This year’s Round the Island race was a gift for photographers. With the current heat wave and a welcome easterly breeze kicking in, the race promised every sailors cliche of fair winds and calm seas.

There were many photographers on the water, I was out shooting with a group on a photo workshop, taking some of them through their first experience of marine sports photography. To the uninitiated, there’s much going on, but look a little closer and you can see why it’s such a great event for the camera.

Firstly, it starts early, in this case another cloudless sky, when the warm colour tones work extremely well as the boats prepare to start, unique to this event in the yacht racing calendar. Then there is scale, with just over 800 entries this year, the sheer mass of starts is always impressive, not something to find on even the largest regattas. Despite being a non Fastnet “fallow” year, the event remains hugely popular, attracting all size of boats.

Round the Island Race 2026 ©Paul Gibbins Photography

We were lucky to have a few TP52s on the start, followed by plenty of cruiser racers, Multi hulls, sports boats and of course some classics. And here lies advantage for the photographer, there is no exclusion zone, so with a good brief for the driver, we literally parked a few boats lengths over the start line and waited for boats to sail past, barrel fishing with a camera!

Round the Island Race 2026 – photo © Paul Gibbins Photography

With the easterly wind, we were presented with a horizon of spinnakers, more sails, more colour and all moving at a reasonably sedate pace on a calm Solent tide. Lots of choice for the photographer, landscape shots for sheer breadth of perspective and close ups as the boats got nearer, making use of textures, reflections and faces of crews.

Round the Island Race 2026 – photo © Paul Gibbins Photography

After everyone had started, we moved ahead on a wide track around the racers, to meet them at the next confluence point of the western entrance: Hurst Castle, where more tide and perhaps more wind might greet the racers. By this time, the bigger race boats were in their zone of jibe angles and boat speed, comfortably heading west. We were lucky to have a highly experienced rib boat driver who knew exactly where to put the photographers, allowing us to settle down and concentrate on settings and composition. In calm weather those bow shots are superb to photograph.

At this stage, there is a neat juxtaposition between lead big boats and smaller boats in the background, on a sunny morning almost appearing ghostlike in the haze. At this point, I’m thinking how to shoot something a little different. Black & White photography (monochrome) works extremely well on bright sunny days. It’s not for everyone, but ripping out the colour to leave contrasts in shades and textures sometimes adds more interest. Presented with some big asymmetric sails, backlit to show every stitch and tell tale, mono works well.

Round the Island Race 2026 – photo © Paul Gibbins Photography

The last shooting position is of course the Needles Lighthouse, and it attracts much more than just cameras, with lots of recreational sailors and ribs enjoying the scenery up close to the shore. With the easterly breeze, and a turn point coming up, spinnakers were most definitely coming down, which presented more for the camera – action shots of the drops.

It didn’t disappoint, there were some tidy turns and some shockers, coupled with plenty of shouting between the helm and foredeck – you’d be surprised how far that travels on the water! The Needles also offers some fabulous ‘through’ shots, using something else to frame the shot, the gaps of cliffs being the obvious to use as the fleet appear momentarily, it’s always a nice shot to get.

Equally, the challenge for the photographer is choosing whether to be up close as the compression of racers creates tighter action, or sit further away and get some broader shots?

Invictus Games Foundation – Round the Island Race 2026 – photo © Paul Gibbins Photography

Marine sports photography is about working with what you’ve got right there in front of you at the time. Arguably getting exciting and engaging shots is an exercise in compromise – applicable to photography in general – but this event has such variety; there is plenty to see and photograph. We called it a day at the lighthouse, grabbing a late breakfast at Yarmouth to review the content.

We all came away with something different from seeing the same thing, but unanimous in agreement to return for next year.

@paulgibbinsphotography is a freelance marine sports photographer based in Devon

by Paul Gibbins Photography