Return of the BrogLake Windsurfers

Unlike the last visit to the lake at Brogborough, on this occasion, the wind returned, and the sun beamed from a background of Cumulus Clouds scudding by. On this occasion I brought out my Full-frame EOS R with the 60-600mm lens and 2x Converter to give it an airing, and dust off my cobwebs on its use! I wanted to keep operating from a low-level, but this was not as easy as in the past, because the Swans and Canada Geese had taken advantage of the lack of Anglers’ Activity and reclaimed the shore by layering it with Guano! I searched the nearby expanse of thin reeds for suitable bricks to build myself a seat as close to the water’s edge, yet give my tripod some ground clearance, and settled to see what my subjects would be on this visit. Certainly the wind did not favour the Dragonflies and Damselflies, but as I set up, my first subjects entered Stage Left – two families of Canada Geese rode the waves close by the shore. Once my presence was noticed they chose to head for deeper water, but not swift enough for me to miss the opportunity!

The  relaxing of the LockDown regulations had allowed for a few to take advantage of the sunshine and more importantly the steady wind to attract members of the Windsurfing community to the water, from the moment of a few coming into view, my subjects for the visit’s photography turned to human activity! The new season brought two new sails to the lake, and I had to ask what this new kit was called, and learned they were wingsails from Emma Barnes, to avoid showing my ignorance! Certainly, I took more shots of these, but only put those of interest into the gallery, with a couple of shots of a particularly spectacular wipeout! Also to keep my hand in I grabbed a few shots of the aerial activities of a Blackheaded Gull as it was in range. I noted that several gulls were tending to follow the windsurfers for chances of the windsurfers distracting their prey and giving them a chance to swoop in.

Another opportunity was for me to capture skyscapes for their use as backgrounds for greetings cards, as there were some soaring Cumulus clouds around. The spot from which I was shooting was less than ideal due to the reeds and the wind direction, giving me a restricted angle of view, but it was an enjoyable afternoon to be out with a camera I had not used for a while.

Brogborough Lake Two Brave Sailors

A bright sun and a brisk wind was enough to entice me to find the time to visit the lake, even though my daughter, her husband and their two children were due to pay me a visit. The failure of my boiler meant that there was little to keep me from venturing out, and a bright sun and brisk wind favoured the odds that there would be some hardy souls grabbing the chance to take advantage of the wind to go windsurfing.

For similar reasons, there was a window of opportunity open to me to drive over and get some photographs, before the arrival of my family, and the generous delivery of an additional electric radiator to bolster the efforts of mine. I was however arriving late due to my needing to tidy the house in preparation for the onslaught of two young grandchildren, and the need to ensure my daughter and her husband could not criticise me for a lack of either tidiness or cleanliness! So, by the time I had arrived, the two sailors had been braving the bitter wind for at least two hours, and I was only witnessing the tail end of the sailors’ energy.

So, I feel I was very lucky to capture the number of shots I did in the short time I spent at the lake, and even more so capture a single jump; whether there had been more prior to my arrival, I did not learn. I certainly was far from disappointed in my brief visit; the only frustration was that I had gone back to using the. Sigma 60-600mm with its 1.4x Converter on the 7D MkII, and I failed to get control of the focussing square to alter where my sensor was positioned — whether this was finger-trouble on my part, or not, this was not the time to go searching for the answer, so that was a slight irritation, that comes about from jumping between different camera models, and the debilitating feature of increasing ‘Anno Domini’ or diminishing mental faculties! I now will explore that later (which does seem to be an oxymoron!)

To have captured one jump in the short time I was at the lake has to be considered a bonus, and because the activity was short lived, gave me more time to tidy the house before my family arrived.

November Windsurfers at Brogborough

Sometimes I get time to play, so here is another jump, in black and white:

Saturday morning brought rain and wind, but I had learned that it was due to dry up later, but I welcomed the wind as it held the promise of there being windsurfers on the lake at Brogborough, and I was hoping I might be free enough to go down there, but this time by car, not bike!

The rain took a while to stop and the wind remained unabated, but the sky brightened so I gathered camera and lenses and loaded them aboard my car, and was soon on my way more in hope than certainty; it was quite a relief to see a fairly full car park at Brogborough Lake. I did not delay, but immediately brought out the tripod and set the 7D MkII and 100-400mm onto the Acrotech head and made my way to the lakeside. I was surprised by just how waterlogged the grass was; much more so than the I had experienced just two miles distant – there were even large puddles of water in the grass.

Initially I set up right by the water’s edge, but after shooting from there I soon found my feet slithering in the mud as I swivelled to follow the windsurfers, and retreated to more level ground a bit further back, I little realised that I would be moving many more times as each spot became a morass of slippery mud due to my frequently moving my feet.

Shortly for a while the sun broke through the cloud cover, but at first this was short-lived as it began to spit with rain. Fortunately it did not last too long and the sun returned  giving some good lighting for a spell. I was blessed with a few taking advantage of the gusty wind to jump, but I did not manage to capture every instance as there were too many people to cover and in every direction, but despite my lack of knowledge as to when any one person might choose to leap, I did capture  a few sequences.

It was such a wonderful opportunity as for several weeks there has been very little signs of wind except when it was tipping it down and was very dull, there had bee n sunshine but on days when there was not a breath of wind. I hope that what I have captured meets with approval from those who did do some jumping.