Clipper Ventures — Round the World Yacht Race
Seven days documenting the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in Cape Town. 987 images. Arrivals, activations, and the race start — all from the water.
Client
Clipper Ventures
Project
Clipper Round the World Yacht Race — Leg 3, Cape Town
Year
2023
Services
Event Photography · Race Documentation · Real-Time Editorial Delivery
The Brief
The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is one of the most ambitious endurance sailing events on the planet — a 40,000-nautical-mile ocean race crewed by everyday people, not professional sailors. Eleven identical yachts racing across six oceans and five continents.
Clipper Ventures needed a photographer on the ground in Cape Town for the full Leg 3 stopover — seven days covering yacht arrivals, crew reunions, partner activations, sustainability events, media sailing, public tours, team portraits, and the race start itself. The images needed to work across print, web, social, and press, processed and delivered in real time so the communications team could deploy them immediately.
The Approach
I approached this as editorial documentary photography — not staged event coverage. The brief called for atmosphere, emotion, and scale, so I built the shoot around three layers: the intimate human moments (reunions, embraces, the faces of people who’d just crossed an ocean), the operational detail (preparations, team logistics, the working harbour), and the cinematic spectacle (the fleet under sail, the Parade of Sail, the race start from a media rib on the water).
The yacht arrivals operated on a 24-hour window — boats could come in at any time, day or night. The race start was a full-day operation with on-board team portraits for all eleven crews, followed by the departure, Parade of Sail, and the start of Leg 4, all shot from the water. Every day had a different rhythm and a different requirement.
I worked solo across the full seven days, processing and delivering images in real time from the Clipper Race office so the comms team could publish while the moments were still fresh.
How This Project Happened
The year before, I’d been hired by an agency to photograph a single day for a press release covering the South African teams and yacht captains. After that experience, I knew this was the kind of work I wanted to do more of — high-adrenaline, international, on the water.
In 2023, I reached out to Clipper Ventures directly and pitched to cover the full Cape Town stopover. They brought me on for the entire seven-day engagement. No agency in between. One relationship, one photographer, one vision for the coverage.
The Production
Seven days on the ground at the V&A Waterfront and Cape Town harbour. Solo photographer operating across multiple environments — harbourside, on-water from a media rib, dockside activations, and aboard the yachts for team portraits.
Key production moments:
Yacht arrivals — 24-hour standby window, capturing each crew’s first steps on land after weeks at sea
Partner activations — beach clean, sustainability programme, prizegiving
Media sail day and public yacht tours
Race start day — on-board team portraits for all 11 crews, Parade of Sail from the media rib, and the Leg 4 race start
All images were processed same-day in the Clipper Race office and delivered for immediate deployment across channels.
Deliverables
987 images across 7 days
Official team portraits for all 11 yacht crews
On-water race photography from media rib
Event and activation coverage
Atmosphere and editorial documentary imagery
Real-time processing and same-day delivery
Outcome
Clipper Ventures deployed the images across their website, social media channels, and press. The photography became the primary visual record of the Cape Town stopover and race start for the 2023–24 edition of the race.
The published work is visible on the Clipper Race website:
clipperroundtheworld.com/port/cape-town-south-africa/2023-24
