August 26, 2012-Watching Powerboats

tigersnail images-laura winter
Getting Out for a Day.

“Cast Off”

Then there was the slap of lines like fat snakes landing on the concrete and we started to back out. It was satisfying for me, after a month sitting in the marina berth, to get out of the slip, even if it was only for a motor trip to the Boca to watch a powerboat race; just to do something, anything.

Ten people had showed to go at six-forty-five so I guess it was a big deal for them, or maybe they were just like me, looking for something interesting to do on a Saturday morning in Trinidad or maybe they simply enjoyed the opportunity for another social interaction with other cruisers. Judy served coffee and tea and muffins and the scones someone brought and when we got to the Boca looking for a good viewing spot there was already a few dozen other spectator boats, so maybe it was a big deal after all. I dunno.

A guy named Gary came with us and I never met him before but he was a Kiwi and he seemed like he knew what he was doing so I gave him the helm to hold station among the pirogues and sport fishermen and I told him not to hit anyone when I went forward with Thorsten to shoot the racers when they came through the gap, if they ever did, and he didn’t hit anyone but we had to wait for half an hour. No problem.

Then a skipping dot leading a white roster tail appeared on the horizon and it turned into an orange and red missile with three big outboards and three men in red crash helmets and it sped through the cut alone and was gone.

We shot a few frames and wondered if that was it, where were the rest of them and mainly where were the big boys whose motors we’d heard snorting in the boatyard all week? Shouldn’t they be first?

Thorsten said there was two starts, and the big boats came soon enough; big cats with closed cockpits and snarling engines, and with photo helicopters swarming overhead, looking like they were loafing even though they were going a hundred and thirty. I missed them; looking through the viewfinder of a Nikon you don’t really see much.

But I got some shots despite the cloudy weather.

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
"E34".

When they were all gone on their way to Tobago someone joked that we should follow them to shoot the finish, Ha Ha!

Instead we went for a lazy sail on the Gulf of Paria. Gary and I checked out the Kevlar genoa which I had just got back from the loft while Chris steered and the rest finished off the scones.

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Gary & Al.

We were back in the slip by noon. It was a great day; we have to do it again.

Click here for some more photos.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Trinidad