This painting was great fun to do. I came upon a photo that I liked and wanted to paint, but the forground boat was blue. I changed the boat to bright red with black boats behind. There are extra bits in the rigging, such as jumper struts and of course there are stays, but I omitted these because they would have complicated the image. I wanted the concentration to be on the forward motion. 

These are Bluenose Class sloops, desgned by William Roue who designed the famous racing schooner Bluenose. There is a Bluenose Class Fleet at Chester Yacht Club, so I incorporated the chart of Chester Harbour. These yachts can often be seen racing in the harbour or outside.