Tag Archives: washington

Hydroplane Pits

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The hydroplane races at Oak Harbor had a variety of classes of contenders.  Many of the boats appeared on course from a marina across the harbor but the most exotic of the boats were operated from alongside the spectator area.  A pit area was set up on the shore.  Here the crews were busy preparing the boats to race – occasionally carrying out engine runs.  There was no slip so the way boats were put in the water involved a crane lifting them up and depositing them alongside a jetty close by.  The initial lifts seemed to be a bit slow and inaccurate but a little practice and they were soon moving them across and back after the races with ease.

Hamilton H-47 Metalplane

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This is not a great shot but it is a rare airplane.  I was out and about when I heard what sounded like a vintage aircraft engine rumbling nearby.  I took some long shots and only checked them out when I got home.  It turns out it is a Hamilton H-47 Metalplane.  This aircraft used to operate on floats – that would have been good to see – but it now is on wheels.  Apparently it lives someone in the area so I am going to try and track it down at some point.

Caterpillar Convention

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If you don’t like bugs, this post isn’t for you.  While up in the Cascades, we saw this web full of caterpillars.  I don’t know the purpose of them being together in these numbers.  Perhaps they are all recently hatched (is that the right term for a caterpillar) and have yet to go on their way or maybe there is another reason.  Either way, there were a lot of them in one place.  If you are a caterpillar predator, I wonder why this was not seen as a buffet?

SeaTac Widebody Evening Arrivals

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I was out one evening awaiting the arrival of something that currently escapes my memory.  In the meantime, I was in position to get the arrival of a few widebodies.  Since SeaTac tends to put the widebodies on the inner runway, they are the ones you can get from this park location while almost everything else (plus the occasional wide body!) goes to the outer runway behind you and through the trees.

On this evening, we had four widebodies come in.  Condor brought their regular 767 flight.  This were joined by an Air China Cargo Boeing 747-400F, a FedEx 777F and last but by no means least, a British Airways 747-400.  The evening light was very favorable and this location is both easily accessible and pretty good for this approach.

Hydros for Heroes at Oak Harbor

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It’s been a long time since I watched any hydroplane racing.  The Kankakee event in Illinois was a fun one to attend, not least because the constraints of the river meant it was possible to get really close to the action.  Racing is quite popular in the Pacific Northwest and one event was scheduled for Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island.  I decided to head along and see what it was like.

I was quite surprised how easy it was to attend.  I found parking conveniently close and got a waterfront spot to set up with ease.  Plenty of people came and went during the time I was there but it never felt terribly busy.  The racing took place in the harbor and it was a bit distant for all of the spectators.  The good spot to watch from would have been across the harbor but that was within the naval facility so out of bounds for the rest of us.

The course provided for some good angles on the boats as they made the first turn.  The second turn was rather distant.  The PA system was well away from me and the program seemed to be only vaguely related to what was happening so most of the time I was oblivious to the classes that were racing at any one time.  The more powerful boats were staging from the pits near the crowd but many of the smaller boats would appear on course from the marina across the harbor.  I would just watch them going around and try and figure things out from the flags on the course boats.

It was a sunny day so sitting next to the water and watching the occasional race was pleasant.  Not knowing what was going on was a bit harder and the random feeling of when a race would occur left me a bit confused but I got to watch racing and get some photos so hardly a bad was to spend a Sunday afternoon.

More Hummingbird Video

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Having had some success with the GoPro as discussed in a previous post, I decided to play with the slow motion capabilities of the camera to get some different shots.  The nice thing with a GoPro is that you can put it almost anywhere to get different angles.  While playing with this, some hummers came in to feed and, since I had my phone with me, I shot some video with that too.  They really didn’t seem too bothered by my presence.  Here is some more video results.

Wild Bites

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Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle was holding a fundraising event this summer.  It was called Wild Bites.  Taking place in the evening, it consisted of a bunch of Seattle restauranteurs having food stands throughout the zoo along with some drinks stands.  You could wander around between the enclosures, take a look at the animals, stop for some snacks themed on the part of the zoo they were in and grab a drink too.

It was an enjoyable evening with some really interesting food and a nice atmosphere.  I will have some follow up posts with specific animals from the evening but overall we had a really nice time.  A minor problem was that a lot of the animals seemed to turn in for the evening once normal closing time came around.  We found quite a few were settling down or were already asleep.  Also, the drink stands seemed to run out of stuff later in the evening and, since we had waited to sample some of their stuff, to find it was out seemed a bit off.

Still, it was a nice evening and the zoo was a great place to wander as the light gently faded away.  It was all raising money for the zoo too so a worthwhile cause.  Keep an eye out for something similar if you live in the area.

Videoing the Hummingbirds

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Sometimes you just forget what you have tucked in the garage.  I have been trying to get shots of the hummingbirds in our back yard and more recently shot a little video with the DSLR.  Then it occurred to me that they might be wary of people but not of inanimate objects.  Why not stick a camera on a post right next to the feeder.

While it hasn’t had much use recently, I have a GoPro (or two).  I have an adaptor that would sit on top of a lighting stand which is plenty tall enough to get up to the height of the feeder.  Moreover, I can control it all remotely using a phone/tablet including a live video feed.  I sat indoors with the iPad on watching for movement on screen while doing other things.  As soon as one appeared, a press of the button and they were being recorded.  The initial attempts failed until I remembered to switch off the beeps and the LEDs that flash during recording.  After that it was easy.  The results were rather pleasing.

Ryanair Max Jets in Storage

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Ryanair is the launch customer for the Max 200 version of the 737-8 Max.  The Max 200 name is going away I believe since it is a high density version of the -8.  With the grounding of the Max fleet continuing, a number of the Ryanair jets are now parked awaiting deliveries to recommence.  I was walking through the park at Renton on a sunny weekend morning and the Ryanair jets were lined up across the airport from me.  Knowing Michael O’Leary’s enthusiasm for direct communication, I would love to know how his conversations with Boeing over compensation are going.

Ferries and Freighters from Above

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Our aerial adventure with Kenmore Air included a lot of time over the waters of Puget Sound.  Very little time was spent over land.  The waters were not very busy but there was enough boat traffic to see as we soared overhead.  We weren’t always close, though, so sometimes things were watched from a distance.  We did have a pretty close pass on a freighter though.  It was making good speed heading into the sound.

Ferry traffic is a regular thing to see with the Washington State Ferries heading to and fro across the waters.  As we were closing in on Friday Harbor, we saw one ferry.  It was a smaller one that was running between the islands and it was a bit hard to get a good view of.  The ferries between Edmonds and Kingston are a lot more heavily used and so are a lot bigger.  They were passing each other mid crossing as we ran south so I managed to get a few shots of them from above as we headed overhead.