Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez in France attracts a host of racers and sailing enthusiasts from all the corners of the globe to do battle in the bay of Saint-Tropez on September 28 – October 6, 2013.

The event also attracts the elite photographers… here Juerg Kaufmann describes his day shooting the Wally fleet:

77 Bombay Street, “Up in the sky” – this is one of the songs which I always keep in mind for the 2013 summer, same for the shooting of this event.

At the heliport near Saint Tropez after the normal preparation for an aerial shooting such as removing the seats, fixing the harness etc. we took off, the legs out in the fresh air under the rotor and Gilles Martin Raget sitting next to me; he is just back from the Cup in San Francisco. A quick photo from us to document this moment and we are already high up over the bay from Saint Tropez.

The bay is almost white so many boats are out there. We are heading to the “other side” – the beaches area with the legendary Club 55 and the race course of Wally’s and the J Class yachts. My legs are a bit freezing and I’m going again trough my camera settings again; once we are on the spot all goes very fast.

Below my feet I can see the beach and the clubs and here are the big boats. From up here they look like normal sailing boats; a main sail a jib and spinnaker… nothing special but when you see the size of the crew you get a feeling how big this boats are.

Every time I’m up in the air I feel this freedom to move around fast. You talk to the pilot with the headset and you just go. I also feel a pressure you want…you must do great shots now as the airtime is quite expensive. We look at each other and smile as it’s a great moment. The light is perfect and the waves are there: “la vertical la” we say to the pilot via the headset and we are right on the top of a big Wally yacht as they are dropping their massive spinnaker.

I start to make on amazing photo after the other; it’s like being in a flow, you cant stop it it just comes, we move to the next boat, I even don’t feel the cold air on my legs….and here is the song, “up in the sky you are just fine” ….enjoy the photos.