Brogborough Big Sails 1st Sunday in May

There seemed just about enough of a breeze to bring out some of the Windsurfing Sailors onto the lake, so I gathered my kit and headed along to see what I might capture. I was fully aware it was hardly enough to make for anything dramatic, as the lack of a stiff breeze meant everyone would be using large sails to capture whatever wind was there. 

There was some warmth when the sun was out which did mean I was likely to suffer less from the wind on my neck than on my last visit, but foolishly I failed to bring a scarf, so a stiff neck was ‘de rigeur’, but at least it was not so cold that I might suffer ‘rigor mortis’!

I decided that my best angle was going to be to head through the anglers’ gate and follow the bank to the left of the Windsurfing grounds and find myself a low viewpoint beneath the bank; this would allow me to sit with the tripod below me and the camera at just the right height, so settled myself to see what I might capture. One advantage of the spot was that it did lend itself to the capture of wide shots with several sailors in the wide landscape, so I did ‘bank’ some shots for future purposes.

During my spell of shooting I had only two passing visitors because I was away from landing, but it did mean that several sailors did venture closer to me once they clocked where I was, though ironically several gybing came too close for my lens to cope, but were I to choose a shorter focal length I would miss any of the more distant shots! 

In this instance it is not quite the same as when shooting wildlife, where I swear several birds know precisely which lens I have on the camera and bear their safe distance from me accordingly – Kingfishers know that when I have a long lens they can sit happily really close such that I cannot get a shot in, or just far enough away that they are a mere dot in the distance! At least a camera on a tripod, sporting a long lens on Brogborough is a magnet, just a shame that wind and sun don’t always oblige!

I had considered visiting a Cricket Match and had I done so, and visited the lake on the following day there would have been more wind, but there is some law governing these sorts of decision and I often seem to encounter it, and a failing memory does not help either!