Power boat racing is back on the small island republic's soil...errr.. I mean waters, once again! The last time, if I recalled correctly, was held in 2008. I only had a very small glimpse of it while passing by the Marina bay during one of the evenings. Back then, the bay area was not even as developed as now. I've always wondered what's it like since I have never attended one before. Well, last Saturday (19 Nov) and Sunday (20 Nov) were certainly an eye-opener for me, to say the least.
The first day started with the practice session which lasted about an hour (12 to 1 pm). Rather uneventful, but it gave me plenty of chance to practice my panning technique as well as some time to scout the area for different angles. The matches started between 3.30 to 5.30 pm.
The entire marina area was not sealed off from the public. Hence, because of this, not many people bought tickets to use the grandstand to watch the race since they can just hang around the circumference of the marina area (apart from the grandstand that is) and watch the race for free. There are a few benefits of being in the grandstand and that is you get much closer to the pit area to see what's going on. The score board is also facing only the grandstand and pit tents, so unless you're there, you probably won't know what is really going on during the race, driver standings in particular - who's leading the charge, who's dropped out, etc. From the photographer's stand point, you also get plenty of extra photo opportunities, besides just shooting the race that is. Another advantage is that you get to shoot from an elevated height, over looking the entire race. If armed with a power zoom lens, or binoculars, you should be able to track every boat around the circuit. The colour of water is variably richer than when you shoot from ground level, as the tall blue-windowed buildings across the pond were reflected on the water surface (as you can see from some of the images below).
Anyway, enjoy the following images from day 1, which is more of a one-on-one match between drivers. Day 2 will follow shortly.
