Take you breath away

Some of the most extraordinary sailing images you'll ever see courtesy of Yvan Zedda and the BlueGreen photo agency

You are about to see some of the most stunning images that we've seen in a while, so first a little about the man who took the pics...

Yvan Zedda was born in 1960 in Reims, France, and in his youth discovered photography and scuba diving with an uncle in Sardinia. At age 16, he left the school to join the Brest Ecole des Mousses (Sea Cadets school) and gained his first sailing experiences on the school’s yachts as well as two gaff-rigged schooners, L'Etoile and La Belle Poule. With his first camera, Yvan recorded all these priceless experiences and later joined the Marine Commandos Group.

Aged 19, Yvan left the Navy to devote his life to photography and he gained important knowledge of the subject as an apprentice in a Lorient-based photo lab. Four years later, with greater experience, he created his own company, mostly devoted to advertising, but the sea was so close, calling him constantly. Yvan kept an eye on all the yachting activity in south Brittany and soon began to sell his maritime work through a French photo agency.

A turning point in Yvan’s sailing photography career happened in 1992 when he met the young, rising star in extreme sailing, Laurent Bourgnon. Yvan was fascinated by the amazing speed of Bourgnon’s trimaran RMO, and then later, Primagaz, which was achieving a 540 miles daily run singlehanded in 1984 - a hair-raising record that still stands eight years later. When Bourgnon won his first Atlantic Race (La Route du Rhum), Yvan was there to record it and his photographs sold all over the world.

With his gentle, efficient and friendly manner, Yvan began to be invited on to the flying machines of other famous skippers such Michael Birch and Alain Gautier. Today, he is considered by his peers as one of the very few masters of the important French Multihull circuit. His photographs are mostly done from helicopter - the only way to show the crew work and the complex platforms splashing through the waves and knifing along at speeds of 30 knots plus.

Supported by his staff of 3 in his Lorient-based studio, Yvan’s photographic activities extend to aerial and diving, food and cooking, portraits and landscapes, where his skills for difficult low lights produce dazzling results.

He is also represented by the BlueGreen Photographic Agency in Cowes.

Yvan Zedda