10 Photos: JUN 2016 Sailing Sabani Event Zamami Island Okinawa

A Quick Rundown

 

 

The afternoon prior to the sailing sabani race (Saturday) teams form up at Furuzamami Beach.

Before any boat race, participating members conduct at thorough beach cleanup. 

 From Zamami Island, they will race to Tomarin Port in Naha, Okinawa.

Aboard an escort (safety) boat, I am the cameraman for the boat with the red sail.

 Every team and their boats, deserve to have photos taken so, I give it a try.

Once they start paddling and sailing, they will be spread out for miles.

The teams get a good workout for their arms, stroking those paddles.

A photographer, gets a great workout, bouncing around on his legs.

A tripod, would be useless, on a rocking and rolling fishing boat, out at sea.

The skies, following us, turned from blue to grey and, the wind picked up.

Just take your eyes and camera, off the team and, look what happened.

Some evil mother trucker, in the deep seas, capsized their boat !

Those guys and gals, don't need to be rescued by anyone; they're professionals.

Still, I worry about them. we're drinking buddies. What about sharks !!!

These sabani people are bound and determined, to complete the race,  back to Naha.

Five hours and ten minutes, from Zamami to Okinawa, they arrived safely.

And, we all got hot showers so, we could go drinking again !

Rough seas and a few thunderstorms along the way, didn't stop any sabani team.

Hopefully, I'll be out there (calm seas please) again next year.

Hats off to team Ichimanmagi and, all the sailing sabani racers.

Special thanks, go to Miss Miyagi, who arranged my trip and transportation back home.

It's Mugishokunin Time So I'm Outta Here

That Would Be Orion Beer

Most of the day was spent cleaning camera gear and developing photos.

Three days of salt water and sand can damage a lot of expensive equipment.

So, I did plenty of cleaning and, even washed my tripod.

After catching up on all the emails and social media, I screened photos the rest of the day.

 There's no sense in getting burnt out looking at sabani boat images.

So, I figure it would be a good idea to loosen up with some Orion Beer. 

More Sabani Photos Were Uploaded to Facebook

15 Photos: 2014 Itoman Okinawa Sabani Boat Parade

An invitation was extended to go with the Umi Maru for this event.

When a rainbow appeared above the boat, I knew that was a sign it would be a great day.

 The weather was kind of iffy so, I figured I'd shoot some flags while still ashore.

 Each boat had displayed banners, bamboo and pine, hoping for a good year of fishing.

This is me shooting photos from aboard the Umi Maru.

They outfitted me with a life jacket and told me where to sit for the ride.

I'd show you a photo of the boat tilting the other way but, don't want to make anybody seasick.

 The crew on the Umi Maru consisted of two guys and two girls with paddles.

Those sabani boats are heavy but, move incredibly fast.

 Trying to get photos of every boat, in good light, was a real challenge.

When I got a chance, I snitched one of the gal's paddles.

The camera on a tripod was held between my knees so I could paddle away.

It doesn't take much effort to get these boats moving.

A husband and wife could do it, if they got together.

When we got to the other end of the port, I walked funny, for awhile.

Sort of a drunken sailor walk, because the earth don't move like the ocean.

Everybody paraded up to a shrine for Lunar New Years, prayer and offerings.

They are Uminchu, "people of the sea" and, they come to this shrine to worship.

Offerings are tossed into the cave at Hakugindo Shrine for a good reason.

It assures future success for fisherman and all the uminchu.

So, I tossed some coins in there and prayed for them, too.

The Commisioner of the Itoman Sailing Club had everyone gather for a group photo.

It started to rain, again as the boats were preparing to return to the starting point.

So, I turned-in my life jacket because, I'm really not that kind of sailor.

I'll work on it. OK ?

Hakugindo Shrine in Itoman Today (Photo)

Sabani Boats Paraded in Itoman Okinawa Today

One of my favorite shots was this one.

It was taken with the Pentax K3, while I was rocking and rolling in another boat.

After paddling the sabani boats the through the harbor we visited this shrine.

Prayers and offerings were made and the boats were paddled back to where they started.

It was a fairly exciting day and, I even got to do some paddling.

And the people of Itoman City are friendly.

But, when they invited me to party with them afterwards, I had to decline.

There are about 100 images, I still have to develop.

My camera and tripod already had their showers and now it's time for me to get mine !

There is an Album on Facebook if you want to see more from today's event.

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It Really Started Sometime Last Night

 

 

 

Whenever that Aki Yokoyama gal comes to town I have to see her perform.

So, I grabbed a camera and did some shooting.



She sings, dances, plays the keyboard and a guitar.


This was the first time I saw her use the drumsticks on a guitar, though.


It makes you wonder.  What will they think of next ?




After the band played their first set, I excused myself.  Had to be up early this morning.


Things have been fairly busy around here and I'm way behind on processing photos.


So, I told the band, I'd have something ready to post on Facebook maybe, next week.




Back in the office, I downloaded the photos and decided to develop a few.



Well, I put a handful of them in an album on Facebook.



Then, locked the place-up and decided I deserved a beer.  And, another one and, some more.



The next thing you know, it was going on 3AM.  So, I went home and crashed.



Before the sun came up, I was having my coffee and ready to go.



Sabani boats were racing and a couple of us cameramen were invited.

We were at the beach early but, somehow, managed to miss our boat.




So, we wound up shooting from the shore.



Cameramen are real flexible people.  After we shot some boat photos a plan materialized.



The credit, all goes to Chris Wilson.



He said, "Lets go to my studio so, you know where it is."



We got to see the place, met his dog, looked at all the studio equipment and, drank some coffee.



The next thing you know, I was putting on all kinds of costumes.



Some sort of character-modeling, I guess you'd call it.



We won't mention what characters, yet, because Chris has to develop all his photos.



Let's just say Chris, Doc Graff and I had a blast in the studio.



It involved a lot of cussing, laughing and sweating, on my part.



When someone asks me to be a character, they are going to get then real deal.





Standby for more.....