Behind the Scenes, July 2024

Sharon Green

The walls of Scuttlebutt HQ include the Ultimate Sailing calendar by Sharon Green, with Betsy Senescu sharing this behind-the-scenes story regarding the July 2024 images.

Who wouldn’t want to climb aboard one of these Melges 24s and enjoy the brisk spray, during these dog days of summer? The July images in the 2024 Ultimate Sailing Calendar feature the Melges 24 World Championship captured by Sharon Green, and bring a cooling breath of fresh air as summer heat blankets the land.

The 2022 Worlds marked a long-awaited and exhilarating return to competition after two years of cancellation (due to the pandemic). “The mood was really high and it was a thrilling event to photograph,” revealed Sharon. “And I love shooting offshore in Ft. Lauderdale. When it is great, it is really great! The first few days of this regatta were definitely fresh-to-frightening.”

“It was terrific to be back in Fort Lauderdale, where I’ve spent a ton of time,” she continued. “For many years my parents had a beachfront condo there near the entrance to Port Everglades, and my Dad and I used to sit on the patio with binocul

July 2024

This star-studded event drew 31 boats from around the globe and was won by Peter Duncan and the crew of Raza Mixta, pictured in the inset at bottom.

“I was shooting from a RIB driven by Sandra Askew’s coach Grant “Fuzz” Spanhake because the event was short photo boats – so the coach boats took turns running me around. It’s tricky to have a coach boat turn into a photo boat: they are trying to do their job and I am trying to do my job. But they were so accommodating and I was able to capture some stunning images.”

Such as Sharon’s shot featured at the top of the July pages of the 2024 Ultimate Sailing Calendar, with Laura Grondin’s Dark Energy leading the pack. “This reminds me of a photo I took during the Big Boat Series, where I captured a perfect flying formation of spinnakers on San Francisco Bay,” she noted.

“During a multi-media presentation one evening a member of the audience asked me, ‘How did you get all those boats to line up like that?’ That always gives me a chuckle, as if I could command that during a race! No, it’s all about being at the right place at the right time – and a bit of luck.”

Sharon said she captured the July images with her Canon EOS R5 camera and 100-500mm lens set at shutter speed 1/2000 F-stop 7.1 “All in all it was a fantastic event, hosted by Lauderdale Yacht Club, with a great Race Committee headed by PRO Tom Lihan, and I was so thrilled to be there!”