California Photographers Vie for Pantaenius Yacht Racing Image Award

Richmond Yacht Club sailor and photographer Jan Pehrson wrote to let us know she’s a contender in the Pantaenius Yacht Racing Image Award (previously known as the Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image Award). Jan’s photograph of the 37th America’s Cup winners Team New Zealand in Barcelona, Spain, last year is a stunning capture. She’s one of just a few Americans, out of a group of 126 photographers from 28 different countries, whose images have been included in the public-voting round of 80 images selected by a seven-member international jury.

This is the sixth America’s Cup Jan has photographed, among many other local and global sailing events.

Another West Coast photographer whose image is among the top 80 is Santa Barbara photographer Sharon Green. Sharon was on the start and finish lines of the 2025 Transpac, looking for those magic shots. As always, she found some.

Two prizes will be awarded to the winners: the Pantaenius Yacht Racing Image Award (main prize), selected by the international jury, and the Public Award, based on the number of public votes online. You can vote for as many photos as you like, but you can vote for each image only once. Place your votes here, or click on each of the photos above to vote for that image.

The top 20 images will be exhibited at the maritime industry trade fair, Metstrade Amsterdam, on November 18–20. The awards ceremony will take place on November 21 at the Yacht Racing Forum, the leading annual conference for the business of sailing and yacht racing.

Jan signed off her email to us with, “Land was created so boats would have a place to visit.”

Public voting closes on November 14. View the gallery here.