The arrival of the BT Global Challenge fleet in port turns life into a mad scramble for official photographer Mark Pepper.

He gathers his Nikon/Pentax camera equipment and starts a round of photography that will produce pictures destined for newspapers and magazines all over the globe.

Since the race begin last September, Mark has taken at least 10,000 pictures and transparencies, his eye partly on a book he is keen to produce after the event.

The accent for Mark is flexibility, the weather can make a mockery of arrival times, he may get a call that the first boats are just over the horizon - and then find the wind drops and they are still there hours later.

Once he knows the leaders are in sight, Mark's first task is to hire a helicopter to fly over the bay for bird's eye view shots.

It's then back to the media centre where the films are passed to his assistant Ali McKichan who commences scanning ready for transmission to the BT Global Challenge Picture Library in Newbury, UK. There may be time for a rushed meal or even a hour or two of fitful sleep, vital if he's been awake all night waiting on the call. "It's all a mad scramble." said Ali.

The moment the yachts close on the harbour, Mark leaps aboard the press launch to take shots of elated yachtsmen and women, crossing the finishing line.

When all yachts have finished racing - and that process may cover two or three days - Mark is on the spot to capture individual crew members for local newspapers or to cover special requests from the media or sponsors.

At the start of each leg, Mark supplies each boat with rolls of film which are then collected, processed and referenced as the yachts arrive. In all, a stopover may result in more than 150 rolls of film, colour negative for newspapers and transparency film for use by magazines.

Mark, who went freelance in 1991 after five years as a snapper on The Times, said: "When the yachts arrive, I get a rush of adrenalin which seems to keep me going almost non-stop for as long as it takes. The photography is often the easy bit. It's making the arrangements and being in the right place that takes all the skill."