From a nearly century-old Star tradition in Santa Barbara to a group of women coming together from across the U.S. and Canada in Newport, Sharon has found plenty worth pointing a camera at lately.
The 2026 Sir Thomas Lipton Cup brought the Star fleet to Santa Barbara Yacht Club for two days of close, tactical racing on the Channel. For Sharon, this one was literally in her own backyard.
There’s plenty of history behind that magnificent trophy. Sir Thomas Lipton sent it to Santa Barbara in 1923, and it has been raced for in Stars since 1924. Over the years, names including Lowell North, Dennis Conner, Vince Brun, Paul Cayard, Mark Reynolds, Eric Doyle and George Szabo have been added to it.
This year it was Will Stout and Danny Cayard who earned their place in that history.
Nearly a century after Stars first raced for the Lipton Trophy at SBYC, the boats, the competition and the Santa Barbara Channel are still making pretty good subjects for Sharon’s cameras.
Explore the 2026 Sir Thomas Lipton Cup gallery →
A week earlier, Sharon was nearly 3,000 miles away in Newport for Safe Harbor Race Weekend, where much of her attention turned to the IC37 fleet.
Several of the teams were using the regatta as valuable racing time ahead of the NYYC Women’s International Championship. But it was what happens before everyone gets to the starting line that caught Sharon’s attention.
“It was a real treat to get to know the sailors and their teams,” she said afterward.
Learning how the teams came together, how they train and travel, and the logistics involved in bringing sailors from different places together to compete gave Sharon a different perspective when she picked up the camera.
She particularly enjoyed meeting the Canadian sailors and the women of Cascadia Sailing, a Pacific Northwest team bringing together sailors from the U.S. and Canada. After meeting the women ashore and learning a little of their story, photographing them on the water took on a whole new meaning.
Explore the 2026 Safe Harbor Race Weekend gallery →
Two very different regattas and two very different reasons to look a little closer.
Find your boat, your team—or simply a photograph that catches your eye.
