TRANSPAC PREP
TRANSPAC PREP
By Sharon Green
Transpac is one of my favorite events to shoot – but also the most exhausting, with nearly a month of non-stop running around!
One of our goals is to get at last one really stellar image of each boat, for the slide show at the prize-giving in Honolulu. Presenting this grand finale to an epic journey, is so fulfilling! The sailors ROAR when they see their boat on the big screen. It’s such a thrill, our true reward for all that work.
But first, there are the logistics. Weeks of logistics. Multiple photographers on the docks, the water, the start boat, and in the air. And all those boats, drivers, the helicopter and pilot!
Because we never know if a boat is going to finish at night, we have to get the shot at the start. And as you can imagine, they’re not sitting around after the gun goes off, waiting for us to come photograph them. They’re off! So it’s a chase to get the perfect image: the lighting, the crew on the rail, the sails trimmed – all without being in the way.
And then, there’s the finish, in the formidable channel between Oahu and Molokai. Shooting the finish represents the ultimate coordination challenge: more boats, helicopters, and a tireless photo team. Ceaseless nail-biting all-nighters, spent checking tracking reports, weather conditions, and communicating with the navigators. On dawn patrol, I’m waiting at the heliport as the race boat approaches the rendezvous point off Makapu’u, wondering if they’ll arrive during daylight, intact, and in a breeze.
Day after day after day. This year, there are 55 boats! We estimate they’ll finish over a period of ten days.
Also in News
Royal Blue
Oh, that water! That sparkling, rich royal blue that caresses the yachts as they hurtle toward Honolulu on the Transpacific Yacht Race, as depicted in the April 2025 pages of the Ultimate Sailing Calendar.
Maxed Out
We have excitedly shared Gilles’ exquisite work before in the Ultimate Sailing Calendar, and this month focus on the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Porto Cervo. Here an impressive fleet of more than 40 behemoth, majestic maxi yachts battled their rivals and the seas, off the blustery coast of Sardinia.
Make mine a double
The January pages of the 2025 Ultimate Sailing Calendar: in Luca Butto’s featured image the crew hikes hard, defying the explosion of spray buffeting the maxi yacht Cannonball, as it plows to weather at the Tre Golfi Sailing Week in Naples. In the inset image, at the bottom, Stefano Gattini captures the Club Swan 36 Farstar in hot pursuit at the Swan Croatia Challenge.
+About Ultimate Sailing
Sailing is a magnificent, colorful and dramatic sport. This unique sport has many variables with the constantly changing elements, sea conditions, boats, events, competitors and locations. The challenge is to capture on film electrifying moments that take your breath away. Those moments and opportunities are very few, but when they happen... it is ultimate sailing." ~ Sharon Green
Sharon Green has been capturing electrifying images of performance sailing for more than 40 years. Her annual Ultimate Sailing Calendar, featuring the highlights of competitive sailing, is eagerly anticipated by yachting and photography enthusiasts worldwide. Sharon has been published in major boating publications, both locally and internationally, since she first took up a camera while still in high school.
The pursuit of 'Ultimate Sailing' images never seems to grow old. Four decades and I still love the challenge of creating memorable images for my clients and the calendar."
Sharon is happiest when she is on the water or hanging from a helicopter in search of the elusive image that can be called 'Ultimate Sailing'. "My greatest satisfaction is when it all comes together: the anticipation, planning, organizing, traveling and epic conditions that combine to create a thrilling photograph.
The passage of time eludes our grasp: we can only look back in awe and look forward in anticipation. Never did I expect, 40 years ago, that my vision of creating the Ultimate Sailing Calendar would endure and provide such an extraordinary life experience. boundless advancements in sailing, and concurrently radical developments in camera and photographic technology, have kept me on my toes and the years have swept by! I find myself at this landmark anniversary: humbled by your patronage and inspired by your support. To my many friends, colleagues, clients, and subjects who have sustained and fueled this endless passion for capturing the ultimate Sailing image, I extend my deepest love and gratitude.
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