HILLCREST photographer Chris Clark has made it to the annual Pantaenius Yacht Racing Images Top 120 images of the year.

Clark’s image was captured on the final day of the Marriott Mirror Worlds hosted by Point Yacht Club offshore of Durban in April. The weeklong event produced every weather condition possible for the competitors: gusty winds, glassy seas, huge crashing surf to a massive rolling swell that was over 4m high.

Clark, an amateur photographer who is a keen member of the Hillcrest Camera Club, used to sail competitively around South Africa, but had to retire from yachting due to a back injury.

Falling in love with photography, his newly found passion that he loves to capture is South African wildlife, and he has an exhibition-worthy gallery of images that he has been lucky enough to catch on his various trips.

In the last two years his two hobbies of sailing and photography have collided. The budding yachting photographer has led an adventurous group of H.C.C. peers offshore for Durban’s biggest sailing events, covering the 2024 and 2025 MSC Weeks and the Mirror Worlds.

Upon learning about the news, Clark shared, “Wow, there are some amazing pics there … even two little Mirrors! It is a tremendous honour, and a dream come true to discover my image nestled amongst some of the big names in yachting photography.

“It all feels quite surreal right now to recall a day when a brisk Durban breeze was pushing the ocean into moving mountains. We watched, fascinated, as the brave little red-sailed Mirror dinghies were swallowed up in the enormous troughs only to pop out onto the crests. Then we saw these two boats racing towards a moving peak only to have their sails blasted backwards as they hit the wind rush of the passing wave,” shared Clark.

The caption on Clark’s picture which was used shortly after the event read: Climbing mountains, Denver and Ethan Kruger sailing on Miret (left) and Shamir Rampersadh and Kay-Lynn Mc Hugh sailing on Abba (right), cruise up a massive swell on the final day of the Marriott Mirror Worlds hosted by Point Yacht Club offshore of Durban last week.

Speaking after the news emerged, Denver, who features in the images, said, “Surfing that swell collapsed our spinnakers! I remember that moment clearly. My imagination ran wild as I watched the wave turn white immediately after into a rolling foam wall.”

Be part of the sailing community

The Point Yacht Club invites Durbanites to vote for the image to put Durban’s sailing community on the world map. You can find the link on the yacht club’s Facebook page, or on the official website – www.yachtracingimage.com. The top 20 images will be showcased at the Metstrade show in Amsterdam from November 18-20. Public voting closes on November 14.

For more from the Highway Mail, follow us on Facebook , X and Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok.

Click to subscribe to our newsletter here