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Yachting Monthly

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Boat photos: how to take an amazing shot of your yacht

• Katy Stickland
• June 15, 2021

Getting a decent boat photo or a shot of action on board can be tricky. Yachting Monthly photographer Richard Langdon shares his pro tips

Using a long lens to bring an interesting background into the shot will help when taking amazing boat photos. Credit: Richard Langdon

Photography might not be a sailing skill per se, but the chances are you take boat photos or shots of the ocean almost every time you head out on the water, writes Richard Langdon .

Whether it’s capturing a picture to post on Facebook or Instagram, to create a photo album or yacht club presentation about your adventure, or even to immortalise your pride and joy for a framed picture at home, we’re all snapping away.

Getting a decent picture at sea is no mean feat, however.

To get a good shot of your boat under sail, you can’t be on it, which is a significant hurdle.

Shots of coastlines and headlands often end up as black lines sandwiched between a grey sea and a grey sky, and you’re invariably too busy to pick up a camera when there’s action on deck.

Below decks can be dark, and flash photography captures surprised faces and red eyes.

Richard Langdon is a professional marine photographer and runs Ocean Images, capturing the world’s most famous boats and events. He has sailed far and wide in his Contessa 26. Credit: Richard Langdon

Getting that killer shot can be exhilarating though, and photography is an enjoyable addition to a cruise, but just how do you get stunning images that truly capture the fun, action and beauty of being at sea without having to be a pro?

Subject matter, timing, composition and lighting all play a part.

Photography is about recording light, be it natural light from the sun or moon, or artificial light from a flash, deck lights or even a torch.

It’s nearly always possible to get a rewarding image though it might not be the one you set out to achieve.

Then there’s the choice of camera, whether its your smartphone, compact camera, waterproof action camera, or digital single lens reflex (DSLR).

Each can give great results in different settings.

It’s also worth thinking about what you’re taking pictures for.

It’s easy to have lots of seascapes looking over the bow, but often it’s the people on board you’ll want to remember later.

Photos can be a great way of telling stories, so including the elements that make up a story (people, places and events) can really help.

If it’s for a collection of images, a variety of subject matter, composition and lighting will help build up a visually appealing record that helps tell the story of your adventure.

Whether your aim is to get the ultimate sailing image, an archive for your grandchildren or social media images to make your friends green with envy, some photographic knowledge will hopefully improve your shots.

Taking boat photos: types of camera

So what type of camera should you opt for to take boat photos?

As a professional, most of my work is done using a DSLR.

I will probably also have a GoPro in my pocket during a shoot mainly for those moments on board when it’s too wet to get the expensive one out, or for video.

For family and friends and for those lovely shots that pop up unexpectedly my iPhone gets used, simply because it’s the camera that’s available to me at the time and the quickest to use.

Digital Single Lens Reflex

A DSLR is the pro choice when taking boat photos and offers the most control over the images you take, resulting in the best quality photographs. Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

A DSLR gives you total control. You can choose lenses from super wide angle to telephoto.

And while most other camera options do give a choice of lens, the DSLR enables you to use a lens that is of high quality, even when the lens is a telephoto.

The DSLR also gives you the choice of aperture and shutter speed, which allows you to control depth of focus, keeping everything pin sharp, or blurring out the background to really highlight your subject.

You can also use a separate flash, so you can control the lighting, even on bright days, to fill in the shadows.

Compact camera

Compact cameras still have plenty of offer due to their handy size, picture quality and a flash that is usually superior to a smartphone’s. Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

The compact camera was all the rage a decade or two ago.

Smartphones and action cameras have largely taken their place.

They do still offer high-quality still images in a small package.

Many are now splash or waterproof, many have RAW format, some sort of visual zoom and various levels of automatic or manual settings to control your image.

With care, use of their built-in flash can give good results.

Be careful with using the digital zoom, however, as this can reduce image quality massively.

Action camera

No keen sports snapper worth their salt would be without an action camera. Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

The action camera has taken sports photography by storm and GoPro led the charge.

I’ve never broken one yet, a testament to their quality.

Choose RAW format for the best quality stills and this will also give you more scope in post production.

The action camera is great if you plan to do a lot of close-up, on-board shots.

The super wide setting will give you distorted fish eye type results which have their place but if you’re more conservative, stick to wide or linear settings.

These cameras aren’t great for shooting into the distance, as there’s no telephoto setting.

Our smartphones go everywhere with us these days, which makes them ideal for capturing spontaneous moments that might otherwise be missed. Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

And last but by no means least, a camera that most of us have in our pockets is a smartphone.

Whether Android or iPhone, these cameras have really evolved in recent years.

They can be good for wide-angle, but offer little by way of real zoom.

The flash is okay, but you will have little control over it.

And don’t forget when you touch the screen to alter the focusing distance you can also swipe up or down to easily change the exposure of your photograph.

Most smartphones now offer a portrait mode, which will give the effect of dropping the background out of focus, which looks great if used carefully.

Just keep your phone to hand and charged up.

People & Action

People sailing make great pictures.

Not just posed shots looking into the camera but while they are actively sailing.

In low-level lighting, such as below decks, try changing the ISO to a higher number to record light faster, or add addition light sources. Credit: Richard Langdon

In fact many great portraits have the subject looking away from camera.

You’ll need to make sure they have the sailing in control so you can focus on getting some shots.

Try to get faces rather than backs of heads and also try to avoid having a backstay or rigging emerging from their head.

Composition

If you’ve got time, think about lens choice.

A long lens will help isolate your subject from the background, such as the convenient little 50mm lens on a DSLR.

Just choose an aperture with the smallest number like f2.8 or f4 and the background will blow out of focus, especially distant background.

Conversely a wide-angled lens of 18mm or below, is also useful, as long as you get close in on the action.

Stay in front of your subjects when taking a group shot in order to capture the best facial expressions, but they don’t have to look at you. Credit: Richard Langdon

Stay ahead of your subject in order to capture great facial expressions, and if they are doing something active, keep their hands in shot so that the viewer can see exactly what is happening.

When it comes to lenses, having some kind of zoom lens available lets you change focal length much more easily.

If you want one lens, a good range of wide angle to long lens gives you lots of flexibility, but you may end up sacrificing a little in aperture settings or image quality.

Your light source on board will either be the sun and/or a flash. Most likely just the sun.

So taking photos of people on board in the middle of the day will give harsh shadows from the overhead light which are not very flattering.

This problem gets worse in mid summer or close to the equator.

If you have a choice wait until the ‘golden hour’, a couple of hours before sunset or soon after sunrise.

The hour before dawn and sunset is known as the ‘golden hour’ giving soft light without harsh shadow. Credit: Richard Langdon

You’ll be treated to a warm soft light that will make your subjects look amazing!

Ideally they will be ‘frontlit’ facing the light but if the sun’s behind their backs (backlit) just let them be silhouetted for a different effect.

If they are backlit and you are using a DSLR, expose the picture for the sky behind not their faces or rotate the exposure compensation down one stop for the same result.

This will create a nice silhouette.

Your phone camera will also let you adjust the exposure.

There is also a setting called ‘high dynamic range’ (HDR) on most phones, which takes three identical images but with different exposures, then merges them together so that the highlights, the shadows and the mid range are all properly exposed.

This can give a really dramatic effect rather than losing areas of the image in shadow.

Torches or other light sources can be used over a flash to create a different atmosphere. Credit: Richard Langdon

In low light, it is possible to get images by using a wide aperture (small f-stop number) and a slow shutter speed, but as the exposure will take longer, try propping your camera up on something to hold it steady and avoid blur.

If you can change the ISO (the sensor’s sensitivity), put it onto a higher number so it records the light faster.

Your camera may well have automatic settings for low light and it’s worth trying these rather than just relying on flash.

If you’ve got a flash, think about using it in the middle of the day to fill in those harsh shadows.

A smartphone or compact will only give limited adjustment, but if you have a DSLR you can get great results.

Set both on automatic and nine times out of 10 you’ll get a great result, albeit with a face that will be pretty flattened by light.

For best results, prior to switching the flash on, switch the camera to Manual (M) and set the shutter speed as fast as possible when using flash (usually 1/160-1/250) and the aperture to a setting that will give a slightly underexposed shot (take a quick frame to test).

Then switch on the flash and set on manual, set the flash power to suit your distance from your subject.

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Start at, say…. 1/4 power and try a shot.

Too much flash? Reduce power to 1/8, and so on.

Try to avoid putting too much flash into your subject unless you want something really punchy.

Then once the camera and flash are set you can pretty much shoot anything happening aboard, as long as the light or distance from the subject stay more or less the same.

If you want to get closer, just reduce the flash power to suit.

If your camera doesn’t have a flash, you could try shining a torch for a similar effect to fill in shadows.

Below decks, it’s worth turning the lights on for a better image.

On a DSLR, you can soften the flash by bouncing it off a bulkhead, or you could shine a torch from another part of the cabin, or use a diffuser to soften the flash.

How to take great boat photos

So how can you capture great sailing images, perhaps of a boat nearby or your own boat?

A dream scenario would be to sail with another boat owner who wants the same thing.

For taking great boat photos, get the boat sailing well, then choose your angle. The leeward bow is a flattering angle and will let you see the deck and crew. Credit: Richard Langdon

Sail in convoy and snap away, or see if your sailing club could send a RIB out for half an hour.

Just make sure you consider the following factors…

Camera settings

Boats and waves move fast. For crisp, sharp boat photos you will probably need to set your DSLR to a shutter speed of 1/500th of a second or less.

A short focal length will help isolate the boat from the background, but be careful of autofocusing on the waves ahead of the boat.

On other cameras, select the ‘sport’ setting for faster exposures.

If you are close and using a wide-angle lens, the rig of the boat you are shooting might look disappointingly short.

When taking boat photos, a long lens avoids distortion and can bring an interesting background into the picture. Credit: Richard Langdon

The wide-angle lens will distort this.

So think about moving apart so that you are using a standard lens or something a little bit zoomed.

This will bring things more into proportion.

While a wide-angled lens might distort the rig and possibly even bend the boat, using a telephoto lens also needs to be done with care.

Close up with a wide angle can create a dramatic effect, but distorts the boat. Credit: Richard Langdon

Pick your angle carefully as telephoto shots ahead or behind the boat will squash or foreshorten the boat and could make it look dumpy.

You will lose those beautiful lines.

So with a telephoto lens, keep more or less abeam of the boat so as not to distort.

Composition of your boat photos

Think about your composition too. The rule of thirds is a good start for a pleasing picture.

Start with 1/3 sea and 2/3rds sky. And also the boat 1/3 across the frame, preferably sailing into the frame.

But break the rules if you like. How about 2/3 sea, and 1/3 sky?

Think about the angle of the sun relative to the wind direction.

Boat photos taken from windward show more of the hull and less detail on deck. Credit: Richard Langdon

To show off a boat well, shooting from the leeward side will show more of the boat’s lines and less of the dirty underwater hull.

If the boat is front-lit and perhaps in the golden hour you will get some great shots.

But also shooting straight into the light works, as you’ll be rewarded by a sea speckled with sparkling highlights.

Try some vertical (portrait) shots with full rig. This is especially great when you’ve got an interesting cloud formation behind.

Try horizontal too. Crop the rig out to get the length of the boat to fill the frame and give you lots of crew detail.

If you have an amazing background, some stunning cliffs for example, use a telephoto lens if you can to emphasise the scale of that background.

If you are feeling ambitious and in a second boat tracking alongside and have a DSLR, try shooting with a slow shutter speed to give the sea some motion blur.

This works best on flat water so as to avoid camera shake.

The technique also works best using a wide angle to show more sea.

Opting for a slow shutter speed will create impactful ocean blur. Credit: Richard Langdon

Just set the camera to a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second, even slower as you get the hang of it. (A slow ISO like 100 will also help.)

The aim is to get a shot where the boat is sharp but the water is blurred. So keeping the camera steady is key.

And don’t be frightened to keep your finger on the shutter, as multiple shots will increase your chance of achieving a good result.

Taking boat photos from the dinghy

If organising a boat-to-boat shoot is not possible, think about dumping your designated photographer into your tender somewhere safe.

Give him or her a hand- held VHF for safety and control.

You could even anchor it in a bay so they don’t have to worry about drift.

I’ve successfully managed to get some great boat photos bobbing about in the tiniest of tenders.

If you’ve been designated this task, make sure the crew onboard is briefed not to sail miles past you in each direction, which can be frustrating, and also brief them on the best distance you want them to pass and on which side.

Exposure, Aperture & ISO

Your choice of aperture will give you control of how much of your shot is in focus.

A wide aperture, which confusingly has the smallest ‘f-stop’ number, will enable a fast shutter speed, reducing motion blur.

When taking boat photos, increasing the depth of focus using the aperture can cause motion blur

This gives a really small depth of focus. Ideal for portraits.

Let’s say for example, on a certain day:

Aperture f2.8 Shutter speed 1/1000th of a second

If you would like more in focus move the aperture to f4.

You will be halving the area of the lens’s aperture.

So as a result you have to double the amount of time the shutter is open. Simple!

So the below combinations will give the same exposure but differing depths of focus:

Aperture f4 Shutter speed 1/500th of a second

Aperture f5.6 Shutter speed 1/250th of a second

Aperture f8 Shutter speed 1/125th of a second

Aperture f11 Shutter speed 1/60th of a second

Aperture f16 Shutter speed 1/30th of a second

Aperture f22 Shutter speed 1/15th of a second

Whilst you will be successfully increasing the depth of focus, conversely your shutter speed is getting slower and slower and that can effect motion blur.

So be careful here and if you are using a long lens stick to a fairly open aperture.

You can also adjust the camera’s sensitivity to light, known as ISO.

The higher the ISO, the grainier and flatter the image, but it will help avoid blur in low-light conditions. Credit: Rachel Fallon-Langdon/Team Phaedo

An ISO of 100 is slow, giving you rich, detailed colours, but requiring a longer exposure.

An ISO of 800 or above (some cameras now go up to ISO 6,400 or more) is fast, but will result in a grainier image with flatter colours.

Using drones to take boat photos

Last but by no means least, using a drone can open up a whole new angle for you (subject to local rules and regulations).

No tender, RIB or mate required.

Be well practised with your drone flying before you use it over the water and always leave enough battery power for a potentially tricky and time consuming recovery.

A few other settings also need to be considered.

Disable the ‘return to home’, ‘object avoidance’ and ‘distance limitation’ settings.

The latter two have both caught me out.

Return to home won’t work because you will no longer be where you took off.

Once mastered, a drone can capture your boat from previously inaccessible angles. Credit: Richard Langdon

If you leave the object avoidance on it’s possible the drone will want to escape your hand when you try to grab it.

And the distance limitation will mean the drone stubbornly stops when it’s flown a certain set distance meaning you’ll have to tack or gybe to get back and retrieve it!

Using the drone to take boat photos will need practice.

Try looking at your screen as much as possible rather than at the drone.

It’s a good idea to have an observer watching the drone in case you reverse it into a passing yacht or nearby cliff (don’t laugh, it’s highly possible!).

Try an abstract shot taken straight down the mast from above; lower angles work well too or track alongside like being on a photo boat, only without the photo boat.

You should also take care not to overexpose the picture, especially when shooting your subject from directly above.

You should expose the picture to suit the boat, not the sea.

On a sunny day, from above, there’s always an angle where you can shoot straight into the sparkle of the sun’s reflection.

I really like using this angle with a drone and it will often give you a great shadow of the rig on the water.

Once anchored up in a beautiful bay for the evening, you’ve got so many photo opportunities.

Use the drone, tender or try swimming in the water with a GoPro.

The drone will allow you to include the backdrop of the bay from an elevated angle.

Or how about flying the drone over the land, if safe to do so, to include the location in the foreground?

If you’re anchored close to shore you can also send the drone high above for an overhead shot of the boat and coastline.

Submerge yourself and use a GoPro dome to take a shark’s eye view of your yacht. Credit: Richard Langdon

From your tender you can get a lovely low-level shot with the coast in the background, especially if the afternoon (or morning) sun is giving you some warm light.

A longish telephoto lens will make the boat appear closer to the shore than it really is.

You could also try shooting images when immersed in the sea with your GoPro.

For a small cost you can buy a dome for your GoPro for an overwater/underwater image – in clear water you’ll be able to see the keel below the water and the topsides and rig above.

It’s almost impossible to pull off this shot without the dome, even in flat water, as the water level needs to be half way up the lens.

However, with the dome, which measures about 15cm in diameter, you can submerge half way with ease.

Detail shots

Close up details taken during your sailing adventure always look great in a gallery of shots.

The detail could be parts of your boat, an ice-cold bottle of beer complete with beads of condensation, or a bit of driftwood on the beach.

Your choice of lens will help dictate what will be shown.

If you choose a wide-angle lens you can get super close to your detail and get some background information too, though bear in mind the GoPros have a fixed-focus lens so will not focus very closely.

Make sure you focus on the detail.

Details of life on board can be just as impressive as wide action shots. Credit: Richard Langdon

However, if you would just like a really close-up shot of a certain detail, go for a longer lens.

Both methods will give you good results. Think about your light source, too.

Early morning or late afternoon light is lovely.

And if your detail has some nice texture to it, choose an angle where the sunlight hits the detail at an acute angle to emphasise that texture.

For more advanced DSLR users your choice of depth of focus will really depend on what you want to achieve.

I suggest starting with a very large aperture for a small depth of focus to isolate that detail from its background.

Processing and editing

These days it’s much more acceptable to heavily process an image, especially for social media where ‘filters’ are often used to give it more punch.

For a classic image of your boat, however, or any other image you want to print and frame, be a little more subtle.

Print might not handle heavy post processing well.

There are many schools of thought as to how much one should process an image.

At the beginning I would suggest you only process just enough to get your desired result.

You can always save that version for print and then go to town on another version of the same image.

There are still many audiences who hate over-processed images.

Selective editing when taking boat photos allows you to single out the sky, for example, and alter its exposure in isolation from the rest of the image. Credit: Richard Langdon

Postproduction is nothing new and manipulating an image to emphasise certain things was going on in the dark room well before the digital era. That burned-in sky, for example.

Controls in Lightroom and Photoshop programmes include exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks, clarity, vibrance and saturation.

Any editing will work significantly better with a RAW image over a Jpeg.

Play with them all as practice makes perfect, and the internet is packed full of informative tutorials on how best to use these programmes.

Another adjustment I find myself using a lot is the graduated filter.

You can select an area and adjust just that area.

An obvious one is darkening the sky or giving it extra contrast, but how about selecting the sea instead and playing with contrast and exposure there, too?

If you’re using a DSLR camera, the editing may well be done at home on a computer, but most phones will let you do it there and then; the majority of the above controls feature in the ‘edit’ option when you open your picture on your phone, which is a fantastic option to have when you’re on the move editing and posting.

Newer GoPros also have WiFi, allowing you to download your pictures to your phone on the go.

Practice makes perfect

Photography is a pastime where this saying really does apply.

The more you use your camera the more you learn what it can and can’t do. With digital photography, even in difficult lighting conditions, you can ‘build’ a shot by taking a frame, seeing how it looks on the screen and then if there’s room for improvement you can adjust and take another.

This luxury wasn’t around in the days when images where taken on film.

We all enjoy a wonderful sport and we all know that it’s not always sunny and bright. So take your camera out on all occasions to tell the world it’s not always plain sailing!

Taking boat photos: RAW vs JPEG

I need to explain the difference between RAW images and Jpeg. Oh, and your own eyes!

Our eyes and brain are super clever and have the ability to see details in most shadow areas and also in highlight areas too.

Our eyes and brain can see detail under a bimini and also on a white sail above.

A camera is less clever, especially in Jpeg mode and will only be able to expose the shadow areas and the highlight areas as a compromise.

This often ends up in pictures with shadows completely blacked out, or the highlights blown out (all white).

If you want your boat photos to contain the maximum amount of detail, select the RAW setting. Credit: Richard Langdon

We can get one step closer to our eyes by shooting in RAW format, which records far more information in all areas.

Initially a RAW image perhaps won’t look as good as a camera’s Jpeg but in post production you can get more out of your shot.

While nearly all cameras now have the option to shoot in RAW, smartphones have been slow to adopt this option and it was only on the iPhone 12 Pro that they introduced this.

If you are serious about your image taking, choose RAW.

If you just want quick social media shots then Jpeg is fine.

If you would like to use the images in both areas you can often choose an option to capture both simultaneously, so that you can back up the RAWs for when you are back at your computer, and use the Jpeg instantly.

If you do select Jpeg, your camera may have options as to which size file to save.

Always go for the largest option, as you’ll just lose quality in smaller files, and more memory cards aren’t expensive to buy.

Enjoyed reading Boat photos: how to take an amazing shot of your yacht?

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Celebrities Accused Of 'Yachting' In Hollywood — And What Being A 'Yacht Girl' Really Means

Rumors suggest some women are paid to play..

• Micki Spollen

Written on Jan 11, 2022

It’s easy to be envious when seeing the Instagram photos of young, carefree celebrity women seemingly having the time of their lives on yachts floating in exotic waters and in the VIP sections of the most exclusive clubs.

However, rumor has it there is much more than meets the eye when it comes to these ‘yacht girls’ and their extravagant lifestyles.

What is a yacht girl?

According to Urban Dictionary , a yacht girl is “an attractive young woman who finds ways to get access to luxurious surroundings by being available to wealthy men.”

For example, you may follow a woman or two on Instagram who always seems to be partying or vacationing somewhere expensive (notably without ever showing who she’s actually with). This is a person you could potentially describe as being a yacht girl.

And it’s not just those Instagram models and wannabe stars that are considered yacht girls. As you work up the wealth chain, you may be surprised to recognize some celebrity names synonymous with yachting.

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What is 'yachting' in Hollywood?

In Hollywood, the term yacht girl essentially means a woman who works as an escort for high-end clientele , not just on yachts but for any social event.

While the practice has only somewhat recently gained mainstream notoriety, if you think back on the many tabloid photos of models and actresses on yachts from years past, it appears to be something that's gone on in Hollywood “for 60 years,” according to Elie Nahas, who ran a Beirut-based modeling agency before being arrested on charges of running a prostitution ring in 2007.

In 2013, "The Hollywood Reporter" ran a feature describing this so-called yachting during the Cannes Film Festival.

“Every year during the festival there are 30 or 40 luxury yachts in the bay at Cannes, and every boat belongs to a very rich person. Every boat has about 10 girls on it; they are usually models, and they are usually nude or half nude,” Nahas told THR.

At the end of the night, each woman would receive a “gift,” a generous amount of money that the client would put in an envelope for her.

And while many of these women were self-proclaimed local prostitutes and escorts, the Cannes Film Festival is, of course, known for its celebrity attendees — and it’s rumored that celebrity women trying to fast-track a name for themselves in Hollywood become yacht girls, too.

“Women installed on yachts in Cannes during the film festival are called ‘yacht girls,’ and the line between professional prostitutes and B- or C-list Hollywood actresses and models who accept payment for sex with rich older men is sometimes very blurred, explains one film industry veteran,” Dana Kennedy wrote for THR.

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Some women in Hollywood have accused their celebrity peers of being yacht girls.

A 2017 blind item (celebrity gossip that doesn’t outwardly name the celebrity) allegedly written by a struggling actress describes being lured by another actress into the world of yachting :

“The actress I was talking to made it sound super easy and that she only had [sex] a few times with guys while yachting and that it was mostly partying and being arm candy,” she writes, explaining that eventually she agreed to try it for $25,000 upfront, but admitting that the experience was less than glamorous.

Blind item readers guessed that Canadian actress Vanessa Lengies wrote the blind item and further surmised that it may be one of the Glee actresses Naya Rivera or Heather Morris that introduced her to yachting. None of these claims have ever been substantiated.

If you believe the rumors, it would seem that yachting is a rite of passage for women hoping to “make it” in Hollywood, and even some celebrities we now consider A-List are thought to be former yacht girls.

In an excerpt from her 2021 memoir , “My Body,” Emily Ratajkowski details being paid $25,000 at the start of her career to go to the Superbowl with now-disgraced Malaysian financier Jho Low, who "‘just liked to have famous men and women around,’” she explains her manager told her at the time.

She writes about attending the star-studded Coachella on someone else’s dime, having drinks paid for at clubs, and attending afterparties with Oscar-winning actors before actually becoming a celebrity herself.

One could infer from this recollection that, in order to be able to tell these stories, Ratajkowski was herself a yacht girl. “My Body” suggests as much, and in it, she subtly gives away the identity of another celebrity woman who yachted alongside her.

Ratajkowski describes watching as Low gave shots to a Victoria’s Secret model. While she doesn’t name drop, Ratajkowski gives just enough information for readers to figure who that model likely was.

“Now she kept her eyes locked on him as he took his shot, throwing her head back dramatically as he did, only to quickly toss the alcohol over her shoulder,” Ratajkowski writes. “When he faced her again, her eyes sparkled and the famous dimples appeared on her cheeks.”

Low has since become a fugitive wanted for allegedly running an international money laundering scheme, and in 2017, Reuters reported that model Miranda Kerr — known for her dimples — was being ordered to return “diamond pendants, earrings and other jewelry worth about $8 million” that Low allegedly gifted her to government agents.

In 2017, Ratajkowski also posted a video on Instagram potentially outing Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber as yacht girls as they danced aboard a yacht during that year’s Cannes Film Festival.

          View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata)

Many people have also accused Meghan Markle of yachting (but then again, what haven't people accused Markle of at this point).

People have pointed to an old photo of Markle on a yacht as proof that she’s a former yacht girl.

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Another old blind item also suggested the former actress was available to “rent.”

"If you see B actress post scantily clad photos of themselves on Social Media, this is often a Comm to [them] that this person is available to ‘rent’ for a weekend of ‘yachting,’” the tweet says, including a photo of Markle in a swimsuit.

"If you see B actress post scantily clad photos of themselves on Social Media, this is often a Comm to [them] that this person is available to “rent” for a weekend of “yachting”. Typically worth $30K for the “party” - Meghan Markle @3Days3Nights https://t.co/E3WfMjnVL9 pic.twitter.com/QFv476GL0b — yacht girl (@yachtgirlmm) November 27, 2019

Markle’s close friendship pre-Harry with actress Priyanka Chopra has naturally led some to guess that Chopra once yachted as well.

Another actress that faces endless rumors of yachting is Russian actress Irina Shayk , which according to THR, is par for the course as the outlet writes that yachting your way to stardom happens with “disturbing frequency,” particularly when it comes to foreign-born actresses.

According to THR, who claims to know “of at least one now-prominent actress who made her first connections on a Cannes yacht and quickly landed her debut role in a U.S.-shot movie,” such as with Shayk’s 2014 film “Hercules,” it’s “a red flag any time you see a foreign-born actress with no credits suddenly make her way into a U.S.-shot movie.”

Of course, when it comes to yachting in Hollywood, all of these claims appear to be unfounded.

These rumors make for good gossip, whether you’re talking about low-level social media influencers or high-profile celebrity actresses.

However, nothing is proven, leaving us to wonder any time we see a photo of women on a yacht.

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Micki Spollen is an editor, writer, and traveler focused on relationships, news, and pop culture. Follow her on Instagram .

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Staff at top London private school 'shocked' as ex-pupil Hannah Lynch, 18, among six missing from Bayesian

A prestigious west London school is “incredibly shocked” over news an 18-year-old former pupil is among those missing after the Bayesian superyacht sunk off the coast of Sicily.

Hannah Lynch was on the superyacht with her father Mike Lynch , a British tech tycoon once known as Britain’s Bill Gates, and her mother Angela Bacares, when it was struck by a violent storm in the early hours of Monday.

The vessel, which had been moored overnight around half-a-mile off the coast of Palermo , sank “within a few minutes”, according to eyewitnesses.

A major search was underway on Tuesday to find Hannah, Mr Lynch, and four other people who remained missing .

A spokesperson for the Italian coastguard said they are feared to be trapped inside the luxury yacht .

Hannah is a former pupil of £25,000-a-year Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith - a private school which counts Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant and Heston Blumenthal among alumni.

The school said in a statement: “We are all incredibly shocked by the news that Hannah and her father are among those missing in this tragic incident and our thoughts are with their family and everyone involved as we await further updates.”

Hannah is understood to be the youngest of Mr Lynch’s two daughters.

She had been due to study English at University of Oxford having recently finished her A-levels, The Times reported. A gifted pupil, she won a prize for English while she was in Year 10 at Latymer Upper School.

The teenager has been described by friends as a “supernova” - a gentle, kind, clever young woman who was a staunch feminist, according to The Times.

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Also missing following Monday’s tragedy are Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo. Mr Morvillo’s wife is said to be the sixth person unaccounted for, according to the head of Sicily's Civil Protection.

Hannah Lynch’s mother, Ms Bacares, is among 15 of the 22 passengers and crew onboard who managed to escape on a lifeboat.

A body, reportedly the ship's chef, was recovered at the scene.

On Tuesday Ms Bacares recalled how a “slight tilt” of the Bayesian was the first sign it was about to sink.

She and Mr Lynch were awoken around 4am on Monday after the 180ft superyacht suddenly “tilted” in a violent storm, she told Italian news outlet La Repubblica.

Though they had initially not been worried, she got out of bed to investigate what had happened.

Glass then suddenly shattered, reportedly causing confusion among those on board.

Ms Bacares is said to be in a wheelchair following the tragedy. She is understood to have suffered injuries to her feet, caused by walking on broken glass.

Also among survivors of the tragedy are Charlotte Golunski, her husband James, and their one-year-old daughter Sofia.

Mrs Golunski fought to keep their baby from drowning after they were thrown into the darkened sea in the tragedy.

“For two seconds I lost my daughter in the sea then quickly hugged her amid the fury of the waves,” she told La Repubblica newspaper yesterday, recounting her heroism.

“I held her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning. It was all dark. In the water I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others.”

She, her husband, and their daughter were discharged from the Di Cristina hospital in Palermo on Tuesday afternoon.

Mike Lynch is a tech entrepreneur who built Britain's biggest software company Autonomy.

The 59-year-old was lauded by shareholders, scientists and politicians when he sold it to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion in 2011.

In late 2012, HP said it had found a massive accounting scandal at the business, and wrote off $8.8 billion of its value. Mr Lynch spent the next 12 years trying to clear his name and was finally acquitted on all criminal charges just weeks ago, in June, in the United States .

The trip on the family’s yacht is understood to have been organised by Mr Lynch as a celebration for his family, colleagues, and lawyers following the end of the legal proceedings.

Experts believe the yacht was battered by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout. Local fisherman Giuseppe Cefalu told the PA news agency that he saw a "tornado" close to the scene, and he and his brother Fabio saw a flare in the sky at around 5am as the Bayesian sank.

The pair aided efforts to locate people in the water after the yacht sank, but Mr Cefalu said he only saw cushions and a buoy.

Karsten Borner, the captain of another sailboat that had been next to the Bayesian when the storm hit, said: “I have never seen a vessel of this size go down so quickly. Within a few minutes, there was nothing left. Then we saw the raft with the 15 passengers. It was a tragedy.”

Divers were on Tuesday afternoon working to access the cabins of the yacht, but passageways leading to the rooms were reportedly obstructed by a huge amount of furniture and other items.

Vincenzo Zagarola of the Italian Coastguard said that because the boat sank so quickly, the working theory of officials is that the six people who remain unaccounted for are still inside the luxury yacht.

"We think they are still inside the boat, that is our very hard idea,” he told the PA news agency on Tuesday.

"Our search and rescue activity by sea and air has gone on for around 36 hours.

"Of course, we do not exclude that they are not inside the boat, but we know the boat sank quickly.

"We suppose that the six people missing may not have had time to get out of the boat."

Yacht trip had been 'corporate holiday'

Survivors have said the ill-fated yacht trip was organised by British tech boss Mike Lynch, for his work colleagues and for lawyers who recently helped clear his name in a long-running fraud case.

Ayla Reynold, a New Zealand national working at leading law firm Clifford Chance, is among 15 people who survived the ordeal.

Her father Lin Ronald told the Telegraph she had been invited aboard the superyacht as thanks for assistance in Mr Lynch's recent court case .

"Ayla is a lawyer who is part of the legal team that were invited to go sailing as a result of the success in the recent United States court case,” he said.

Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International and Chris Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford Chance who represented Mr Lynch in his fraud trial, are also among the missing. Their wives are also unaccounted for, according to authorities.

Also among the survivors is Charlotte Golunski, who is understood to be a partner at Mr Lynch’s firm Invoke Capital. Her husband James and their one-year-old daughter Sofia were also on the trip. They all survived.

Mr Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, also remain missing.

Recap: Key points we know so far

• Six people are missing after the British-flagged superyacht Bayesian sank in ferocious weather off the port of Porticello, near the Sicilian city of Palermo, shortly before dawn on Monday
• On Monday, rescue teams recovered the body of the yacht's onboard chef, identified as Antiguan citizen Ricardo Thomas
• British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah are among the missing
• Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International and Chris Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford Chance who represented Lynch in a long-standing trial in the US, are also among the missing. The wives of both men were also unaccounted for, Salvatore Cocina, head of Civil Protection in Sicily, told Italian media.
• Fifteen people had escaped before the boat went down, including Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, who owned the boat, and a one-year-old girl who was saved by her mother
• Specialist divers had reached the ship on Monday at a depth of 49 metres, but access was limited due to objects in the way, the fire brigade said
• Search and rescue operations were beginning again on Tuesday morning

Mike Lynch fraud trial co-defendant dies after being hit by car, says lawyer

The co-defendant of missing tech tycoon  Mike Lynch  in his US fraud trial has died after being hit by a car on Saturday, his lawyer has said.

Mr Lynch has been confirmed as one of the six tourists missing after the Bayesian yacht sank on Monday.

Stephen Chamberlain was cleared earlier this year alongside Mr Lynch of conducting a massive fraud over the sale of software company  Autonomy  to Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011.

Gary Lincenberg, Mr Chamberlain’s lawyer, said in a statement: “Our dear client and friend Steve Chamberlain was fatally struck by a car on Saturday while out running.

“He was a courageous man with unparalleled integrity. We deeply miss him.

“Steve fought successfully to clear his good name at trial earlier this year, and his good name now lives on through his wonderful family.”

Read more here .

Search and rescue operation resumes

The search and rescue mission appears to have resumed. Photos taken by Reuters appear to show a number of rescue boats including a Coastguard vessel at the scene, off the coast of Porticello near the Sicilian city of Palermo.

What we know about the Bayesian superyacht

The Bayesian, a British-registered superyacht, sank with 22 people onboard shortly before sunrise on Monday, said the Italian coastguard.

It said the wreck of the the 56-metre-long (184-ft) luxury sailboat is now lying on the sea floor at a depth of 49 metres.

The Bayesian was built by Italian shipbuilder Perini in 2008 and was last refitted in 2020. Its 75-metre mast is the tallest aluminium mast in the world, Perini said on its website.

The shipspotting.com website says the boat is owned by a firm called Revtom Limited. Mike Lynch's wife Angela Bacares, who survived the sinking, is named as the sole shareholder of the firm on company documents.

The yacht's name is likely to have resonated with Mr Lynch, because his PhD thesis and the software that made his fortune was based on Bayesian theory.

The ship won a string of awards for its design and can accommodate up to 12 guests in six suites and a crew of 10, according to online specialist yacht sites.T

he boat left the Sicilian port of Milazzo on August 14 and was last tracked east of Palermo on Sunday evening, when it was "at anchor", according to vessel tracking app Vesselfinder.

Mike Lynch's wife gives first account of tragedy

Angela Bacares, the wife of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, has revealed a “slight tilt” of the yacht Bayesian was the first sign it was about to sink.

Ms Bacares, 57, is among 15 people who were rescued from a lifeboat at the scene of the tragedy, but remains anxiously awaiting updates as her husband and 18-year-old daughter Hannah remain missing.

Firefighters struggling to access wreck

Italian firefighters have reportedly been struggling to fully access the wreck of the Bayesian yacht because of the position in which it sank, and the way its contents have fallen.

Italy’s fire brigade Vigili del Fuoco said on X that early inspections of the wreck were “unsuccessful” due to limited access to the bridge and furniture obstructing passages.

Britain’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch said four of its inspectors were being deployed to Palermo to help assess the situation.

A basic assessment of the scene will be made by the team, with no investigation launched at this stage.

Who is tech billionaire Mike Lynch?

British technology tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah are missing following yesterday’s luxury yacht sinking.

Mr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, was also on board the yacht but survived the tragedy.

Born in Ilford in east London, Mr Lynch became one of Britain’s most influential entrepreneurs after founding software giant  Autonomy  in 1996.

He has been described at points as ‘the Bill Gates of  Britain ’, for founding the company which became one of the biggest enterprise software firms on the planet. He went on to negotiate an $11bn (£8.64bn) sale of Autonomy to Hewlett Packard  (HP), which generated him a more than $800m windfall (£616m).

But the sale also kicked off a 13-year legal saga, in which HP alleged he had inflated the value of Autonomy - which had turned out to be a costly take-on for the firm.

Mr Lynch was finally cleared of fraud and conspiracy in June this year. He said at the time that he was "elated".

The Times reported that he had previously spent 13 months under house arrest awaiting the trial.

Mr Lynch has a PhD from Cambridge University, where he carried out research in machine learning which he later applied to set up his software firms.

He is co-founder of Cambridge-based cybersecurity company Darktrace, and is a major figure in the tech belt around Cambridge known as Silicon Fen.

You can read more about Mike Lynch here .

Who are the six people still missing?

British technology tycoon Mike Lynch and his teenage daughter are among six people still unaccounted for after yesterday’s tragedy.

Morgan Stanley International Bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo are now also thought to be among the missing.

The Daily Mail reports Mr Bloomer’s wife is also unaccounted for, while a colleague of Mr Morvillo told Business Insider his wife is also missing.

Mr Bloomer is also chairman of insurance provider Hiscox. The Daily Mail reports his wife is also unaccounted for.

A body, believed to be that of the vessel's cook, was discovered by search teams on Monday.

Italian news website la Repubblica reports that four of the missing passengers are British while the other two are American.

Search to resume

Good morning, and welcome to the Standard’s live blog.

The search for British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter is set to resume this morning, after a luxury yacht sank in a tornado off the coast of Sicily yesterday.

The pair are among six tourists missing after the yacht, named Bayesian, was battered during intense storms off the coast of Palermo in the early hours of Monday.

We’ll be bringing you all the latest updates throughout the day.

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Breaking news, bayesian yacht sinking live updates: search and rescue teams confirm recovered body is superyacht’s chef.

Crews are working relentlessly to find missing passengers of the doomed Bayesian yacht that capsized off the coast of Italy during a violent storm on Monday.

The boat left the Sicilian port of Milazzo on Aug. 14 and was last tracked east of Palermo on Sunday evening, according to vessel tracking app Vesselfinder.

The 160-foot luxury sailboat with 22 people aboard sank off the port of Porticello when the storm struck at sunrise Monday, the Italian coast guard said. 

Latest news:

• Missing NYC lawyer shared haunting final post before vanishing on Bayesian yacht with jewelry designer wife
• Captain of doomed yacht that capsized off Italian coast speaks out as desperate search for survivors is carried out
• Morgan Stanley International chair Jonathan Bloomer among 6 missing after yacht, the Bayesian, sinks off Italy

Fifteen of the ship’s passengers and crew have survived, including a mother who was clutching her 1-year-old daughter above her head to keep her from drowning. 

The search for those missing has been slow because the Bayesian now sits 50 meters below the surface, where divers can only stay for up to 12 minutes, fire rescue officials said in a statement Tuesday. 

Follow the Post’s live coverage of the ongoing rescue mission.

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Everything we know so far about the search for Mike Lynch and the Bayesian superyacht sinking in Sicily

The bayesian sailing boat had 22 people on board, including technology tycoon mike lynch, when it sank in the early hours of monday, article bookmarked.

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The search for British billionaire Mike Lynch and his daughter continues a day after his luxury yacht sank in a tornado off the coast of the Sicilian capital Palermo .

The 50-metre luxury boat, named Bayesian, had 22 people on board when it sank in the early hours of Monday, with four Britons among the seven missing , according to local media.

The yacht sank as a fierce storm battered the area overnight, and was flying a British flag, according to ship-tracking site Marine Traffic.

Salvo Cocina of Sicily ’s civil protection agency said: “They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

For updates on this story, follow The Independent’s live blog for the latest coverage

What do we know about the missing people on the yacht?

British technology tycoon Mike Lynch is among six tourists missing, The Independent understands. Mr Lynch, who founded software giant Autonomy in 1996, was made an OBE for services to enterprise in 2006. In June, he was cleared of conducting a massive fraud relating to a $11 billion (£8.64bn) sale to US company Hewlett Packard.

One man has been confirmed dead with photos on Monday showing a body bag being lifted to shore where ambulances were waiting. Multiple agencies are reporting he is the boat’s chef. Four of the missing passengers are British and two are American, according to Italian newspaper la Repubblica.

Have you been affected by this story? Email [email protected]

Mr Lynch had planned the superyacht cruise as a celebration with family, employees and lawyers who supported him during the decade-long trial.

Morgan Stanley International Bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo are among those missing.

Divers are still searching for the remaining six passengers unaccounted for: Mr Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Morgan Stanley International non-executive chairman Jonathan Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo, and their two wives Judy and Neda.

Among the 15 survivors rescued from a lifeboat was Mr Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares. Another survivor, Charlotte Golunski, 35, told Italian journalists how she saved her one-year-old daughter Sofia from drowning.

She told la Repubblica she lost Sofia for “two seconds”, adding: “I held her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning. It was all dark. In the water I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others.”

According to her LinkedIn profile, Ms Golunski is a partner at Mr Lynch’s firm, called Invoke Capital.

Charlotte, Sofia and Charlotte’s husband, James have now been discharged from hospital.

Ayla Reynold, a Kiwi working at Clifford Chance, also survived the horror with her partner. Her father Lin Ronald confirmed to The Telegraph she had been invited aboard as thanks for assistance in Mr Lynch’s recent court case. He said that his daughter had not given many details about what happened, but said: “there are deaths and she and her partner are alive.”

Where did the yacht sink?

The luxury yacht sunk off the coast of Palermo, Sicily.

The 56-metre-long sailboat sank with 22 people on board shortly before sunrise, the Italian coast guard said in a statement.

“The wind was very strong. Bad weather was expected, but not of this magnitude,” a coast guard official in Palermo told Reuters.

Storms and heavy rainfall have swept down Italy in recent days - with floods and landslides causing major damage in the north of the country - after weeks of scorching heat.

The boat left the Sicilian port of Milazzo on 14 August and was last tracked east of Palermo on Sunday evening, with a navigation status of "at anchor", according to vessel tracking app Vesselfinder.

The Bayesian superyacht

The Bayesian superyacht is 56 metres long, according to VesselFinder.

The superyacht can accommodate up to 12 guests in six suites and is listed for rent for up to 195,000 euros (£166,000) a week. Her registered owner is listed as Revtom Ltd, which is based on the Isle of Man.

Bayesian completed several sailings in recent days, calling at various ports in Sicily.

Formerly known as Salute, or health in Italian, its 75-metre mast is the tallest aluminium mast in the world, Italian shipbuilder Perini said on its website.

Perini constructed the boat in 2008 and it was last refitted in 2020 and was managed by yachting company Camper & Nicholsons.

Camper and Nicholsons International, confirmed to  The Independent  that the Bayesian sailing yacht “encountered severe weather and subsequently sank.”

A statement continued: “There were a total of 12 guests and 10 crew onboard. The Italian Coast Guard is leading search and rescue operations, and has safely recovered 15 individuals. Efforts to locate the seven missing persons continue. Our priority is assisting with the ongoing search and providing all necessary support to the rescued passengers and crew. More information will be provided as it becomes available.”

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Daughter of millionaire Mike Lynch missing after Sicily storm sinks Bayesian yacht

Software tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter are both missing after the luxury yacht sank in Italy, authorities say

• 18:28, 19 AUG 2024

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The daughter of Mike Lynch is among those missing after a luxury yacht sank off the coast of Sicily, local authorities have said. Salvatore Cocina, director general of Sicily’s civil protection agency, told the BBC that 18-year-old Hannah Lynch was confirmed to be missing with her father, along with the yacht’s chef, Ricardo Thomas.

He added the rescue operation would continue overnight. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office says it is supporting “a number of British nationals and their families” after a luxury yacht sunk off the coast of Sicily.

British technology tycoon Mike Lynch is among six tourists missing after the luxury yacht sank. A body, believed to be that of the vessel’s chef, has been found and police divers are trying to reach the hull of the ship, which is resting at a depth of 50 metres.

Four of the missing passengers are British and two are American, Italian news website la Reppublica stated. The yacht was carrying 10 crew members and 12 passengers. Fifteen people including Mr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, were rescued, according to local media.

“We are providing consular support to a number of British nationals and their families following an incident in Sicily, and are in contact with the local authorities,” an FCDO spokesperson said in a statement. Bayesian, the yacht which capsized in Italy believed to be carrying British passengers, is 56 metres long, according to ship tracking website VesselFinder.

She was built in 2008 by Italian company Perini Navi. Her registered owner is listed as Revtom Ltd.

There is little publicly-available online information about the company, which appears to be based on the Isle of Man. Bayesian completed a number of sailings in recent days, calling at various ports in Sicily.

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