CAptain’s Mate Photo Competition: share your cruising photos and inspire fellow members

Updated by Ann MacKellar
18 Nov 2025

Many members will have enjoyed fantastic sailing seasons, exploring new destinations and capturing wonderful photos of the locations you have visited.

As the Northern Hemisphere winter months bring time to sort through and organise those images, this is the perfect time to share them on CAptain’s Mate, so fellow members can benefit from the valuable information they provide. Whether you have visited a location already on Captain’s Mate or added a new location, as well as adding your reports please do add your photos.

There’s even more incentive to upload your best photos – as every photo added to CAptain’s Mate this calendar year will be entered into the CAptain’s Mate photo competition. So, not only will your photos help members, but you could also be a winner!

To help you choose the kind of photos that improve the CAptain’s Mate cruising information, these are the three categories by which photos will be judged:

Informative aerial photos - these may be taken using a drone, which is useful to assist with pilotage into or out of a location. They should provide helpful information for visitors at the location or those considering a visit. It is helpful if the photos are accompanied by informative titles, descriptive text or annotations, as the emphasis is on the usefulness of the information conveyed, rather than artistic merit.
Informative photos from the ground - these are photos taken with handheld devices from the land, on your boat, at the top of the mast, up a church tower etc. Like aerial photos, the purpose is to provide valuable information to assist with pilotage into or out of a location or to inform visitors about the location. Captions, descriptions or annotations are useful to support the photo. As with aerial photos, usefulness of the information is more important than artistic merit.>
Essence - these photos should capture the essence and vibe of a place. Photos should give a visual sense of what to expect and a feel of the location that may help inform decisions about visiting or exploring on land. Both aerial and ground photos can be considered for this category, and artistic merit is given higher priority.>

Members are encouraged to add photos to CAptain’s Mate throughout the year. However, to be entered in the 2025 competition, please upload your photos by 5 January 2026. Photos added after this date will automatically be entered into the 2026 competition.

By sharing your images, you will be supporting our cruising community and helping to make CAptain’s Mate an even more valuable resource for all.