For more than four decades, Carlo Borlenghi looked at the sea through a camera and taught the rest of us how to see it too. The Italian photographer, who has passed away suddenly at his home in Bellano on the shores of Lake Como, was one of sailing’s greatest visual storytellers, a man who couldn’t swim, by his own admission, yet spent his life chasing boats across every ocean on earth.

Borlenghi’s images of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race are etched into our collective memory: maxis racing down the Tasmanian coast, spinnakers filling on Boxing Day, the particular light over Sydney Harbour at the start of the world’s most famous ocean race. He shot the start, the storms, and the finish line at Constitution Dock across decades of this event, capturing not just yachts but the beauty of ocean racing, all visible in a single frame.

As the sailing world pays tribute to Borlenghi, we wanted to share some of the images that connect him most closely to our own race, a small tribute to this icon who gave the Sydney Hobart some of its most enduring memories.

Grazie di tutto, amico nostro. Buon vento.