Mirabaud photo competition: This is the sailing picture of the year - two Germans on the podium
Max Gasser
· 22.11.2022
Nico Martinez is the winner of this year's Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image Award. The Spaniard has been heavily involved in international sailing since the 1990s and is the official photographer of the TP52 and RC44 regattas. The picture he submitted was taken during the TP52 World Championship in Cascais.
"The TP52 fleet was sailing before the wind with a light breeze and in a very special light," recalled Martinez. Nevertheless, he was not satisfied at first; only the black and white filter gave the picture something special.
The top prize was chosen by the six members of the international jury: World Sailing CEO David Graham from England, Magenta Project Chairwoman Jonquil Hackenberg from England, AFP photographer and 2021 winner Loïc Venance (France), marketing and media consultant Meg Reilly (USA), "Skippers" Editor-in-Chief Brice Chevallier (Switzerland) and Nicolas Mirabaud (Switzerland), Managing Partner of Mirabaud & Cie SA.
Martinez clear winner of the photo competition
They voted unanimously in favour of Martinez's photo, awarding marks between 8 and 10 for the three criteria: the emotion evoked by the image, the technical difficulty and the originality.
German professional photographer Eike Schurr took second place with an image taken on board the VO65 "Sisi" (The Austrian Ocean Race Project) during a training crossing of the Atlantic between St Maarten and the Azores. "The idea of using the water as a frame came about during the shoot and gives the image additional depth," he explained. The sailing photographer from Bremen-Blumenthal studied digital media at Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences. At the same time, he sailed in dinghy and skiff classes as well as ocean racing. His real speciality is working with drones.
Third place went to Patrick Blom from Finland with his photo from the Viaporin-Tuoppi regatta for traditional sailing yachts.
German sailing photographers at the forefront
The audience award, which is based on the number of votes cast online, was won by Brigi Török with her picture of Libera Raffica, ahead of Tom Coehoorn and the German Felix Diemer. Diemer has been based in London since 2016 and continues to work from the British capital as a freelance photographer and photojournalist. He works for the German Sailing Team, the German Sailing League and the SailGP, among others. His spectacular snapshot was taken during his first assignment in 2021 in Cadiz in extreme wind conditions.
The Delegates Award, which is based on the votes of the participants at the annual World Sailing Conference, was also presented. This was also won by Nico Martinez ahead of Eike Schurr and Martina Orsini.
The winners were announced yesterday together with all the winners of the competition at the Yacht Racing Forum's evening reception at the Maltese National Aquarium.
The top 20 selection of theMirabaud Yacht Racing Image Award 2022:
The jury of the Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image Award had previously published a list of the 20 best sailing images of the year. No fewer than 150 photographers from 29 countries submitted their best works for this year's Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image Award - a record number of applicants.
Christian Beeck was another German photographer in this select group. The Kieler Woche photographer entered the race with a picture from the International 14 Worlds 2022.
