Written 27 January, 2010
Regatta at Port Babbage
Last Sunday Sweetie and I put on our Victorian frocks and headed for Port Babbage to catch the regatta.
Well, the air regatta. These were lighter-than-air craft races.
We found our way to the floating spectators' platform and elbowed aside a gentleman in a top hat so we could sit together, then adjusted our preferences to see long distances and cammed in on the racers.
And what a bunch of them where were! There were airships big and small, off-the-shelf and custom built, plain and fancy, fantastical and realistic.
I'm afraid we were more interested in the claret cup than the races. I'm not sure who won, but I did get some good photos before I became too intoxicated to operate my camera.
We could have gotten the race results from either the Steampunks of New Babbage group or by clicking the sign, but alas, although we leaned left and right at various times to see around the sign, we never bothered to read it.
Here's the starting point before the races. See the contestants milling about-- if a dirigible can be said to mill about, that is.
Some contestants carefully checked their ships before the races.
Others just seemed focused on having a good time.
Spectators sat on floating bleachers...
... or on the huge robot in the Vernian Sea.
Airships steered by the bleachers before their races so spectators could get a good look at them.
This colorful pedal-powered craft was Sweetie's favorite.
I preferred the big phallic ships.
Especially the plush ones.
A winner!
After my third claret cup, my photos grew more fanciful.
Sweetie's photos, of course, are always fanciful:
After a long day during which I managed to sunburn my nose despite the canvas cover over the bleachers, we changed clothes and went to the after-the-regatta ball where we danced ourselves silly to music I can only describe (well, actually Sweetie is the one who nailed the description) as gypsy steampunk.
The last two photos were taken by Sweetie, who was by then more or less sober.
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It was a nice way to spend a Sunday.
Regatta at Port Babbage
Last Sunday Sweetie and I put on our Victorian frocks and headed for Port Babbage to catch the regatta.
Well, the air regatta. These were lighter-than-air craft races.
We found our way to the floating spectators' platform and elbowed aside a gentleman in a top hat so we could sit together, then adjusted our preferences to see long distances and cammed in on the racers.
And what a bunch of them where were! There were airships big and small, off-the-shelf and custom built, plain and fancy, fantastical and realistic.
I'm afraid we were more interested in the claret cup than the races. I'm not sure who won, but I did get some good photos before I became too intoxicated to operate my camera.
We could have gotten the race results from either the Steampunks of New Babbage group or by clicking the sign, but alas, although we leaned left and right at various times to see around the sign, we never bothered to read it.
Here's the starting point before the races. See the contestants milling about-- if a dirigible can be said to mill about, that is.
Some contestants carefully checked their ships before the races.
Others just seemed focused on having a good time.
Spectators sat on floating bleachers...
... or on the huge robot in the Vernian Sea.
Airships steered by the bleachers before their races so spectators could get a good look at them.
This colorful pedal-powered craft was Sweetie's favorite.
I preferred the big phallic ships.
Especially the plush ones.
A winner!
After my third claret cup, my photos grew more fanciful.
Sweetie's photos, of course, are always fanciful:
After a long day during which I managed to sunburn my nose despite the canvas cover over the bleachers, we changed clothes and went to the after-the-regatta ball where we danced ourselves silly to music I can only describe (well, actually Sweetie is the one who nailed the description) as gypsy steampunk.
The last two photos were taken by Sweetie, who was by then more or less sober.
It was a nice way to spend a Sunday.
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