is easy to fall prey to the “I don’t need to do long division because I have a calculator” line of thinking. I believe it is a mistake to set your camera on “auto” and fire away. Instead, understand and practice the art as, in my opinion, there is no substitute for thinking the shot through and getting it right in the camera.

View more of Robert’s photos from the Singlehanded Nationals.
>See previous installments of our Photo of the Month series.
>Visit Robert’s website.

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NY Harbor Regatta

An event recap from New York Harbor Regatta organizers:

On Friday, October 4, 2013, the third annual New York Harbor Regatta at Governors Island welcomed more than 700 supporters and raised nearly $300,000 for the New York Harbor Foundation to fund career and technical education, afterschool programs, college readiness, and summer programs for New York Harbor School, New York City’s only public maritime high school.

Notable attendees included NBC’s Willie Geist, former pro Olympic sailor Hannah Swett, actress Gloria Reuben, Captain Gordon Loebl of the U.S. Coast Guard, and Jayni Chase. Corporate teams, passionate sailors, Harbor School students, and NY notables competed on 30 boats in the America’s Cup 12-Metre, Farr 30, and J/24 classes.

Spectators took in the action aboard the luxurious Hornblower Hybrid – enjoying an afternoon of breathtaking NY skyline views, cocktails, light bites and race commentary by NBC’s Willie Geist and Captain Jim Chambers. After the race, sailors, spectators and supporters boarded NY Water Taxis to Governors Island, where they were treated to a sneak peek of the new NY Harbor School MAST Center and then headed to to Governors Beach Club for the Regatta Bash. Party goers danced the night away to live reggae music by Aljam & The Reggaelution Band, toasted the end of summer with Dark ‘n’ Stormies, Brooklyn Brewery Ales, and Cliffton Dry cider and indulged in eats from some of NY’s top restaurants including Grand Central Oyster Bar and Oceana.

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NY Harbor Regatta

On October 4, an estimated 800 to 1,000 people will attend the New York Harbor Regatta at Governors Island. America’s Cup 12-Metres and J/24s will race on New York Harbor for the annual event, now in its third year. The regatta benefits New York Harbor Foundation’s programs for the students of New York Harbor School, New York City’s only public maritime high school. Activities start at noon and run until 10:30 p.m.; there’s a post-racing party scheduled and a harbor cocktail cruise, in addition to the racing.

To find out more, visit the NYHR website.

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Oakcliff Nacra 17

“Puff in 3, 2, 1, here it is.”

Our windward hull floats above the water, and all of sudden, it’s quiet. We carve down a few degrees. “Hold here.”

Just before our windward hull touches down, I hear, “Come up here.”

The hull flies higher as we carve up, preserving the silence.

John Casey is guiding me through steering the Nacra 17 downwind. It’s a warm day on Long Island Sound, and the breeze has built just enough to gently fly a hull. In the distance, another Nacra 17 and a few 49erFXs head back toward the beach on Oyster Bay.

The presence of Olympic class dinghies on Long Island Sound will soon be commonplace, and Casey, along with other members of the U.S. squad have been enjoying the new digs for the past week. It’s the official grand opening of the Oakcliff Sailing Center as US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider training grounds, and there’s a palpable enthusiasm in the air.

“We like to say that people come here with dreams, and we give them the tools to achieve those dreams,” says Dawn Riley as she gives me a tour of the sailing center on 4 South St., which now has eight each of the Nacra 17, 49er, and 49erFX on the beach a short walk away from the facility.

The availability of Olympic class boats at Oakcliff, through the generosity of the Lawrence family, will help the U.S. team reach their medal goals for Rio and beyond, explains Josh Adams, managing director of U.S. Olympic Sailing, from a red truck emblazoned with American flags and US Sailing Team banners at the opening ceremony. “We’re trying to improve domestic training here in the U.S. and build the base of Olympic class sailors,” says Adams. “The more Olympic class sailors we get, the better we’re going to do at the Olympics, and the more we’re going to be able to sustain performance.

The grand opening

“By having three fleets of boats here, we have a camp, a place where we can do a lot of training with our team sailors, but almost as important, this is a great venue for young, talented sailors in the U.S. to get their feet wet in Olympic class sailing.”

Earlier, on our walk down to the beach, Adams explained to me a few more specifics of the partnership. “By and large, the boats are going to live here, they’re going to sail here, and they’re going to race here. There are four different types of sailors who will benefit from this: the high-end team sailor, then you have development team sailors who are our future talent coming along, then talented sailors around the country who are identified as promising Olympic sailors, and then the sailors who come through Oakcliff who will get exposure in the boats.”

Riley expanded further on that notion: “We’re very happy to have this training center which—before we could help people achieve their dreams of doing the America’s Cup, of running a business, of sailing around the world—now hopefully we’ll be helping people go to the Olympics and win medals.”

Already, the U.S. team athletes are seeing the benefits. Team members Paris Henken and Helena Scutt, freshly back from a first-place finish in the 49erFX class at CORK, are racing against seven other female teams at the 49erFX U.S. National Championship on Oyster Bay this weekend. Casey and skipper Sarah Newberry used one of the Oakcliff boats in Europe earlier this year, and this weekend, Oakcliff will host an additional five Nacra 17s for the Nacra 17 Nationals for a grand total of 13—the biggest domestic gathering to date.

In a blog posted on the day of the center opening, Newberry notes, “Thanks to all of the work that U.S. Sailing and Oakcliff Sailing Center have done, this week John and I are in Long Island, to train with the U.S., Canadian, and Puerto Rican teams. On Saturday we will race in the first ever Nacra 17 US National Championship. The fleet is filled with some of the best young multihull sailors in the country, many former Olympians, and all-around sailing greats like Enrique Figueroa, Bob Merrick, Robbie Daniel, and my personal favorite, John Casey.

“There is so much talent and energy here, and it is so incredible to be in our element—working hard in the boat park and on the water—while being surrounded by other people who love this sport as much as we do.”

That passion, along with a well-executed partnership between Oakcliff and the U.S. team, will go a long way to flying a hull in Rio.

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