Behind the Scenes, January 2022

Sharon Green

The walls of Scuttlebutt HQ include the Ultimate Sailing calendar, and in this report Sharon Green shares the behind-the-scenes story regarding the January 2022 images.

Looking at the January 2022 images in the new Ultimate Sailing Calendar, I can only think: what a brilliant way to start a New Year! Colorful and captivated, poised for action. It’s how I feel about 2022: so eager to return to some sort of normalcy and get back on the water in a big, bold way!

This marks my 40th year producing the Ultimate Sailing Calendar. It’s hard to wrap my head around that, but when I reflect on all the people, boats, venues, and events … what really blows me away is how incredibly thankful I am for all these amazing experiences. All for you, and because of you, my dear fans and patrons.

January 2022 (wow!) opens with two colorful shots taken in the 1990s.

Both of these images were scanned from slides, on a Canon SLR with real film – Fuji Velvia. Thirty-six frames to a roll, which meant being judicious with shots and timing when to change the film.

Roll, roll, roll; pop open the back of the camera onboard a splashy, lurching boat; hunch over to deflect as much spray as possible – although I was inevitably drenched and dripping with saltwater; and pray “THE shot” didn’t happen while I was loading a new roll. Nerve-wracking!

January 2022

The 1993 Admiral’s Cup (top) and 1996 Kenwood Cup (inset) were some of the major team racing events held in that era, which sadly have gone by the wayside. Team racing events were always so much fun to shoot: you never really knew who was winning because scores were cumulative, and every team always gave it their all.

The Admiral’s Cup was based in Cowes, UK and was held every other year from 1957 through 2003. With the strong tides and breeze (and sometimes downright crazy weather) in the Solent, it was such an exciting race venue.

And the evenings!! There would be a ball every night of the regatta hosted by different teams, with international themes, cuisine and music. I had to pack a slew of evening gowns in addition to all my camera and foul weather gear! It was a different age of yachting, and so colorful.

Onboard the Frers 50 Promotion 7 (top), the deck is packed with crew struggling to manage the surly conditions; their huge spinnaker bulging in the breeze, the boom skipping through the waves.

The bottom vertical image is of the maxi yacht Falcon with Boomerang hot on her heels, during the 1996 Kenwood Cup. Falcon’s crew look back warily as Boomerang’s massive spinnaker begins to gobble them up. They were very, very close and of course the only way I could have gotten this shot was from a helicopter.

The Kenwood Cup began in 1972 as the Clipper Cup, with the actual Clipper Cup trophy going to Australia in the 1990s and launching a new life there, while Kenwood Cup racing graced the waters of Hawaii for several more decades, before that too fizzled.

While curating the images for the collector’s edition 2022 Ultimate Sailing Calendar, my goal was to have the vertical and horizontal images compliment each other. These two shots captured three years – and 7200 miles – apart just seemed to fit perfectly together, with the blues and yellows prominent in the gear and spinnakers. These past eras of sailing were rich with color and excitement: what a vibrant kick-off to 2022!

Wishing you and yours a bold, bright and beautiful New Year! ~ Sharon