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Carlo Borlenghi: A life worth a thousand pictures

Home 2026 Carlo Borlenghi: A life worth a thousand pictures

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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.

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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.

Wild Oats XI, captured from above en route to the Rolex Sydney Hobart finish line - ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi pic.

Carlo captured the beauty of the Organ Pipes as a competitor sailed by - ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi pic.

Spectator vessels churn up plenty of wash as the fleet leaves Sydney Harbour - ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi pic.

The bowperson in their element - ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi pic.

The light dances off the waves around Moneypenny - ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi pic.

Ciao Carlo - 1956-2026.