For the coffee table

James Boyd reviews what he believes is the best ever sailing photography book

After last weekend's review of the disappointing official America's Cup Jubilee regatta book, it comes as a great pleasure to share with you a quite stunning volume for which you will need an equally substantial coffee table.



Simply entitled Yachting, this weighty tomb contains what in my view is one of the most impressive collections of yachting photographs I have seen.

The man responsible for this epic is Italian photographer Carlo Borlenghi whose work regularly appears on madforsailing. Carlo has been a yachting photographer for more than 20 years and first became known from his work with the Azzurra Italian America's Cup challenger in 1983.

Currently Carlo is working for Nautor Challenge on the Volvo Ocean Race, but will be once again covering the America's Cup later this year in his role as official photographer for Prada.

Carlo's latest book is large format (295 x370mm), thick and hardbacked and its format is simple. It is stuffed full of giant double page spreads of the most incredible images from our sport, Borlenghi's favourites from his collection.

What impressed me about the book is its diversity and how much this betrays Carlo's passion for his subject matter. There is plenty of glamour as one would expect - shots of maxis, Swans and the giant classics taken in sun drenched Porto Cervo - but pretty much all aspects of yacht racing are covered from Olympic and skiff racing up.

The book contains surprisingly few images of Prada (Borlenghi has another book full of these...) but there are many images from regattas such as the Admiral's Cup and Key West to Grand Prix classes such as the Maxi Ones and 60ft trimarans. There are some particularly special pictures of Club Med (both from the air and on board) and of Giovanni Soldini's Open 60 Fila (Borlenghi was the official photographer for this campaign).

The shots in the book have been taken all over the world in all the top regatta centres but also in more remote parts such as Dubai and Bora Bora.

Borlenghi is a master of the way he uses light in his shots and how he harnesses the surroundings to add drama, whether it is the type of sea, an unusual cloud formation or back drop. There is a particularly atmospheric image of a classic yacht dropping her sails in torrential rain and one wonders how many other yachting photographers would have included this among their favourite work.

Yachting is in Italian, but the only words in it are captions and are enough to glean what the subject is (in some of the more artist shots this is not always obvious).

There are few yachting books more likely to shut your mates up when they pop round. Me? I'm off to buy a coffee table to put it on.

Yachting costs US$68 or 77.47 Euros (roughly (£47). To buy the book contact Carlo directly by clicking here.