The morning after the day before

This year I was all set to follow the international yacht race round the Isle of Wight.

A boat was booked which would take a number of photographers out into the Solent and there get in the way of the competitors – all in the interests of “the ultimate close up!”

Friday – the day before the race was, as you can see from the photographs – deceptive. The sun shone, boats bobbed on the ocean etc etc.

True, there was a brisk breeze nevertheless the crews went out with a merry heart to practise. Officials wandered about in shorts and it was, as you might say perfect weather for photographers.

However, the weather forecast for Saturday warned that there could be gusts of wind in excess of 40MPH and a swell out beyond the Needles of 2 metres in height.

The BBC weather cautioned that a deepening trough of low pressure would be heading our way on Saturday morning.  Our skipper decided he was not prepared to take his boat out in those conditions, so any photography of the event would have to be done from the land.

I chose to go on the mainland along to Hurst Castle which sticks out into the Solent further than any other point on the route.

And from about 5.00am on Saturday it rained – not the gentle stuff we like in the garden but sheets and sheets of it from dense black clouds and of course there was wind, which one weather report later announced had topped 50MPH.

Never fear your faithful blogger was there on the most exposed promontory, soaked to the skin and brandishing his camera with a 400mm lens on it. (that was the largest lens I could get inside the waterproof plastic bag)

We often talk about “point and shoot” in photography, but that certainly was the case as I stared through dripping spectacles and tried to discern where the viewfinder on the camera had got to inside the polyethene bag. As you can see from the pictures the storm was atrocious.

Please don’t email me and moan that the pictures seem a little grainy. That’s probably not photographic grain, more likely it’s rain, mist, semi darkness and a general lack of visibility. (Such a hero! …or something)

Home again now – although I am sure I have shrunk! The sun is shining and they tell me that it could warm up next week.

Enjoy your weekend.