Two yachts are shown during a race. The yacht in the centre has a large crew and is shown in the act of luffing. This ensures the vessel sails as close to the wind as possible and does not sag down to leeward. The monochrome palette of the painting, combined with close attention to detail, and the foreshortened and cropped angle of the yacht on the foreground on the left, creates the effect of a photograph.

The painting is one of a pair with ‘A Yacht Ashore’, BHC1280 and is signed ‘C.M. PADDAY’.