REALLY MAD !...

It has been one of the most exciting shooting I have ever done, the same caliber that the Fuji at Ushant one in 2002. As we were supposed to do some stock image of Jeremie Beyou Delta Dore, I have left Valencia the day before to arrive in time the next morning to climb aboard the helicopter driven by Thierry Leignac with the Nefertiti Production film crew including director Hervé Borde and videoman Mathieu Pansard.

After flying over the Morbihan Gulf which is always a great moment, we landed at the west tip of Belle Ile to wait for more. At that time, Delta Dore skippered by Jeremie Beyou with his crew of five including Sydney Gavignet who will sail the next two handed Barcelona Race with him was on its way. As we flew over the sea, we knew already it would be a great day : 20-25 knots of south west wind, large seas coming from the other side of bay of biscay, even sun from time to time.

The rest was just pure gold as Jerem and crew put full throotle on this moving playing field, going from upwind on both tacks to wild surfing session on close reach. I must say that those new IMOCA 60 footers are just incredible boats, so fast, so powerful, so spectacular, and so...wet !...

After 3 months of light wind sooting in Valencia for the America's Cup, it was the perfect reward as we have been flying nearly 2 hours over DD going wild. Most of the pictures are on http://www.martin-raget.com/ , but much more are in the bag.

I would like to thank the crew, especially those who have been staying inside during the shooting, and also Thierry Leignac who is a f... good helicopter pilot. Imagine that this guy is just going up and down between the waves to allow us to be as low as possible to get the top of the waves higher than the boat !...

What I like in all this is that we have been 4 people to be lucky enough to watch this great sailing moment with our own eyes, and, thanks to photo and Video, many more people will be able to see it from now on. Thanks also to Delta Dore for their support, and to Laurence Caraes (yes, wife of the famous Jacques Caraes) who is running the PR for this project managed by Gilles Chiorri as she organized this shooting for us.

I think we are done with DD for a moment. You can't have those sort of conditions every day. Maybe I would like to do some shooting onboard in same conditions later, but, well, maybe not... Those guys are really mad !...