Whale watching and sailing 2014

   On Saturday I had the opportunity to go sailing on my co-worker, David’s 40 foot teak sailboat. We motored out of Shelter Island and the San Diego bay. On the way we passed various research vessels and submarines docked along the coast. We could hear the occasional thunder of Super Hornets taking off from the North Island Naval Air Station Halsey Field.

   As we began to set sail and turn off the motor, David gave us some basic instructions into sailing. We soon learned the importance of tacking the sail when changing direction in relation to the wind. At least five whale watching vessels flanked us on our way out and they soon clustered together around a possible whale spotting.
   I moved fore and tried to spot any spouts of water that would show that a whale was surfacing. Finally I spotted one and snapped a few photos. As soon as it was visible, it was gone again swimming under the dark surface of the water.
   Our plan was to get in front of the whale watching ships and catch the next whale before it got to them. We sailed for a few hours and saw nothing until finally we spotted another whale and this time I was able to capture the tail fin before this one disappeared too.

   Shortly after this spotting, a very dense and low fog rolled in and visibility dropped to a few hundred feet at most. I took the helm and David turned on the Simrad branded GPS/RADAR navigation system. I turned us around while David and Dilip tacked the foresail. I used previous courses used by David to follow on the GPS and navigate us into the bay via instruments only.

   A few hundred feet past Point Loma, we cleared the fog bank and it just became absolutely clear again. I managed to take a few photos while still at the helm. Once in the clear and since we were again under motor power, I turned into the wind and David took down the sails. I took us all the way into Shelter Island just to the point before heading down the actual slip.

   David took over the helm but he mentioned to us that since it was just shortly past low tide that we might not make it into the slip. These predictions turned out to be true when we got stuck in the mud just a short while later. Since we were not soon going anywhere, Will, Dilip, David and I went down below and played cards while drinking port wine and eating artisan cheese while waiting for the tide to rise. I have to admit that this is not a horrible way to pass the time. Eventually we all saw movement out the windows and like that we were free of the mud and able to pull into the slip and get off.

Photo Credit: David

Trail of Torment III

Update 10-6-2009 @ 9:11 PM: The photos are posted and tagged now. You can search for them by typing “Trail of Torment III” without the quotes followed by your bib number. If you think you are missing a shot you can also search for “Trail of Torment III no bib” without the quotes and you will see all the photos with obscured or missing bib numbers.  For more tips and tricks see the page on searching the gallery.

Special Note: If you were the one wearing the “I’ve got the Runs” shirt and no bib you can find your photos by typing “got the runs from the Trail of Torment III in 2009” without the quotes.

You can access the gallery here. From here click on the search link at the top. Search always searches the entire gallery which is why it is important to include the event name.

All photos are posted uncropped. If you want to purchase a photo then click the “i” information icon for the image to get the file name and email your order to orders@shezphoto.com or bryan@shezphoto.com and we will respond back with a money request through Paypal. Alternately you may mail a check however this will delay your order until the check is received.

If you want the image cropped or adjusted prior to us sending it to you let us know. We will send you the unaltered photo and throw in the cropped image with the sale for free.

Remember, you can access the gallery here and find out search tips here.

END UPDATE

On Sunday, October 4, 2009 @ 7:00 AM PST the Trail of Torment III race kicks off.  With three different distances the event caters to just about every endurance athlete out there.  If you are participating then you are in luck because this is the place where all of the race photography will be posted and sold.

Check back on this page after the event to see the photos as they are posted. All photos posted in the event gallery are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License which means they are free to use however you like so long as you give credit ONLY at the resolution posted and no higher. If you really want to own your photo outright with no restrictions and at Hi-Res then you can purchase the digital file for $5. We can send it to you in RAW, jpeg, tiff, psd, png, xcf, or almost any other format you like.

All photos will be shot with either a Canon 5D Mark II which features a 21.1-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor or the Canon 50D which features an APS-C sized 15.1-megapixel CMOS sensor. Both will be paired with “L” lenses for superb image quality.
Make sure to check back here early and often for new information, updates, and of course your photos.

San Diego International Triathlon

This past weekend (June 29th) was the San Diego International Triathlon. We have posted pictures of the event in our gallery.

Early One Morning

Well the first thing you have to face when covering a triathlon is getting up way too early in the morning. It is well worth it but when that alarm goes off you ask yourself just for a moment “What was I thinking”. So Jamie and I piled into Jay’s vehicle and went off towards the starting line and transition area. Jay is our friend who participated in the event along with hundreds of other triathletes. We arrived and Jay went off to prepare and warm up while Jamie took a spot along the bike route and I took a spot on the run course.

It’s Dark Early in the Morning

So guess what? It’s dark early in the morning before the sun comes up. This made shooting the swim pretty futile. That and the fact that even a 200mm lens was not enough reach. I later noticed that the light meter gets easily confused by water too. Either it was that or all the bright orange kayaks and yellow swim caps. Either way my swim photos were useless.
Jamie got a good shot at the turn around point for the swim though.

“I hit 47 mph on the downhill!”

Jay told us he hit 47 mph on the downhill section of the bike part of the race. In case you don’t know, anything over about 30mph feels really fast on a bicycle. This is especially true on road bike with brakes about as wide as my pinky finger. Jamie got some great shots of the bike riders including this great panning shot.

Time to hit the pavement

Once the athletes transitioned from the bike they got into their running shoes to finish out the triathlon. I positioned myself so I could take photos of the runners along two points in their run without moving from my location. This worked well and I was able to get some great shots. The funny thing is runners can look awkward depending on where they are in their stride when you take the photo. This one came out pretty well.

Lessons learned

Jamie and I learned a couple of lessons at this event. First is always bring more memory then you think you will need. The second is that sometimes setting the autofocus to use only one point makes sense. I got a lot of shots where the AF focused on the cones in the road or a reflective road sign or the sign for a hotel instead of the runner. The third is to check the histogram to make sure the meter isn’t confused.

“I’d do it again”

In the end it was a blast. We even took a pic of Jay, drove his car to the finish line, and took a pic of him again. We learned a lot and we will definitely want to photograph this event again.

For race coverage check out www.amateurendurance.com