N-Photo

144 March 2016

ON ASSIGNMENT VOLVO OCEAN RACE

144144 March 2016March 2016

B

ack in March 2015, I was part

of a small team sent by the

Volvo Ocean Race to shoot

boats racing around Cape

Horn – the southern tip of

South America. The Volvo Ocean

Race is a round-the-world yacht race

that star ts in Spain before moving on

to South Africa, the UAE, China, New

Zealand, across to Brazil and then

back to Europe.

I’d covered the race twice

before for Volvo, but this time I

was shooting from a helicopter

instead of a fixed-wing plane.

To say the area is challenging is

an understatement. The nearest

helicopters to Cape Horn are

based in Punta Arenas, some

250 miles away, with huge

mountains in between. The

weather is ever-changing, and

can include high winds, driving

rain, and snow. We travelled to

Punta Arenas from London, via

Chile, then flew in the helicopter to

Puerto Williams, the world’s most

southerly town.

Fuel gauge

Getting good shots of the six boats

as they raced past Cape Horn was all

about optimising the time. I couldn’t

predict when they would arrive. What

if they passed by at night and we

couldn’t fly? What if they rounded

too far offshore? The weather was

a worry, too; snow and ice was a

concern, as helicopters don’t carry

de-icing gear. All the communication

was through satellite phones, as

there was limited internet access.

On the day of the shoot, 30 March,

there was no daylight until 9am. The

weather was awful, with low cloud,

driving rain and very strong winds.

We put as much fuel as possible into

the helicopter, and landed on Cape

Horn, where we got to meet the

lighthouse keeper and his family.

Meanwhile, the helicopter went back

to get even more fuel (a helicopter can

only fly for a couple of hours before

having to refuel).

Once the weather cleared a bit,

things worked out well, as we were

able to calculate the position of the

boats on satellite phones and then

plot them via GPS. Photographically

speaking, the big challenge was to get

sharp images that showed some of

the geography. I wanted to get Cape

Horn in the background – not easy, as

you can’t predict the boats’ direction,

or ask them to change course.

I used a Nikon D810 and Nikon

70-200mm f/2.8. This is the most

practical lens for shooting from a

helicopter, when distances can

change quickly. The key to getting

sharp shots in these conditions is to

keep the shutter speed fast. I shoot

at ISO4 0 0, or 80 0 in poorer light, and

keep the shutter speed at 1/1000 sec

or higher, selecting a wide aperture.

Successful sortie

We made two sorties. First I

shot the leading three boats,

and then we landed back on

Cape Horn. I was able to

download some of the images

and send them off to race HQ.

Then the next two boats came

around, so up we went again.

On this second trip, I got the

shot of the day: I saw a wave

pick up the Team Brunel boat,

and the crew accelerated down

the face of it, burying the bow

and sending a torrent of water

over the deck. I think the shot

epitomises what it ’s like to race in the

Southern Ocean, and it was voted the

2015 Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image of

the Year ( The People’s Choice).

We were ver y luck y. If the boats had

been an hour earlier we would have

missed them, and if the weather had

not cleared we wouldn’ t have seen

them. If we’d gone down, only the

racing yachts would have been there

to rescue us. It was a real team effort,

and a tribute to the experience of all

involved, particularly the helicopter

pilot and engineer.

Marine photographer Rick Tomlinson describes a thrilling

assignment shooting the 2015 Volvo Ocean Race as it rounded

South America’s notorious Cape Horn

Cape Steer

(^1)
The helicopter had
to cross mountains
jus t to get to C a p e
Horn – and then
came the sea
(^2)
T h is sh ot of Te a m
Brunel surfing a
huge wave was
Ric k’s sh ot of th e
day – and proved
popular with the
public too
(^3)
Abu Dhabi Ocean
Racing were the
eventual winners
of the gruelling
nine-month event
1
I saw a wave pick up the Team
Brunel boat, and the crew
accelerated down the face
of it, burying the bow and
sending a torrent of water
over the deck
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