Rick Tomlinson – British DOB 1958
Based in Hamble, Hampshire UK
Roles Involving Cape Horn
Rounded Cape Horn during three Whitbread Round the World Races, 1985/6 – Drum, 1989/90 – The Card legs 1 & 3, 1993/4 – Intrum Justitia.
He also competed on legs 1 & 2 of the 1997/8 Volvo Race aboard EF Language & EF Education, commissioned by National Geographic magazine
Rick was always a sailor first, photographer second during all four Whitbread Races. Pushing the limits of what was possible, he pioneered the idea of flying a camera-mounted kite at sea long before we had drones, and often found perched on the end of the spinnaker pole, or top of the mast to get a bird’s eye view of the action. He also processed his film onboard during the pre-digital era and transmitted his awesome photos from deep in the Southern Ocean to establish himself as one of the world’s great sailing photographers.
Involved with every edition of the Whitbread, Volvo, and Ocean Race since 1985, Rick was Official Photographer for the Volvo Race, 2001 & 2008, for the Ericsson Race Team in 2005/6, Legends photographer in 2011 and Team SCA in 2014/15. He has also been a vital member of The Ocean Race Management Team running Race Control in Alicante 2017/18 and 2023/4.
