Sailing Scenes

Sailing Scenes Professional photography service, specialising in boating and sailing events

SYNCHRONISED SPINNAKER DROPSWe all know that choosing the right moment to drop the kite on the approach to a mark is cri...
03/04/2026

SYNCHRONISED SPINNAKER DROPS
We all know that choosing the right moment to drop the kite on the approach to a mark is critical. But when we’re behind the lens rather than racing ourselves, we think that crews should score points for artistic merit as well as efficiency – especially when the drops on two boats are synchronised as beautifully as they were on Premier Flair and Quokka 8 during the International Paint Poole Regatta a few years ago.
We have photographed a few spinnaker drops in our time – but when it comes to synchronicity, this one is still the clear winner.

TESTING TIMES TWOWe have two boat tests in the April 2026 issue of Yachting Monthly. One of the boats is also on the cov...
08/03/2026

TESTING TIMES TWO
We have two boat tests in the April 2026 issue of Yachting Monthly. One of the boats is also on the cover: the Gib’Sea 312 Plus, a Rob Humphreys design from the late 1980s that we sailed and photographed from Lymington on a bright and breezy autumn day with a family of five (a couple, their two sons and a black Labrador).
The other test – a new boat this time – is of the Saffier 27, a swish, speedy and stylish day-sailer from Holland. This particular example cuts a dash in her grey-and-orange livery.
Two very different boats that both meet their owners’ requirements very well. They were also great fun to sail and rewarding to get to know, to photograph and to write about.

YES WE CANT!We have been lucky enough to sail some interesting boats among the 500+ that we have raced, cruised and test...
22/02/2026

YES WE CANT!
We have been lucky enough to sail some interesting boats among the 500+ that we have raced, cruised and tested over the course of several decades. And one of the more unusual has been the Fan Class 32.
This is the only commercially produced yacht we have come across with a canting rig. The idea – which wasn’t new at the time – was that the rig did most of the ‘heeling’ while the hull stayed largely upright. Catching sight of it was enough to make a lot of people check the alcohol content of their beer.
The Fan Class was the brainchild of a French sailor and engineer who had had enough of thrashing to windward at 25 or 30° of heel. He designed a system whereby the rig was attached to a large stainless steel ring around the outside of the hull. It was balanced by twin keels on the bottom of the ring, helped by a pair of industrial gas struts and a hydraulic damping system.
On our test it sailed pretty well and, broadly speaking, seemed to do what the designer intended. Seemingly it never became a commercial success, but we wouldn’t be in the least surprised if the idea were to emerge again one day.

KEEPING WARM IN THE WINTER…Testing, photographing and writing about boats is a year-round business that takes you to whe...
01/02/2026

KEEPING WARM IN THE WINTER…
Testing, photographing and writing about boats is a year-round business that takes you to wherever the boats are at the time. In our case, that has included Helsinki in October (it was wet, but the reindeer steaks were good and the saunas were great), Hong Kong in May (that was fine), St Maarten for the Heineken Regatta in March (warm weather; cool beer)…and northern Poland in February.
Gdansk in February might not sound particularly inviting, but back in 2005 – that’s 21 years ago this month – the boat had just been launched and everything was ready, so we went. It was snowing on and off, the wind-chill was about –20°C (we had to keep a spare camera battery in an inside pocket to keep it warm), the water was frozen in places, our photo boat was a Polish search-and-rescue vessel, and a Russian naval ship hovering not so very far away appeared to be watching us with interest. After all, in Gdansk you’re only across the bay from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad Oblast, and the authorities might have wondered why anyone would be out there sailing on a freezing February day. There were times when we did too, but we lived to tell the tale…

BEFORE THEY WERE FAMOUS…Anyone recognise the chap at the helm? Here’s a clue: he drives boats in Sail GP and the America...
25/01/2026

BEFORE THEY WERE FAMOUS…
Anyone recognise the chap at the helm? Here’s a clue: he drives boats in Sail GP and the America’s Cup these days.
Back in 2011, we got involved in some exhibition match racing at the Southampton Boat Show. It was between a then-very-young 49er sailor by the name of Dylan Fletcher, and another top-class sailor and match racer, Simon Shaw, who (among other achievements) went on to win two World Match Racing Tours with Ian Williams.
As for Fletcher – well, this was early days. With Alain Sign, who’s sailing with him here, he finished sixth in the 2016 Olympics in the 49er, then picked up gold in 2020, won the Moth worlds a time or two, and went on from there. But had it not been for this invaluable match-racing experience more than 15 years ago (with slick crew-work and tactical input from the cockpit, of course…) would things have worked out as they did? Who knows…?

VARIETY IS THE SPICE – AND ALL THAT…Yachting journalism and photography might sound like a niche business, and it is. Bu...
04/01/2026

VARIETY IS THE SPICE – AND ALL THAT…
Yachting journalism and photography might sound like a niche business, and it is. But the small number of us mad enough to be in it can find ourselves photographing and writing about an enormous variety of subjects.
For example, during Poole Week last summer, while we were writing about and photographing dinghies racing around Poole Harbour for the daily media reports, we were also proof-reading our article for Classic Boat about a semi-bespoke gentleman’s launch – the Westons Point 27 – that’s beautifully built in cedar strip by Traditional Shipwright Services. Then, for the December issue, we supplied CB with some photos of a Nicholson Xyris, built in 1939, that we took a few years ago. The main shot was used as a double-page spread, which really helps do it justice. Where photographs are concerned, bigger is better, and good, big photos in print help set magazines apart from anything you see on a screen.
Adding to the the variety, our feature in the January issue of Yachting Monthly is about the Maxi 1300 owned by the late, great Commander Peter Bruce (he of Heavy Weather Sailing, Solent Hazards etc, member of several winning teams in the Admiral’s Cup and superb all-round sailor, as well as as an exceptionally nice chap who just happened to count Olin Stephens among his good friends and to have Paul Elvstrom’s name in his visitors’ book). Sadly he died only a few months after our sail, but it was a privilege to have known him and to spend a lovely summer’s afternoon and evening sailing with him.
In the February issue of Practical Boat owner is something different yet again: our test of a brand-new and very different type of river cruiser that we tested on the Thames. Whatever else one might have to say about this very particular line of work, there’s no shortage of variety…

COMMODORES’ CHALLENGE 2025We were out in the harbour on 27th December photographing the annual match-racing challenge be...
28/12/2025

COMMODORES’ CHALLENGE 2025
We were out in the harbour on 27th December photographing the annual match-racing challenge between youth teams from Parkstone YC and Poole YC. The wind blew, the sun shone and the photos are on the SailingScenes web site: https://bit.ly/CommodoresChallenge2025

COOPERATIVE CORMORANTSWe were testing and photographing some traditional-style daysailers in south Brittany a few years ...
21/12/2025

COOPERATIVE CORMORANTS
We were testing and photographing some traditional-style daysailers in south Brittany a few years ago, one of which was called…well, the photos give you a clue. Leaving the fishing port of Le Guilvinec one morning, we took a sequence of shots as the boat sailed past a port-hand beacon marking a rock just off the entrance. A couple of examples of the boat’s feathered namesake were sitting on the beacon as we drew near, but were clearly not inclined to linger and flew off. We carried on nonetheless and asked the boat’s crew to sail inshore of the rock, whereupon another cormorant landed on the beacon. He looked on suspiciously with his wings folded as we positioned ourselves in the photo boat. Then, just after we called for the crew to tack and head across to seaward of the beacon, he partially opened his wings and provided the photo opportunity we had been looking for. Cormoran (oiseau) meets cormoran (bateau)…

RE-LIVING THE SUMMER: POOLE WEEK IN PICTURESWe have finally edited and uploaded the photos from Poole Week, which was on...
15/12/2025

RE-LIVING THE SUMMER: POOLE WEEK IN PICTURES
We have finally edited and uploaded the photos from Poole Week, which was one of the windiest Poole Weeks we’ve had for some years.
On our site until now we’ve had just a couple of hundred shots that we uploaded immediately after the event. Now there are over 700, of people looking anything from happy to terrified, XODs rocking and rolling downwind, crews getting extremely wet, Shrimpers leaping (yes, they really can), Fifteens flying, Darts darting, the rain pouring (it did one day, very hard but not for long), and lots more. See them on the SailingScenes web site: https://bit.ly/PooleWeek2025

AN IMPORTANT PIECE OF HISTORYWe were recently asked by a competitor about photos we took during the Flying Dutchman UK n...
13/12/2025

AN IMPORTANT PIECE OF HISTORY
We were recently asked by a competitor about photos we took during the Flying Dutchman UK nationals in 2012, which were held as part of Poole Regatta.
This made us re-visit that gallery and upload the shots to our current web site (https://bit.ly/TheFlyingDutchmen). Seeing the photos again is a reminder of what a great and photogenic boat the Dutchman is. More’s the pity that it’s no longer an Olympic class and is probably unknown to many of today’s skiffing and foiling youths.
Having been kicking around in the world of sailing for a few years (during which time we have had the pleasure of racing a Flying Dutchman), we think it’s a great shame that many of the young generation appear to know nothing about, and to have no interest in, how our sport came to be what it is. We have been lucky enough to meet, to get to know or sometimes to sail with some of the people who were instrumental in creating the sport we know today – such as Charles Currey, who had an enormous influence in the design of the Flying Dutchman even though it’s generally attributed to Uwe van Essen.
Rodney Pattison’s Olympic-gold-winning Superdocious was being raced in 2012 – but how many of today’s kids have even heard of Rodney or Superdocious? Far too few, we suspect. One might argue that their race training should include history lessons so they’re taught about the incredibly influential people that some of us had the privilege of knowing, such as Ian Proctor, Cliff Norbury, John Westell and John Oakley.
That’s unlikely to happen, but it doesn’t stop the Flying Dutchman from being a wonderful boat. We hope that we might yet see more of them one day.

KNOW YOUR TWO-MASTERSNot everyone can tell the difference between a ketch and a yawl (sometimes it can be a challenge), ...
16/11/2025

KNOW YOUR TWO-MASTERS
Not everyone can tell the difference between a ketch and a yawl (sometimes it can be a challenge), but everyone recognises a schooner when they see one, don’t they?
Thing is you don’t see them very often these days. Most of the small number that have passed in front of our lens in recent years have been a fair size (and, coincidentally, flying a white ensign too). They might be relatively rare – and some people question the efficiency and practicality of the schooner rig – but they can still make a fine sight.

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