\u201cYou couldn\u2019t even script it,\u201d Hurling told the Herald. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of surreal in a way because I\u2019ve been taking photographs of sailing for 20 years now, it\u2019s actually only the second time I\u2019ve ever entered the competition. Part of me saw the photos that other photographers around the world were creating and I was like, \u2018oh, it\u2019s nowhere near as good as any of these guys\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut something about this photo, I don\u2019t know, it just made me feel that it could have a chance of doing well. So I thought, you know, why not? Let\u2019s submit it and see what happens.\u201d <\/p>\n
The 45-year-old claimed the award, which was based on online votes, for a photo taken from on top of the start-finish boat during the Moth World Championships in Auckland. It shows Mattias Coutts and George Lee-Rush in perfect sync while making a gybe. <\/p>\n
Coutts was leading the regatta at the time, and went on to claim the world championship title, so she needed to be sure there were shots of him. <\/p>\n
Hurling, who has been based in New Zealand since 2011, said the image stood out the first time she saw what she had captured. <\/p>\n
Suellen Hurling took her award-winning shot from on top of a boat. Photo \/ Jayden Murdie, Live Sail Die<\/p>\n
\u201cThese moths are literally flying around the course at 30-odd-plus knots. You blink and they\u2019re gone. They\u2019re quiet as hell. You can\u2019t hear anything and I was shooting a finish from one of the starts, so over my right shoulder, I\u2019m shooting the finish, but in my left eye, I\u2019m looking out to the rest of the course and I just happened to see the gold bib come down. I quickly scanned back, took about 10 frames, didn\u2019t think about it and came back to get the other ones finishing,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThen when I took a break and I looked through, I\u2019m like, \u2018oh, did I get it? Did I? Oh my gosh, what a shot. Oh my god, I got it.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t realise I got them in perfect sequence going through a gybe. I think it\u2019s the fact that they\u2019re both in the same position on the boat and coming straight at me. I was like, \u2018yeah, that\u2019s cool. I like that one.\u2019 I actually had some other people who saw it and were blown away by the photo… so I think it was them that kind of pushed me to enter it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Italian photographer Martina Orsini won the overall award, becoming the first woman in the 16-year history of the awards to claim the top prize. <\/p>\n
Hurling said she wasn\u2019t sure what the prize for the award was and was just thrilled with the recognition. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a cash prize, but I don\u2019t even care about that. I mean, that\u2019s a massive bonus to get a cash prize, but I think it\u2019s just the acknowledgement of all of the hard work. Being out on the water, getting thrown around like a freaking rag doll all the time, absolutely saturated, gear getting wrecked all the time; the prize is one thing, but I think it\u2019s the recognition that I\u2019m most proud of.\u201d <\/p>\n