Gettin’ Air

One of LONGOBARDA’s afterguard is flung into the air when the collapsing rig snaps the backstay taut. Who is that ‘daring young man on that flying trapeeze?’

Although it happened nearly 20 years ago, Sharon Green easily recalls shooting the Maxi Worlds off Newport, RI. “It was a distance race and they were approaching the finish after a full day of sailing in extremely rough seas.” In fact, says Sharon, “We had no right going out there ourselves: there were huge seas, and walls of water ... every time we’d come off a wave the boat slammed down and water flew everywhere. It was impossible to shoot.”

Longobarda and another yacht were sailing aggressively, and close. “I instinctively knew something was going to happen and grabbed my camera, and started firing through the walls of water. I heard the ‘Bang!’ of the rig as it started to come down; zoomed out and just kept shooting. I didn’t know I got the rig breaking, and this guy catapulting off the back of the boat, until I got the film back from the lab the next day.”

This is just one of the thousands of images Sharon is poring over, from three decades of the Ultimate Sailing Calendar. As she works to create the newest collection of images (“Sharon Green’s 30 Years of Ultimate Sailing” will release in October), Sharon has a few mysteries she wants to unravel. And the first is: who IS this airborne crew member? What happened to him in the aftermath?

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