Tag Archives: racing

Powerboats

My friend Joel is always a good source of interesting things to do. He recently came up with a great day out. Michigan City in Indiana plays host to an offshore power-boating race. The offshore boats are substantial boats that are capable of operating well out in the water. In this case, though, the course was set close in to shore so it was easy for spectators to watch.

Offshore powerboats are pretty impressive beasts. They are big boats and come in a variety of designs. The most obvious distinction is whether they are a monohull or a catamaran. That seemed to make a big difference on this course which had two straights with a pretty tight turn at each end. The cats seemed to be far better suited to making the turn than the monohulls and that advantage was not to be overcome in the races.

The boats have two crew on board. For those that are not familiar with this type of power boating, one is the driver and the other is the throttle man. Driving seems pretty self explanatory but the throttle job is a lot more nuanced than you might guess. These boats have very big engines and deliver a huge amount of power to the props. If they were racing on a smooth surface, all might be okay and you could set your power and go. However, the water is not smooth and so the boat tends to jump around a lot. The trim of the boat can be set by flaps on the back but, every time the boat gets airborne (and they get airborne quite a lot), the props can come out of the water.

This is when the throttle man earns his cash. A powerful engine that suddenly goes from pushing against a propeller in water to pushing against air is liable to accelerate very rapidly. In days gone by, the outcome of this was a cooked engine. Apparently, the limiters on the engines now work pretty well but it is still an art to maintaining the power when in the water but pulling it back as the props come clear of the surface. There is a lot of cycling on the throttles during a race.

The part that the crew like the least is, conversely, the part that the spectator likes the most. As I go through images, the ones that look the most dynamic are the ones when the boat is out of the water. Look at a shot of a powerboat low in the water and it is hard to appreciate that it is really moving. See it in mid air as it launches off a wave with the props spinning in nothing much and you know that it isn’t hanging around. Being in the air is bad for the crew for more than one reason. With no prop in the water, there is no thrust. Admittedly, the air resistance is less than they get in water but, when up on the step and with the prop doing its work, they are best able to move on. Of course, the thump that is the return to the water is not comfortable, even with the shock absorbing seats they have, and it slows them down a bit too.

It would be remiss of me to not mention that there were some aviation themed opportunities at the races too. A helicopter was filming the races and a couple of planes were flying by during breaks in the racing. However, they will get their own posts another day. Thanks for the suggestion and the company Joel and it was good to meet Chris as well, an ex-pat Welshman with an aerospace background! We Brits get everywhere!

America’s Cup Yacht Racing

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Racing of sailing boats is a sport that doesn’t get much in the way of mass media coverage. I grew up in a sailing town so, while I wasn’t a sailor, a lot of my friends were and so I saw a lot more of it than would be the norm. During my teenage years we also witnessed the first defeat of the US team in the America’s Cup, a story that did get international press coverage.

America’s Cup racing has always been the preserve of the richer members of society. It is a far cry from the sailing that is available to the average sailor with high tech boats and hand picked crews. (As an aside, one of the friends from school, Julian Salter, is a professional sailor and has been in crews competing for the America’s Cup.)

For a few years, I had been pretty oblivious to America’s Cup racing. The thing that changed it for me was the acquisition of TiVo. One of the channels covered the Louis Vuitton challenger series followed by the cup itself from Valencia a few years ago and we could record the races in full and then watch them at a more convenient time – adding our own editing courtesy of the fast forward button.

Nancy got into the racing as much as I did and we watched most of the series. It came as a big disappointment when the next round of the competition became hijacked by the stupid games of rich guys and ended up as a simple head to head competition that got virtually no coverage. We saw nothing of it.

Fortunately, some semblance of reason has returned and this time around, not only is the full format of the competition going to be back, they are having a series of events in the year running up to the event that are taking place around the world. This not only provides more opportunities for people to see the racing but it also allows the crews to get proficient with the new boats. This time the competition is not with monohulls. The boats are catamarans with wing sails.

The main competition is going to be held in 2012 in San Francisco. Whether I will be able to go and see any of it, I have no idea. However, one of the preliminary events was held in San Diego. I was already in the area for the El Centro photo shoot so I added a day to my travels to try and see the sailing. The plan didn’t quite work as hoped unfortunately.

I drove from El Centro to San Diego in the morning. Racing was scheduled for 1pm-4pm that afternoon. I did a quick reconnaissance to see where I wanted to be and got myself set up. Since it was early in the week, there were supposed to be about five head to head races. No massed racing but that would take place over the weekend when more people would be there to see it. Sadly, I couldn’t wait around for that.

More disappointingly, the great weather that San Diego had been experiencing vanished when I arrived. They was cloud rolling in as the racing started and soon it was more like a misty day. It was cold too! The best location to shoot from was the Navy Base at North Island. Since that wasn’t going to be an option, I made the best of what was possible without shooting right into the sun. Of course, there was not much sun but the mist did a great job of making what light there was turn into glare!

The boats that weren’t racing were also practicing so there were a number of boats out at various times. The races did come up towards us since one of the marks was very near where I was. Unfortunately, when a race came close, a boat towing advertising boards would also come into shot just as the boats did. This was great for TV coverage but not so good for those of us on the same level as the boats. I’m sure the helicopter shots looked great – when the helicopters managed to fly given the crappy conditions!

I got some shots but none are great. The ones here are to show you what was there. There is nothing there that I am too proud of. Some heavy editing was necessary to even get most of these. Was it worth it? Probably not. I could have stayed longer at El Centro or gone helicopter hunting in the passes on the drive back since electricity pylons were being assembled. I did end up chatting to some nice people so it wasn’t a total loss. Them’s the breaks!

SCCA Fall Sprints

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This little excursion is courtesy of my friend Joel Love of Speed and Sport Photography. Joel called me up the other day to tell me that the SCCA regional fall run-offs were taking place. The location was Blackhawk Farms Raceway in South Beloit IL, about and hour and a half from me (if the traffic is clear!). He was heading up and wondered if I wanted to tag along.

This came right in the middle of the great spell of weather that had settled over our part of the Midwest so the chance to see some racing at a photo friendly circuit with good light and fall foliage seemed like a good combination. I decided this was a trip to make.

Blackhawk Farms is not a huge circuit. This has a couple of advantages. First, it doesn’t take long to get from one part of it to another. Second, lap times are relatively low so you don’t have to wait too long for a car to come back around again after you have first seen it. Add to that the great visibility from multiple locations (ideal throughout the day as the sun comes around) and you have all of the basics for a good day out.

There were a variety of classes running throughout the day I went. It was the day for practice and qualifying so there was less likely to be any frantic action – although a few people tried their hand at off-roading at various times! Some cars ran in multiple classes so showed up several times.

The types that made up the majority of the runners were modified road cars of which the vast majority were Mazda Miatas, single seaters like Formula Ford and the larger single seaters that have a more Le Mans styling to them – I’m sure someone who knows their motor racing will cringe at my categorization.

Since they could run in multiple classes and there was practice plus qualifying, there were multiple chances to shoot given cars which also meant that you could get them at different parts of the circuit without having to change location during each session. This made for a relaxed day of shooting. Also, you can take your car to each spot so no lugging camera gear around all day!

The multiple opportunities allowed for some experimenting. I tried wide open shooting to try and get separation from the background. That was a bust. Given the distance from the cars and the background, the depth of field was still enough to see what was behind. In the mean time, the shutter speed was very high so frozen wheels looked very unnatural.

Slow shutter speeds were a lot more productive. Getting some blur in the wheels made them look like they were actually moving. Then it was a case of just how low could I go. I tried all sorts of speeds throughout the day. The results varied a lot. Obviously, at the low speeds, the keeper rate fell dramatically. However, you could get some great effects of speed. The question then becomes one of taste. We have become very focused on sharpness in imagery. Some of the shots were not tack sharp but they gave a great feeling of motion. Some while like that and others will not. What do you think? The small size of a shot on the monitor is, of course, not a great time to judge!

Lower speeds also limit your shooting angles. When looking at the cars head on, you can get some nice shots as they turn in to a corner. However, at lower speeds, the turn in can blur the car. Head on is sharp but dull. Turn in is more dynamic but blurred. What to do? Of course, you see less of the wheels so maybe a higher speed is acceptable in these cases.

At the end of the day, do I like the shots? On the whole yes. I guess that is all that matters. Thanks must go to Joel for letting me know about this and for providing great company during the day. We shall have to do this again in the spring.

Power Boats at Speed

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The Labor Day weekend is the time for power boat racing at Kankakee IL. My friend Joel Love had told me about this and suggested I come down. The Monday was the only day I had free so I drove on down. Kankakee is about an hour south of Chicago so a short hop.

The racing takes place along the river. There is a large park area on the south bank which was where I headed and, as it happened, was also where Joel was set up about 10 feet from my chosen spot! The boats launch and recover on the north bank but the lighting was a lot more friendly on the south side. It turned out that Monday was the day the weather went from warm and sunny to cool, windy and occasionally cloudy. However, it still held well enough, even if I was a bit colder than planned!

There were a variety of classes of racing underway. Some small individual boats and some far larger and more complex looking single seat racers. Catamarans and mono-hulls were taking part in the different classes. It all made for a lot of fun racing.

There were some boats that were clearly better than others and so the races weren’t always involving close competition for position. However, the faster boats could easily lap the slower boats in some races so you could end up with a steady stream of boats and some passing being necessary.

The other thing you could get a lot of was retirements! Some might be mechanical problems but other were more spectacular. Flipping the boat, rolling the boat, spearing another boat – all of this went on. The more dramatic stuff was often where I wasn’t looking of course! The wind gusting about the course could make for a little excitement if the boats got a little nose high. Given their speed and lack of weight, a slip was likely. The boats seem to disintegrate pretty dramatically when they hit the water.

One class had so many incidents and restarts that they eventually called it short of the full race distance. By that point, the competitors had become expert at getting lined up in the starting positions since they had done it so many times (although there was a bit more space at each restart due to the number of boats falling out of the race!).

It was a fun event to watch and even more fun to shoot. The action was close, there was plenty going on and the boats were colorful. If something dramatic happened, that was a bonus – provided everyone came out of it okay. I got the feeling it was a bit like NASCAR or hockey in that the fans enjoyed a bit of the unplanned activity as well as the racing. The tour takes races to a number of locations so you might want to see if it is ever in your neck of the woods.

I took a ton of pictures throughout the day so here are a few more. Enjoy!