City - State - NEW ENGLAND Country - United States
About
Newport, Rhode Island 9/18/05 2:04PM
US-21 American Eagle
1/1000th f/8 ISO-100
American Eagle is most famous for her extraordinary history as an ocean racer under the command of Ted Turner. From 1969 to 1974, the brilliant red Eagle ruled the offshore waters, winning the first World Ocean Racing Championship and setting records in the distinguished S.O.R.C., Fastnet and Sydney-Hobart Races. Ted Turner won the coveted "Yachtsman of the Year" award twice while owner/skipper of American Eagle. In 1976, Turner sold Eagle to pursue and eventually fulfill his dream of defending the America's Cup. In 1977 he successfully skippered the 12 Meter Courageous in the 'Cup. Meanwhile, Eagle's new owner, Warren Brown of Bermuda, continued American Eagle's awesome career crossing the Atlantic Ocean several times and winning major regattas in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. She finished close behind the winning Turner and his Tenacious in the deadly 1979 Fastnet Race storm,demonstrating her seaworthiness in an event that sadly left many boats and sailors on the bottom of the sea.
Hi Chris, I've been to your site before.... Love the Courageous series. Also quite well known, if you'd allow me one understatement. Funny to see how I feel more attracted to your more extreme approaches (partial views and details) than the overviews. They do tend to remind me of Beaken of Cowes. Thanks for the link... Great stuff!
Hi Chris, I find your bit of history as much interesting as the photo itself; I believe I did encounter the American Eagle a few Fastnet races later (dfferent class, but she's hard to miss) Specacular shot.
Thanks Khaled, I really wish I had the 10-22mm Canon lens on this day, their were times we were within 5-10 feet of these boats, and the cropped 28mm just wasn't wide enough to cover the whole ship. About 10 seconds later, the gent in the white shirt almost flew off the stem of the boat, and just barely grabbed onto a line and swung himself back in....I missed it of course!!!
Another good sports shot of yours Chris... I wish you included the whole sail in the photo but anyways, the lighting and vertical composition are just perfect. Regards, Khaled.
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{K:150877} 9/21/2005
