[Leica] Moffett Cup 2007

[r.s.taylor at comcast.net (Richard Taylor)]

Last Saturday I was navigator and winch grinder on a 38' ketch in the  
30th annual Moffett Cup race on Vineyard Sound (Cape Cod,  
Massachusetts).  The wind was honking:  a good 20-25 knots at the  
start and increasing over the afternoon to 30-plus.  As usual, the  
race brought out a wide range of boats from hundred-year-old  
schooners, recently built woodies that look like they are from an  
earlier era, and powerful modern sloops.

Here are six shots I took during the race with my D40x and Nikkor  
55-200 VR Zoom.  All at 1/2000s and f5.6, ISO 400, VR off.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/main.php?g2_itemId=99214

http://tinyurl.com/3cfwze

1.  Malabar II Underway - These large, heavy, schooners don't need to  
reef in these conditions.  Malabar II was marching on this close reach.

2.  Schooner Juno - Juno, a gorgeous sight with all sails flying,  
heads for the Falmouth entrance buoy after rounding the first mark.

3.  Knockdown - With her boom in the water, this cat could have been  
in serious trouble if the wind puffed while she was over like this.   
As it was, she righted promptly and continued with the race.

4.  Swallows and Amazons - This relatively new cat was built on the  
Vineyard of wood in the last decade, I believe.  Here she is roaring  
towards the leeward mark in 25-30 knots with the crew looking  
remarkably dry and comfortable despite being in such a small boat in  
such a big wind.

5.  Photog at Work - This is Louise Gould, a Cape photographer.  It's  
pretty obvious what equipment she prefers.  She didn't have any of  
her Moffett 2007 photos up when I checked this morning (I was hoping  
to find a shot of Sea Queen, the boat I was on), but may have later.   
Her URL is

http://www.louisegould.com

if you'd like to check out her work.

6.  Reaching for East Chop - The final long leg of the race took us  
back to Vineyard Haven in 30 knots of breeze and large seas.  Here  
are four sloops, all larger than us - a good sign for our finish  
position, working their way home.

7.  J-24 - One of the smaller boats in the race, this J-24 needed to  
be worked hard to stay competitive.  These guys were doing their bit  
on the rail on the weather leg back to Falmouth.  Been there, done  
that, don't need to be cold, wet and aching any more.

8.  On the Run... - Two cats of different vintage make a pretty sight  
in the heavy air, on the run to Succonnesset Shoal.

We finished 13th out of 60 starters, a respectable finish in this crowd.

Comments welcome as always.


Regards,

Dick