A passing tropical storm meant big seas and high winds this morning; time for intrepid windsurfers with high levels of fitness and skill to hit the water. That excluded me of course, so I had to be content to stand on the shore and take some photos.
Star performer was Bo from Amara Windsurfing who managed to find air in all manner of places:
Close behind was Craig who made up for gaining less height by being more vertical:
They both whizzed across the water for an hour or so in an impressive demonstration of stamina; amazing what people can achieve when they know they are being photographed. There were also some kite surfers who provided something to shoot when no windsurfers were near.
All of the above were taken with a Canon 1D with a 300mm F2.8 lens with a 1.4 conveter; a combination that can knock out quality action shots with very little effort. Meanwhile, she who must be obeyed stood next to me with her tiny Olympus EP-1 with The Son’s Panasonic 100-300mm screwed on the front, and shot this:
If you look closely (which you can’t), you would see that the Canon shot is much clearer, and the overall failure rate from the Olympus was fairly high, but I think it is pretty good for a setup that costs a fraction of the Canon, is small enough to fit in a handbag, and is not so heavy that an ancient windsurfer would feel totally knackered after holding it on the beach for an hour.
Comments 🔗
2011-05-20| Craig saysCan tell you that day was heaps of fun - went out again later, with the sail a little more de-powered and had great fun playing with the waves. Next few days looking good for some high speed fun also. Thanks for the photos!
2011-06-06| Craig saysTraining on the PaddleBoard nearly every day now, next storm session will have a little more juice in the ole battery. Still cant get over how good thee photos are.