Past weekend, the European Championship Patin a Vela and Patin Junior took place in De Haan. I’m writing this post in english, because many contributors were from Spain. …and sorry people, I don’t speak Spanish.

The Patin a vela is a spanish catamaran design. It’s a wooden boat without rudder. Originaly, the patin was used as a rowing-boat. But later, people mounted a sail on it.
The Belgian Patin club invited me to take pictures of this 4 day event. And I was pleasantly surprised by the good organisation and friendly people.

Day 1:
A typicaly Belgian gray summer day. I was brought to the press boat to take aerial photos from the ship. This was the 1st time I did an aerial shoot from a boat and luckily for me, the wind was very stable.

Day 2:
A beautifull hot day but without any wind. Therefore the competition was candelled. I took some pictures with my helium balloon but after control, I notified that the camera didn’t took any pictures because the shutter servo was broken.

At the evening, there was a fine diner on the dique of De Haan with a beautifull sunset. The background music was performed by Marino Punk, a nice guy/punk with an accordion. He’s very well known here in Belgium.

Day 3:

Another fine day but this time with a lot of wind ( 5-6 Bft.). I was almost imposible to fly from the boat and I was affraid to damage my material. Therefore I decided to go back to the beach and take aerial pictures from the finish. And if this was a good decision…judge for yourself.

At the end of the day, the organisators surprised us with another act. The invited Nyamakale, a group of Djembé players and dancers. The rhytmic music and the dansacts where a great subject for my camera.

I had another photoshoot to do at the 4th day but I really enjoyed this event and a big thumbs up for the organisators.