Spend a day on the Solent with Nikon School chasing and photographing the sailing during the Cowes Regatta. Cowes week is a true international event with participants from all over the world. With boats everywhere you look, its fast, furious and with the skills of our skipper our photography boat will be in the thick of action, so why not join us for a great days photography out on the Solent
This is a great photography experience photographing the exhilarating action on The Solent following some of the World's best Yachtsmen and women as they race in competitions. Cowes week brings 100's of yachts and sailors of all classes to the Isle of Wight and the Solent. With around 30 daily races Cowes week is now the largest sailing regatta in the world.
Our day will start at Ocean Village, Southampton at around 10.00am where we set sail for Cowes and the main hub of activity. Weather permitting, during the day we will visit locations like the Needles and Yarmouth where many of the racing yachts will be seen jostling for position during their races. We will return to Ocean Village around 4.30pm after what we hope will be a great day out capturing all of the sailing action.
Places are limited to 10 people to ensure everyone has space to move onboard our exclusively charted photography boat which is a large catamaran. It is perfect for photography with its large rear deck and top speed of 28 knots which can keep pace with all but the fastnet racing yachts. Our skipper is an extremely experienced sailor with over 20 years of sailing the Solent under his belt, not to mention his time as a Calshot Lifeboatman. You are assured of a great safe day in the thick of all the action at Cowes Regatta.
In the workshop we will cover a range of topics, including:
Camera Settings for fast moving action
Focusing Modes
Lens Choice
Using Shutter Speed to influence motion
Panning
Pre-focusing
Tips and Techniques
The day is entirely dependent on the weather, sometimes we may need to stay ashore if the weather in the Solent goes against us. However, if the Cowes organisers are allowing sailing, we will venture out to photograph it, so please bring your sea legs with you as well as this may mean that venturing out in force 5 or 6 winds if the skipper decides it safe to do so.
Please bring a cover for your camera, lens and bag as the spray can get a little heavy at times depending on the weather.
Lenses covering focal lengths from 24mm - 500mm can be useful on this course to shoot a range of contextual compostions as well as close-ups of the boats and crews. Ideal lenses would be 100-400mm or 180-600mm as this will remove the need to change lenses as doing so is not very easy on the boat and can let dust and moisture into the camera.
If you would like to borrow any specific kit for this course please get in contact with us at [email protected] with your request and we will do our best to bring it along. Note that we require at least 1-2 weeks notice to try arrange any loan cameras and lenses for this workshop.
If you have any questions about this exciting workshop, please e-mail us at [email protected]
Start to finish a great day out at Day 3 of the Cowes Regatta. The vessel was very stable and well skippered and crewed, by folk who really knew the races and where to go for the besty shots. The 15-20knott weather made it choppy which added to the drama and shot opportunities.
Andy M.
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