So this time last week I only had a faint understanding of the sport of ice sailing... Years back I had seen a few photos of the sport and I was intrigued. The idea of racing across the ice at highway speeds powered only by the wind sounded crazy. So when I got a text last week saying the North American Ice Sailing Championship was coming to my backyard I had to go watch.
Many of you know that my passion is all things photography. So I just didn't go and watch I hauled a sled of camera gear along with me. I feel that to take good photos you need to understand your subject so I spent the first day of the championship trying to understand what even was going on. Lets just say these boats go crazy fast so while I got some good images I felt that I could do better. I cleared my schedule and went back the next day.
In ice sailing you need two things... Ice and wind. We had ice but the wind didn't really want to come out and play. So I chatted with everyone, learned about the sport, and practiced shooting and flying my drone.
Now before I go on let me take a second to describe where I live.
I reside in the Northeastern corner of Montana. A place so far off the beaten path that we were officially designated the Middle of Nowhere USA a few years back. Remoteness is not the only thing we have going for us our climate is also pretty extreme. Summer temperatures can easily be over one hundred degrees and during the winter thirty below without wind chill is quite common.
It's the last part that is important. The wind... It is usually quite windy here so when the second day of the championship was uneventful because of no wind I figured I would cleared my schedule once again and go back for the third day.
I awoke in the early overnight hours to the sound of the wind and I was excited that the third day was the charm. When I arrived the corse was set, the boats were ready, and I caught a ride to the best position for action. When the first race was flagged to a start I snapped away capturing the action but shortly into the second race the wind stopped.
Not just stopped it died altogether.
I was bummed because it was the last day. But then I herd people talking of a fourth, provisional day worked into the schedule. I was this deep already so again I cleared my schedule and back I went.
The forecast for day 4 had the wind returning with its usual Montana force. The start was scheduled early to take advantage of the weaker morning winds. I loaded up my sled once more and off I walked across the ice to get into position. Two days of warmth had smoothed the ice out and it looked smooth and fast. The wind was gradually getting stronger as I set up my gear. Shortly after 9:30 the first Silver fleet race of the day was off.
Next up was the Gold fleet. These are the top racers in the world. After two days of sitting they were ready to start racing again. The wind was really starting to blow now and after getting some great shots from the first race I decide to pull out the drone and see if I could keep up.
Turns out that three days of practice, watching, and learning allowed me to nail the action. I was able to follow the race leaders as they battled it out all the way to the photo finish. I screamed with excitement as the race ended! I had keep up with these really fast boat and turned out that was quite an accomplishment. It was also enough to catch the eye of the ice racing world and with that an invitation to join the United States delegation at the World Championship in Europe in just over two weeks.
Pretty much mind blown here... The invitation is one the table but the challenge is I have to pay my way for last minute travel to an unknown destination in Northern Europe. It's only unknown because the decision as to where its is held totally depends on the ice and wind conditions much like why the North American Championships was held in Nowhere, Montana. But the part I do know is I need to get from Montana to Germany where I meet up with the others I'll be traveling with and from there we head North into the great unknown.
I really hate to ask for help because this is not a life nor death issue.
I won't be sad if I don't go. My life is already great because I have been able to follow my artistic dreams. But an artistic path is also sometimes a frugal one because art doesn't always pay off monetarily like other professions and while this would be a really, really, really great photography experience I don't feel its worth the financial burden to my family.
But some of you said I should at least ask so I am.
Thank you for reading my story and I am truly grateful to each and everyone of you regardless of if you give or not. I am overwhelmed by the love already.
Cheers,
Sean
Many of you know that my passion is all things photography. So I just didn't go and watch I hauled a sled of camera gear along with me. I feel that to take good photos you need to understand your subject so I spent the first day of the championship trying to understand what even was going on. Lets just say these boats go crazy fast so while I got some good images I felt that I could do better. I cleared my schedule and went back the next day.
In ice sailing you need two things... Ice and wind. We had ice but the wind didn't really want to come out and play. So I chatted with everyone, learned about the sport, and practiced shooting and flying my drone.
Now before I go on let me take a second to describe where I live.
I reside in the Northeastern corner of Montana. A place so far off the beaten path that we were officially designated the Middle of Nowhere USA a few years back. Remoteness is not the only thing we have going for us our climate is also pretty extreme. Summer temperatures can easily be over one hundred degrees and during the winter thirty below without wind chill is quite common.
It's the last part that is important. The wind... It is usually quite windy here so when the second day of the championship was uneventful because of no wind I figured I would cleared my schedule once again and go back for the third day.
I awoke in the early overnight hours to the sound of the wind and I was excited that the third day was the charm. When I arrived the corse was set, the boats were ready, and I caught a ride to the best position for action. When the first race was flagged to a start I snapped away capturing the action but shortly into the second race the wind stopped.
Not just stopped it died altogether.
I was bummed because it was the last day. But then I herd people talking of a fourth, provisional day worked into the schedule. I was this deep already so again I cleared my schedule and back I went.
The forecast for day 4 had the wind returning with its usual Montana force. The start was scheduled early to take advantage of the weaker morning winds. I loaded up my sled once more and off I walked across the ice to get into position. Two days of warmth had smoothed the ice out and it looked smooth and fast. The wind was gradually getting stronger as I set up my gear. Shortly after 9:30 the first Silver fleet race of the day was off.
Next up was the Gold fleet. These are the top racers in the world. After two days of sitting they were ready to start racing again. The wind was really starting to blow now and after getting some great shots from the first race I decide to pull out the drone and see if I could keep up.
Turns out that three days of practice, watching, and learning allowed me to nail the action. I was able to follow the race leaders as they battled it out all the way to the photo finish. I screamed with excitement as the race ended! I had keep up with these really fast boat and turned out that was quite an accomplishment. It was also enough to catch the eye of the ice racing world and with that an invitation to join the United States delegation at the World Championship in Europe in just over two weeks.
Pretty much mind blown here... The invitation is one the table but the challenge is I have to pay my way for last minute travel to an unknown destination in Northern Europe. It's only unknown because the decision as to where its is held totally depends on the ice and wind conditions much like why the North American Championships was held in Nowhere, Montana. But the part I do know is I need to get from Montana to Germany where I meet up with the others I'll be traveling with and from there we head North into the great unknown.
I really hate to ask for help because this is not a life nor death issue.
I won't be sad if I don't go. My life is already great because I have been able to follow my artistic dreams. But an artistic path is also sometimes a frugal one because art doesn't always pay off monetarily like other professions and while this would be a really, really, really great photography experience I don't feel its worth the financial burden to my family.
But some of you said I should at least ask so I am.
Thank you for reading my story and I am truly grateful to each and everyone of you regardless of if you give or not. I am overwhelmed by the love already.
Cheers,
Sean