NASCAR on water

I have shot powerboat racing before, but I never had witnessed any kind of accident on the water - until this weekend. I was shooting “Thunder on the Narrows” at the Kent Island Yacht Club. The event is presented by the Kent Narrows Racing Association.

I had to get there two hours early so I could get good parking and the lay of the land. I arrived at 10 a.m. for a race that started at noon. It was a humid day with a chance of thunderstorms so I want the car close by in case I had to stow my gear quickly or if I was called off to another assignment.

I made many different shots in the hours before the race of the crews getting the boats ready, and then it was race time. I was shooting with my d3 and a 400mm lens. I would switch between using a 1.4 extender. I shot the nine heats of the qualifier round and at this point, I was really starting to sweat and be uncomfortable. I decided I would stay for a few more rounds since the finals were starting next. I shot the finals of the Jersey Skiff class of boats and then it was time for the Pro Stock class.

All day, I was having trouble with my camera. I would shoot a burst of images with the motor drive and the camera would slow down to a crawl after 13 images in the buffer. This cost me some nice shots. This really bit me in the Pro Stock class. I was shooting the boats as they came around the corner, the PS29 boat was bouncing along and then suddenly it flipped in the air right in my viewfinder. At that point, the camera was struggling to shoot and I was lucky to have caught the frame above. Who knows, maybe if I was ripping away, I would have missed the shot in between frames anyway, but it was very frustrating.

Now, I never like seeing people get hurt and luckily the driver was fine, but man it certainly makes for a dramatic image. I even bet the driver of the boat will be looking for a reprint. It’s like NASCAR on the water.

Check out the rest of the images at my paper's web site http://media.hometownannapolis.com/flash/2008/08/03sshta/index.html