Yesterday was bright and sunny and today was cold, dark and rainy. Decided to go and see the competition anyway. I had to use a flash to get anything usable but I was surprised at how well it worked with the 70-200 over pretty long distances.

Boatercross seems to be even more difficult than what it looks like, totally crazy stuff!

There's a photo competition for the audience, so I'll have to go through some more pics and decide which 1-3 pics to send. It started raining heavily before the finals, so I called it a day and left. Here are some of the pics I managed to take. All taken with the 70-200/2.8 and 580EX II

<img src="http://personal.inet.fi/surf/photography/Boatercross3.jpg">

<img src="http://personal.inet.fi/surf/photography/Boatercross1.jpg">

<img src="http://personal.inet.fi/surf/photography/Boatercross12.jpg">

So much water and he gets stuck...
<img src="http://personal.inet.fi/surf/photography/Boatercross14.jpg">

<img src="http://personal.inet.fi/surf/photography/Boatercross2.jpg">

<img src="http://personal.inet.fi/surf/photography/Boatercross20.jpg">

<img src="http://personal.inet.fi/surf/photography/Boatercross5.jpg">

<img src="http://personal.inet.fi/surf/photography/Boatercross13.jpg">

It's challenging to get good focus with the water splashing around. Here's an example of that. The guy is oof but I still like the pic.
<img src="http://personal.inet.fi/surf/photography/Boatercross16.jpg">

<img src="http://personal.inet.fi/surf/photography/Boatercross18.jpg">

<img src="http://personal.inet.fi/surf/photography/Boatercross15.jpg">

Notice the green kayak in the background...
<img src="http://personal.inet.fi/surf/photography/Boatercross6.jpg">

Here comes the owner
<img src="http://personal.inet.fi/surf/photography/Boatercross9.jpg">


That must be fun...
<img src="http://personal.inet.fi/surf/photography/Boatercross7.jpg">

This guy was a first-timer. The event announcer told everyone that it's pretty much a miracle if he makes it to the finish line in one piece :) He did and looks pretty relieved.
<img src="http://personal.inet.fi/surf/photography/Boatercross4.jpg">

I guess you can't avoid collisions in this sport :) Also the guy in the last pic has a nice dent on his kayak. Quite a few of them took a swim today :)

It looks like that all those folks in the boats have wet suits on of some sort. Even still, I think you're right, NUTS!!!

...and some are nuts :) I'm not one of those Finns who like to jump into a freezing cold lake straight from sauna, uhh...

Antti continueously turned on the shower and sink faucet to hot only. He ran it until the bathroom totally steamed up and then went running through the house to the back yard and jumped into the snow. To say the least, my dad was pissed with the water and gas bills. It was one of those "Getting to know you" kind of moments the fist time he did it. After a while it was old hat having a 6 foot tall, blonde, steaming Finn running through the house toward the back yard in the winter.

But I can understand the hot water and steam :) No Finn can survive without Sauna. That was probably the closest thing to sauna for him over there! A beautiful summer evening, hot sauna, cold beer and a swim in a lake is heaven for most of us.