Showing it Off

I was at Netley Sailing Club, on Southampton Water, yesterday for the RS Tera National Championships. It was the hottest day of the year so far (pushing 30 degrees) and it took the sea breeze a while to get going. I took the opportunity to wander around snapping the surroundings and chatting to people.

Giles Barclay, another Canon user, was interested to see I was using the K-7. He had a go with it and was impressed by its compact size. The picture on this post was taken by Giles.

Once we got afloat it was quite a fun event - you can see the pics on the Fotoboat website. I used the K-7/50-200 alongside the 40D with a range of lenses: Canon EF 400 f5.6L, Sigma 10-20 and Canon EF 70-200 f4L with 1.4 extender. I found the Pentax viewfinder noticeably brighter than the Canon's, something I haven't commented on before.

Beer at the Weekend

I went to Beer Sailing Club last weekend for the RS700/800 open. Another lovely day with a building sea breeze - enough for some close racing but not enough for really exciting photos.

I used the K-7 with 50-200 in conjunction with the Canon 40D/400 f5.6L. In a small RIB (4m) with fairly choppy seas the smaller, lighter Pentax was much easier to handle than the Canon. But I wouldn't sacrifice the 400's image quality and reach just for ease of handling!

Nearly Very Wet

I paddled out to the Exe safe water mark to photograph Exe SC's bank holiday race yesterday. Quite a long way, into the wind and I was glad to tie up to the committee RIB and climb aboard for a breather. Took my shots, and set out back, now with both wind and tide behind me. For a bit of sport I decided to go over the Pole Sand, through the breaking water. Great fun until I was swung broadside by the fierce current then rolled by a wave! Luckily the water was only a foot or so deep but the kayak was completely inverted and the camera bag submerged. But the bag (Watershed Ocoee) was securely tied to the boat and stayed totally waterproof. The paddle was also tied on, so no dramas there.