The Hampton Cup Regatta 8-12-12
Since I was digging in the dirt on Saturday and the bottom fell out of the sky that afternoon, I wasn't able to make the Hampton Cup Regatta that afternoon, but I went over EARLY on Sunday. They hadn't even gotten set up themselves when I arrived. I was surprised that I could drive right onto Ft. Monroe (this shouldn't have been a surprise as the Army vacated the base some time ago, but it was still weird.) The day was great. Weather was unseasonable cool and it was a bit overcast (my favorite weather for outdoors as me and the sun don't get along much these days...)
The Hampton Cup Regatta is the oldest continously run motorsports event in the world (not sure I got all the modifiers correctly in that statement...it's important, I'm sure.) and it's only about a mile from my house AND...it's FREE!! (Not like another motorsports event that I would be going to about a month later...) Anyway, 'regatta' usually calls forth images of racing sailboats and other sailing vessels but this regatta is all powerboats! Hydroplanes and Jersey Boats mostly. It's more like F-1 racing on the water! And one advantage to hydroplane racing over Grand Prix racing is you can see the whole track! And the Ft. Monroe venue is considered one of the finest in the world for hydroplane racing as Mill Creek is very wide (good for the racetrack) shallow and protected from the ocean (keeps the waves to a minimum) and saltwater (helps the speed of the boats.)
And since the weather was so bad the day before, many races had been bumped up to Sunday, so they had a slate of something like 30 races that day! The crowds were light that day...in fact, I haven't seen it crowded the couple of times I've been...maybe I just lucked out. So, here's my photos from that day. Click the photo to be taken to the album.
Scaring fish out of their scales since 1926!
The Hampton Cup Regatta is the oldest continously run motorsports event in the world (not sure I got all the modifiers correctly in that statement...it's important, I'm sure.) and it's only about a mile from my house AND...it's FREE!! (Not like another motorsports event that I would be going to about a month later...) Anyway, 'regatta' usually calls forth images of racing sailboats and other sailing vessels but this regatta is all powerboats! Hydroplanes and Jersey Boats mostly. It's more like F-1 racing on the water! And one advantage to hydroplane racing over Grand Prix racing is you can see the whole track! And the Ft. Monroe venue is considered one of the finest in the world for hydroplane racing as Mill Creek is very wide (good for the racetrack) shallow and protected from the ocean (keeps the waves to a minimum) and saltwater (helps the speed of the boats.)
And since the weather was so bad the day before, many races had been bumped up to Sunday, so they had a slate of something like 30 races that day! The crowds were light that day...in fact, I haven't seen it crowded the couple of times I've been...maybe I just lucked out. So, here's my photos from that day. Click the photo to be taken to the album.
Scaring fish out of their scales since 1926!