Each year, Les Voiles de St Tropez regatta attracts a dazzling mixture of yachts from day sailers to superyachts, and some of the finest-looking maxis and performance cruisers in the world.

But it is the classic yachts of all sizes that really catch the eye, and they are lined up stern to the quayside in the harbour in St Tropez, all the better for the thousands of visitors who come to see the regatta each year during the last week of September.

Nowhere is there a better place to get up close to some of these yachts. A walk along the dock here is a trip through sailing history.

With some 130 classic yachts taking part, they represent every evolutionary step of the process through to modern designs, from early gentleman’s yachts based essentially on a reimagining of working boats through to the development of taller rigs, eventually the Bermudan rig.

There is the interpretation of fast sailing in the US as well as Britain and the Mediterranean: the American schooner (the biggest at Les Voiles in 2015 is the 180ft Elena, a replica of a Herreshoff design), yacht to various metre rules, to the J Class and 12 Metres.

It is a treat to see them all, and here are 33 of the finest taking part, berthed in pride of place in the town this year.