Announcing: The Northwest Oil Leak Jaguar Tour 2012

Even more fun than it looks!

After the wild success of the Southwest Oil Leak 2011 E-type Tour, we’ve all decided to do it again. This time we’re heading up to the Pacific Northwest in September 2012, touring Oregon & Washington. Here is a rough map of the proposed route:

NWOL Route

We’ll be following twisty back roads, avoiding freeways, and looking for great scenery and awesome roads. Overnight stops will occur in Bend, Hood River, McMinnville, and the Oregon Coast. Highlights will include:

  • The Oregon High Desert
  • The Columbia Gorge
  • Mt. St. Helens
  • The Oregon Wine Country
  • The Everegreen Air & Space Museum (home of The Spruce Goose)
  • The Oregon Coast
  • Crater Lake National Park

What the NWOL Tour is: Fun, Friendly, Fun, Low-key, Fun, Low Budget, and Fun.
We all arrange, and pay for our own food, fuel, and lodging. A no-frills tour with the emphasis on FUN.

What the NWOL Tour is NOT:
Expensive. THERE IS NO ENTRY FEE. It is a group-organized thing – the amount you spend is a factor of how you want to travel. Some folks bring a tent and camp out, others stay at luxury hotels. HOW you spend is up to you. The route is picked with a range of lodging option available.
A Race. We’re taking a leisurely tour through a scenic area. No points are awarded for arriving first.
A Rally. No timing, scoring, or checkpoints are involved. If you are looking for a great rally in the same area, check out the Northwest Classic.
Fully Supported. We have no sweep truck stuffed with professional mechanics – just your fellow “leakers” and whatever tools they carry. Make sure your Jaguar is in good running condition before coming on the tour, and be ready to fix it if it breaks. Last year’s SOL had a few minor mechanical problems but they were all taken care of by the participants themselves. Bring your cell phone and AAA card!

If you and your Jaguar would like to come along (we’ll consider other makes, if you’re a fun person!) let me know and I’ll add you to the electronic mailing list for the event.

Wrong Lens, Right Place.

Nick Crosses the Finish Line

Last Saturday Nick’s Nordic Ski team had a Pursuit Race. We had to leave the house at the crack of dawn and I could not find my telephoto lens. All I could turn up were short focal length (7—14mm and 20mm, which in M4/3rds is similar to 14—28mm and 45mm in a 35mm format) lenses.

Shooting sports is always better with longer lenses – you stand off and track the action from afar, letting the long glass get you close to the athletes. Long lenses also flatten perspective and offer interesting bokeh (the unfocused areas outside of the depth-of-field) making for appealing images. I shoot the telephoto from a monopod, which provides me with a stable platform that still allows me to pan side to side to keep the action in-frame.

My 20mm prime is a fantastic portrait lens, and is very fast, meaning it is great in low light, but the focal length makes for “snapshot” looking shots of sports.

I love shooting with wide-angle lenses, but they are not my first choice for shooting sports. In the past I’ve used my wide-angle as a secondary lens while shooting sports, taking close-up shots from a very short tripod close to the ground with a remote shutter. This time however, I affixed the camera and wide-angle to my monopod I usually have the telephoto on, but used it instead like a boom – held low, or high in the track of the race course. I’m pleased with the results:

Pre-race wax

Mass-start of the first boys' Classic race.

Poling to the finish of the boys' Classic race.

Girls Classic race

Girls Classic race

Girls Classic race

BHS Boys start the Skate Race

Nick skates towards the camera during the second lap of the Boys' Skate Race

Nick skates by the camera at high speed