Gilles Montaubin’s Small-Craft Minimalism

My cameras tell the story: At 9:43 a.m. on June 12, 2025, my faithful old Nikon D800 records several shots of various small boats being rowed in early-morning sunshine across a glassy calm sea. Ahead of them are multiple lines of craggy black rocks, and in the distance an island with a tall, elegant lighthouse at one end. It’s an idyllic scene, apart from the huge mountain of black clouds piling up on the horizon behind the fleet.

By 9:47 a.m., the sky darkens and the water turns inky black. A few wisps of wind ruffle the surface of the sea. Although the fleet is running ahead of the clouds, the coming storm is clearly catching up with them. The boats in my photos are reduced to silhouettes against a silvery sea, with a strip of light on the distant horizon.

By 9:52 a.m., the wind begins, and with it the rain. The breeze comes slowly at first, then quickly gathers pace. Most of the boats are now reefed, with sails eased right out.

At 9:54 a.m. the squall hits the fleet. It’s astonishingly powerful, with easily over 30 knots of wind. Everyone drops their sails or reduces to the smallest reef possible. We are quickly soaked to the skin—especially those dressed for summer sailing. I stow my Nikon and take out the waterproof GoPro camera I brought along for just such an eventuality.

At 9:55 a.m., my GoPro shows an image that looks like a tropical typhoon: a gray-green sea covered with lines of white spume. The wind is so strong that rather than making waves, it flattens the surface of the water. It should be terrifying, but it’s actually mesmerizingly beautiful. Even under bare poles, we are being driven along at a speed of 2 knots. The boats around us seem to be coping remarkably well, too.

By 9:58 a.m., visibility is down to less than a mile. The lines of rocks above the water are gray shadows, and any rocks under the water are invisible.

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