The day looked promising for windsurfers from the weather forecast; the wind appeared to be from a good direction and the speeds were encouraging for those who either worked for themselves or had tolerant bosses to allow them to get to the lake, don wetsuits and get out there.
That was certainly my premise, and since the sun direction might well favour a walk through the hawthorn woods to set up above the high bank, I took the car so I could heft my Gitzo, rather than the lightweight carbon fibre Giottos one.
On arrival there was one person out on the water, and three or so others rigging, so this was a promising sign. So I put the gimbal head on above the Manfrotto levelling and attached the 7D MkII with the the Tamron 150-600mm and headed for the woods. I looked at three different spots before settling on one that gave me the widest view, and was in the general direction for the best chance of the my subjects approaching head on. I was really fortunate that at least one leg of the tripod was able to slot into a root close to the edge of the steep bank. Earlier I had looked at a spot down by the water’s edge which was approached by a very steep and narrow path. I decided on checking it out whilst leaving the camera and tripod at the top this turned out to be a very sensible precaution as in going down unencumbered by any gear I slipped and only just managed to stop myself from falling all the way to the water’s edge! I retraced my steps and made a far more sensible decision to live with being above the foreshore!
I was lucky that I was soon spotted and many of the more experienced sailors headed my way, the wind though played fast and loose with the sailors, sometimes blowing strongly only to die away to nothing on a whim. This meant at one stage several of them found themselves becalmed right beneath me, this did mean that I was engaged in conversations with them for a change.
I did manage to capture some jumps which was a benefit, but I missed some as there were so many on the water at once, but I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon and despite the sun, I was shaded by some tall trees near at hand.
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