Behind the Scenes, June 2019

June 2019

We are fans of the wall calendar, and the start of each month welcomes new imagery from our J/Boats, Onne van der Wal, and Sharon Green calendars. Here Sharon shares the behind-the-scenes story from June of her 2019 Ultimate Sailing Calendar.

Every once in a while, my adopted hometown of Santa Barbara, California serves up the fresh-to-frightening conditions that make for a truly epic day of shooting. One of those times happily coincided with the Santa Barbara Yacht Club’s hosting of the Laser Midwinters West.

After over 30 years at this, I can reliably peg a “calendar day,” from the moment I get out on the course. This was no different; it was a photographer’s dream.

As a former Laser sailor, it sure looked scary, but these competitors — adults and kids alike — were eating it up, planing through the waves downwind, and carving around them on the way uphill.

Two of the three days were extremely challenging for the race committee. Seeing the signal boat bobbing around was enough to make my stomach churn. I spent one day on a dedicated photo boat and another on the weather mark-set boat. In both cases the drivers showed great skill in getting us into position while keeping the boat from being set broadside to the waves.

For my part, I was to manage my monster lenses and camera bodies — some weigh up to 15-plus pounds — from a 22-ft whaler, try to keep them dry, and try to compose and focus in the huge sea state.

I keep my gear in a cooler. It may sound odd to stow tens of thousands of dollars of camera gear in a $50 cooler, but it’s a great way to keep it (mostly) dry, readily accessible, and protected from impact damage. Nonetheless, that’s all meaningless if the whole thing falls overboard, which it nearly did a few times.

I’m fortunate to do what I do. When all it takes is a 15-minute commute to get to work, I really couldn’t be any luckier.