20 December 2023

by British Marine

After thousands of votes for the Sailing Holiday photo of the 2023 season, we’ve awarded not one, but two prizes for our winning entries!

The inaugural PlainSailing.com ‘Sailing Holiday Photo of the Year’ competition got off to an unusual start – there was so little between two photos after a fortnight of public votes, the judges decided the fairest way to end the competition would be for the top prize to be shared by the top two winning entries: after thousands of online votes from around the world, there were fewer than 10 votes between the two leading photographs!

In place of the single top prize of €1,250 towards a 2024 yacht or catamaran charter, a top-top prize of €750 was awarded to a stunning shot of a yacht at sea, set against a backdrop of an epic orange sunset, which was taken by a member of the West Lancashire Scout Group (in the UK), in October, on their five-boat voyage from Trogir, Croatia.

The second-top prize of €500 was awarded to another drone shot taken in Croatia – this time a mesmerising overhead shot of a raft of ten yachts, captured spectacularly against vivid blue seas and leafy green trees on nearby land. It was taken by professional Skipper David Vojak, who sailed with PlainSailing.com clients from Biograd, Croatia.

Congratulations to both the winners, and to anyone who submitted a photo for the 2023 competition. 

You can see the final shortlist at https://plainsailing.com/photo-competition-2023.

Tommy Tognarelli, co-founder of PlainSailing.com, said “Although it’s not quite what we planned, we’re thrilled to have not one, but two winners for our Sailing Holiday Photo of the Year 2023 competition. It was very close between the top two photographs, so I agree with the panel that it was fairest to share the prize - both photos are simply fantastic!

“We’ve had so many positive comments, votes and excitement about this competition, that we’ll surely be returning for more in 2024 – and the best way for people to secure themselves an entry spot is to get a sailing holiday booked with PlainSailing.com as soon as they can!