Category Archives: sport

A Detailed Tour of a Clipper Race Boat

In a previous post I discussed the arrival of the Clipper Round the World boats in Seattle. In that post, I mentioned that I got it wrong about being able to go on the boats to have a look around. However, I did end up having a second go at looking at the boats and this time, it was a success. The boat that was open for visitors was named Qingdao. One of the crew showed us around both up on deck and down below.

When looking at these boats from the outside, they look like pretty sizable craft. However, when you get down below, it is instantly apparent how limited the space is. There is a lot of space taken up by the sail locker and the engine room. Then you have a small galley area and the navigation station. There are two small heads – no showers, though. The remainder of the space is for the crew of 22 to squeeze in to. This is not a luxurious excursion. (We were told that, had we been on a couple of days before, the odor would still have been pretty ripe. A long time at sea does not make for great hygiene!)

I had decided to take my widest zoom for the visit and I was glad I did that. Everything was so confined, it really needed a wide angle to get any shots. Even maneuvering through the hull while docked required a bit of effort. I can’t imagine what it would be like when heeled over at 45 degrees while punching through a Southern Ocean storm. They say you learn a lot about yourself in these races and I don’t doubt it. I’d probably learn I am not cut out for serious adventures!

The galley was interesting. Aside from the stabilized hob, all of the cans were stripped of labels and marked up with their contents. Everything gets wet so labels fall off rapidly. You need to prep to make sure you can identify the food. The cans do corrode in the salt water. Apparently, it’s not unknown to open a can and find nothing inside it because it has already leaked away from a corrosion hole!

The boats were really interesting to see. The crews spend a lot to be on this voyage and they are definitely getting an adventure. I hope they have fun ultimately and I like to see what they have done but I won’t be signing up anytime soon.

Clipper Race Sailing Boats

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The Clipper Round the World race has been underway for many years. It is a race of a single class of sailing boats/yachts (depending on where you live) with two qualified crew and the remainder are individuals that can pay to take part on one or more of the legs around the world. It starts and ends in Portsmouth and stops off at various cities around the world. It has been to Seattle since we have lived here but I never managed to get down there to see the boats.

I had a work event down at the harbor one evening when the boats had arrived. After the event, I took a few minutes to walk along the waterfront to see them tied up. I managed to get a few shots with my phone in the low light – how impressive phones can be in dark conditions – but couldn’t get any closer. Then I made an error. They were advertising that you could visit the boats to look around, so I headed down at the weekend with Nancy. There was no one to be found. Turns out, they weren’t doing tours that weekend. It had been a wasted trip (combined with it being a wet and windy day anyway). However, there is more to come on this topic.

Rowing Near the Locks

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A cold but sunny winter’s day at the locks in Ballard did not make me think that being on the water would be fun. However, someone clearly had a different idea. While I was walking around looking at the boats and the wildlife, a guy was out sculling in his boat. He came quite close to the overflow from the sluice gates and had to work to position himself with the flow and turbulence from the water as it headed towards the sound. It seemed like a very cold time to be out there, but I guess he was enjoying himself?

Sticky Surface

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I’ve posted a few times about my experience with the drag racing at Pacific Raceway. One of the things that I particularly was fascinated by was the surface of the strip itself. I mentioned before the machines that they used for conditioning this surface to ensure that there was maximum traction between the tires and ground. Periodically, the staff would come on to the track to take samples and measurements to understand exactly how it was performing. What photos don’t show you, but video can, is just how anything on the surface would stick. Only when you heard people walking along the track could you get the sound of their shoes sticking to the ground. Here is a video to explain what I mean.

Parachute Smoke Trail Patterns

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The Canadian Forces SkyHawks parachute display team opened the Abbotsford Air Show evening display. One of the jumpers had a line of smoke canisters that hung beneath them as they descended under their canopy. Some tight turns allowed the line to swing out and create some nice smoke trail patterns. Here are some shots of the results.

Will Rolla Replace Zwift?

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Since I got a smart trainer for cycling, I have been using Zwift as my app for training rides. I have been very happy with the way it works and find it a great tool for training as I can do some pretty long rides on it without getting bored. I have done up to two hours which would have been inconceivable on older trainers. I did see a video recently of a new software tool that could provide similar functionality called Rolla. It is free for the time being, so I decided to try it out. Will it be a suitable replacement for Zwift?

One of the things I did like the look of was the graphics output. Zwift has a slightly cartoonish styling which doesn’t bother me at all – indeed, I quite like the odd things that they throw in like a bear falling out of a tree or a stag by the road – but having more realistic scenery was of interest. Rolla looked like it would be more like riding in real locations. As a new app, I knew it wouldn’t have extensive scenery databases yet, but they could be useful to try out.Having used it a few times, now, I have come across a bunch of things I didn’t like. First, the software doesn’t pick up my cadence from the trainer. I can come across the top of a climb and start speeding down the other side but my cadence on the trainer doesn’t change. It isn’t reading the cadence either so the data on screen and my data download has nothing of use. This is not helpful for training my cadence nor for having a realistic riding experience. I also had issues uploading to Strava. It now works but there is no way to get it to recognize rides already completed. The gradient is not connected so my trainer does not respond to changes in slope like it does on Zwift. That physical feedback of gradient change is very helpful, particularly as slope changes are not very visually obvious. The rider symbol looks weird too with an odd rolling motion of the hips. It’s not as bad as the runners I pass, though. They look like the T1000 from Terminator! Lastly, sometimes it just seems to have you riding off the side of the road for no obvious reason.All of this is to say it is a long way from being a replacement for Zwift. It is not going to be something I use for training for now but, with some time to develop it and implement new functionality (plus clean up some of the buggier elements) might make that change. I would also prefer to just use it on the iPad rather than having to have the phone app open along with the iPad to control things. We shall see. In the meantime, Zwift will remain my go to.

Covering a Local Soccer Tournament

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I was asked back to cover a soccer tournament between different regions of WSDOT. I went to the tournament last year when it took place on a very hot day with smoke in the air. This year there was no smoke but it did turn out to be a warm and sunny day. I was pretty worn out pacing the sidelines to get shots so I imagine the competitors were done by the end of things. My goal was to try and get shots of most of the participants in reasonably interesting actions. Not always possible but people want to see a shot of themselves so hopefully most of them will find themselves in there somewhere.

There is a web gallery I made for them which you can check out below should you be interested. However, unless you know the people, you probably won’t be. However, I did get a few shots that I thought were not bad as stand alone images and they are included here. Shooting footie is not my specialty but it was a reasonable way to spend a day.

Www.robedgcumbe.com/client/wsdotsoccer2023

Parachute Formations Look Uncomfortable Up Close!

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The Canadian Forces parachute display team, The SkyHawks, were performing at the Abbotsford Airshow. With their Canadian flag parachutes, they carried American and Canadian flags for the show opening as well as undertaking a few formation demonstrations. I was working my way through the images from the show and was cropping in on the shots to see which were the sharpest. It gave me a better view of how the team members link together for some of the configurations that they use.

One of the positions involved one guy’s foot being hooked between the legs of his partner. This looked like a pretty tough position to hold. In a three-person formation, the middle individual was holding the other two in place. I imagine that there is a fair bit of strength involved in making this work. These soldiers are undoubtedly tough individuals. I suspect you practice these positions a little further from the ground for the first few times!

The Racers Doing Their Thing

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In a recent post, I shared some shots of an evening at the Jerry Baker Velodrome in Marymoor Park, Redmond. We had a good time enjoying the racing, the food and the beer and, a couple of weeks later, they were holding a large meet with many international riders taking part. This seemed like it would be worth a follow up visit. That proved to be a good choice. The size of the field made for much interesting racing and some drama.

Getting there proved a touch more difficult because a concert was also on at Marymoor Park but we made it in before the events got underway, so all was good. The quality of some of the athletes was impressive. In one race, a breakaway was well established for a large part of the race and I thought there was no way that they would be pulled back. However, I was mistaken. With only a couple of laps to go, a few broke away from the pack and bridged the gap to overhaul the breakaway with what seemed like ridiculous ease. Most impressive.

There were some riders that were clearly in a league above. You could see them managing their performance through the races, coming to the front for a while, biding their time for much of the race and then turning on the power when it was required to come home with the win. Other riders went off on solo breaks which got them some time at the front but, by the end of the race, it was clear that they had burned themselves out. It made for a lot of fun to watch so I am grateful for the effort that they all made.

Another top evening out. The food truck may not have been quite so good, but the beer was still excellent, and the racing was a blast. We shall see when we can next get down there to watch some more.

Tire Ripples

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I had seen images from drag racing which showed how the tires get distorted as the immense amounts of torque are transferred through them. A tire is at its most effective when it isn’t sliding but is in static contact with the ground. You might recognize this from your own experience. If you push something across a surface, the resistance reduces once the item starts moving. The same thing happens with tires. To get the best out of them spinning is not good. With the tire gripping the surface but the axle rotating, the sidewall is the area that has to compensate which it does by distorting and then unloading as it drives the vehicle forwards. I wanted to try and catch this so took a bunch of shots focused on trying to catch this moment.