Local Motion: Wahine Sailing Series
Sand Island Honolulu, Hawaii. The University of Hawaii’s sailing team is host to the dinghy event of the 2022 Wahine Sailing Series. This dinghy event is unique because it is the only “small boat” event in the series, the rest is sailed on larger keelboats.
“It’s great to see such a talented group of girls out on the water!” Annie says, expressing her favorite part of the series. A series like this is excellent for getting more women in a mostly male-dominated sport. Sailing as a sport does not require too much athleticism over experience and strategy, which makes the physical part of the playing field much more even.
Driver Devon and crew Lilly, both talented members of the UH sailing team participate in this regatta. An event like this is a good opportunity to have some less competitive fun on the water and have a good time. This event is what many sailors call a “fun regatta”, with less competition and more good times.
Driver Kahlia hangs on to the centerboard about to right the boat. Capsizes are a regular occurrence in dinghies and allow the sailors to take risker moves without breaking the boat too badly. As much as a slowdown this is, Kahlia and her crew are in good spirits after getting the boat back up.
Chloe and Frances, also on the UH team switch up roles between driver and crew and overtake another boat. The course set up for this race was a reaching course which is not something you see at the collegiate level. All the sailors have a blast as they get up planeing and surf toward the finish line.
Driver Vivian and crew coach Maddy go in for a maneuver with a big roll. This fun regatta is also a great opportunity to experiment and get some good practice time in for more intense competition. Driving with your coach in the boat is a good way to hone in on the fine details of your technique and sharpen your skills.
This mother-daughter pair made a stand defending their position. Since most of this series is casual and for fun, parents in the competition take it as a fun day to spend more time with family. These two competitors have stuck together through the series and were full of excitement after finally getting some card-worthy pictures of themselves.
Reflection:
Taking photos for this event was very technically challenging. Between the rock and roll of the boat, changing lighting conditions with shifting shade and cloud cover, and a longer lens made getting sharp shots very difficult. Most of the photos I took came out nicely but if I had to get a shot where the subject was shaded by the boat and with cloud cover, lowering my shutter speed was a tough decision. Talking to people here was pretty easy because events like this one are very social and everyone was excited to see their pictures too.
