This year was the 58th running of the Swiftsure Yacht Race. For several years John Clarke, a long-time member of the VCC, has organized a group of club members to photograph the races for Swiftsure. We spend some time for the 2 days before, and a day after, photographing the race preparations and the many volunteers who make this annual event happen.
On Saturday morning, we suited up and headed out to photograph the yachts as they started and followed them for the morning as they headed on their various races. I was lucky to join John, Dan & Gail Takahashi on the Prince of Whales fast open zodiac (with 400 hp of power) for five hours of flying around the strait, chasing the 100+ yachts. Three other VC members were on the larger Prince of Whales boat – less bouncing and spray! We all should have taken our passports as we were probably in American waters.
It was a perfect day with a steady wind, and an outgoing tide – a picture-perfect spinnaker start. The conditions were ideal, and we came back to the Inner Harbour after five hours of bouncing around the Strait of Juan de Fuca with salt spray in our faces with up to 1,000 shots each. We all downloaded our +/- 100 best shots to John and he sent them on to Swiftsure to become the official 2023 photographs on their website (www.swiftsure.org). A great, but tiring morning, with good friends and some impressive photos due to the perfect conditions and good luck. I can’t wait until next year to do it again!!
