There's a reason the world's best sailors return to Hyères year after year. The spectacular Mediterranean setting is certainly part of the appeal, but the waters off the French Riviera can deliver just about everything a sailor could ask for — and sometimes more than they bargained for.
At the 2025 Semaine Olympique Française (French Olympic Week), more than 700 sailors representing 56 nations gathered for one of the major stops on the road to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. Among them were the mixed two-person crews racing the 470 dinghy, the class featured in the November pages of our 2026 Ultimate Sailing Calendar.
And Sailing Energy was there to capture the action.
When the Mistral Arrives
The week offered plenty of contrasts. Sunshine and shifting breezes gave way to the powerful Mistral, with winds topping 25 knots and whitecaps spreading across the racecourse.
For the 470 crews, sailing in those conditions is a demanding partnership. One sailor steers and manages the mainsail while the other works the trapeze and headsail. Both must respond to every gust, wave, and change in the boat's balance.
Our November horizontal photograph catches that partnership in action. One sailor leans out on the trapeze, suspended above the waves, while her teammate keeps the boat moving through the chop. The spray practically leaps off the page.
The View Changes Everything
The second November photograph tells a very different story. Taken at water level, the image looks past a rush of sparkling spray toward a Brazilian 470's billowing spinnaker. The sea nearly swallows the foreground, giving us a perspective few spectators ever experience.
It's that variety of viewpoints that makes the work of Sailing Energy so compelling.
Founded by photographers Jesús Renedo and Pedro Martínez, Sailing Energy has become a familiar presence on the international racing circuit. Their team combines photography from chase boats, drones, and underwater camera housings, finding opportunities to tell the story from above, alongside, and sometimes almost beneath the action.
Following the Olympic Dream
For many of the competitors, Hyères is another opportunity to test their skills against the world's best as they work toward Los Angeles 2028. The photographers follow much of that same international circuit, returning to familiar venues and finding fresh stories as the sailors, fleets, and conditions change.
Earlier this year, we explored Sailing Energy's coverage of two very different Olympic classes at Mallorca's Trofeo Princesa Sofía in When One Event Tells Two Stories. In Hyères, the 470 crews offer another glimpse of that journey.
From sweeping views of white sails against the Mediterranean coastline to the remarkable detail of a sailor fighting through a wall of spray, Sailing Energy shows us how much a change in perspective can reveal.
Two of those moments found their way into our November calendar pages. And each offers a view of sailing we might otherwise never get to see.
Photography by Sailing Energy — Jesús Renedo and Pedro Martínez
