A black and white take on the big surf and breaking waves from Hurricane Earl’s brush with the Atlantic coast back in September, 2010.  I drove down from Baltimore for the day and was shocked at how many people were coming by the inlet to see what Earl was offering up.  The weather itself was rather fair with only some moderate showers earlier in the day so it was much more inviting for the casual spectators.

I was stoked on the big breaking waves and I love the spray that curls off the top of the breakers when the breeze turns off shore.  Here are a few to get you started and check out the rest in the gallery, Hurricane Earl in Ocean City.

See ya’…

Speed + Style = Stoke

The Ave Skate Shop and Skatemaryland.com put on a killer event at Druid Hill Park on Saturday, June 4th.  There’s a complete recap and some award ceremony vids over on Beast Coast Longboarding so check those out for the details and results.  I’m new to this longboard scene as a skater – I got my first longboard in February, 2011 – and as a photographer but what first appealed to me about this sport from both the physical and the visual were the speed and the style.  Those elements are what I was looking to capture in these images.

I’m stoked to raise the level of my own skating and to shoot more images of skaters rippin’, so hit me in the comments or check my contact info at the bottom of the page if you want to get together for either.

See ya’…

Good times and a great group of sailors down on the West River.  For more info, check out the West River Sailing Club which hosts the biggest cat fleet on the Chesapeake with strong fleets of A Class singlehanders, F16′s, and Nacra 20′s as well as a die hard group of open classers that sail as the West River Catamaran Racing Association (WRCRA).

See the full take of duotone images on my PhotoShelter image archive and if the duotone thing isn’t workin’ for ya’ check the full-color versions.

See ya’ on the water…

See more images from the Pumpkin Patch in duotone/black & blue or full-color.

See ya’ on the water…

Eying the Layline - The crew of a J/22 eyes the layline to the windward mark.

This image is a part of a growing collection of sailing-themed, open edition fine art prints that I’ll be adding to regularly.

I shot this image during a particularly gorgeous, late summer evening of sailboat racing on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.  Check out the 2010 Event Galleries for a ton more from the Downtown Sailing Center’s 2010 Limited One-Design Racing Series.

FireWater – Waning rays of golden orange sunlight dance on the ripples of the Middle Branch after the passing of a summer evening storm

Here’s a little background from an email that Dicky sent me inquiring about the images from that particular night (reprinted here with his permission of course) -

My wife is very interested in seeing my “man overboard” escapade. It was quite an exciting event. While working the fore deck my shoe got caught on a hook used to hold shock cord for keeping the jib on deck. When this hook caught my shoe I lost mobility and went over the side. My ankle was wrapped by the spinnaker guy and is still a little swollen and tender to touch but otherwise does not hurt. The hook tore my shoe from the top to the sole and I ripped the hook from the shock cord. It was still hooked to my shoe when I got back on board.  Lucky for me Charles was on board and strong enough to pull me in and we were able to complete the spinnaker set and keep on racing.

Here’s a slideshow of the sequence (click through the images using the arrows if it’s not moving fast enough for ya’) -

As Dicky notes above, he was lucky enough be sailing with fellow crew member Charles Kyler who was able to yank him back on board in one fell swoop.  And, credit is due to skipper, Marty Fetsch, who was able to lend a hand to Dicky while keeping the boat going in a straight line.

While Dicky looks to have never lost contact with the boat, maybe now would be a good time to review those man overboard procedures.  Check out the wikipedia entry for Man Overboard and this old US Sailing website that has the Man Overboard Procedures that I first learned when taking sailing lessons at the Downtown Sailing Center back in 1998.

I’ll leave you with a link to a slideshow sequence from another time when I was in the right place at the right time to catch some pretty hair-raising action of a J/22 broach on a breezy Thursday night a few years back (Jester J/22 Knockdown vid).

See you on the water…

There’s a lot to do but I feel like I’m just waking up from a long winter’s nap and I’m energized and excited so stay tuned for what’s to come and consider subscribing to the rss feed so you don’t miss a thing.

In the meantime, here’s a little “Best of…” gallery from the 2008 season of the Downtown Sailing Center’s Limited One Design Racing Series.  Enjoy…