Spinnakers to Port, Velsheda leads Astra and Westward, Cowes Week 1933

1933 was the debut season for Velsheda JK7 built by Charles Nicholson for Bill Stephenson, the owner of Woolworths, famously named after his 3 daughters. Velsheda quickly proved herself  a great success.

In this painting Velsheda is depicted running before an easterly  breeze through Cowes roads before reaching down to the Solent bank bouy during the Royal Southern Yacht Club race of during Cowes Week 1933. Velsheda here is seen off Cowes Green leading the 28 meter Astra and the schooner Westward. She quickly went on to overhaul both Shamrock V and Britannia before the finish, crossing the line first  but loosing on time allowance to the King's Britannia by the incredibly close margin of 9 seconds!

How does Shane create such yachting masterpieces:-

Shane's inspiration comes from two sources, the first is from being out on his boat on the Solent when a chance lighting effect or sea state attracts his eye the other is the reading of an historic race report.

In the case of reading historic race reports, the inspiration often comes from a particular description or passage in the report that grabs his attention. From here he'll plot the race course, wind direction, sea state and tide along with the weather conditions, time of day and year in his sketch book and produce a story board of the race in a series of thumbnails, this is where his imagination really starts to get to work. The best idea is worked up into a tonal study.

Once taken with an idea Shane will the build a 3d model of the intended scene on his Computer using models he has built from original lines plans. Shane will also visit the location of the scene to take location shots. All this is then combined to create the basis of his painting.