Rookie Kings for a day
As the leaders of the Vendée Arctique Les Sables d’Olonne race start to escape a wide band of very light airs to the SW of Ireland, it is two of the IMOCA rookie skippers on older style non-foiling IMOCA boats…
Offshore
News, race results plus editorial coverage from the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, Vendée Globe, The Ocean Race, ARC, Fastnet, Transpac, Ocean Globe Race, Global Solo Challenge and Offshore Yachting from around the world.
Vendée Arctique – skippers under starter’s orders
Les Sables D’olonne: The start gun of the much anticipated second edition of the 3,500 nautical mile Vendée Arctique – Les Sables d’Olonne race around Iceland will sound Sunday at 1700hrs French time (1600hrs BST, 1500hrs UTC). The local forecast…
Rolex Giraglia 2022 kicks off
A fleet of 56 boats will take to the starting line for the coastal race from Sanremo to Saint-Tropez in the Rolex Giraglia, with the first cannon shot to be fired at midnight in Italy. The docks of the Yacht…
Which GSC yachts were designed by Frers?
Amongst entries for the Global Solo Challenge (GSC), one firm of Naval architects stands out; designed by Argentinian firm Germán Frers (pronounced with a soft Spanish G, so it sounds like Herman). The firm was founded by Germán Frers Snr in…
Entries open for 2022 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race
The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia is pleased to welcome entries from eligible yachts for the 2022 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. The 77th edition of the historic 628 nautical mile race will start in Sydney Harbour on Monday 26 December…
Military veterans team joins Ocean Globe Race
Founded in 2019 by two US veterans, the American Odysseus Sailing Foundation has signed up for the Ocean Globe Race. The crew will be composed of military vets and first-responders with post traumatic stress disorder, who are given an opportunity…
Zhik partners with Dee Caffari and Shirley Robertson for double-handed sailing campaign
Double Olympic Gold medallist, Shirley Robertson, and world record breaking solo round the world yachtswomen, Dee Caffari, are teaming up with Zhik as the Official Technical Clothing Supplier for their 2022/23 double-handed offshore sailing campaign. Dee and Shirley bring a…
Ocean Globe Race team commits to cleaner sailing
Team Spirit of Adelaide has been the first entrant of the Ocean Globe Race 2023 to commit to raising awareness of ocean conservation by partnering with Clean Sailors. Team Spirit are sailing Outlaw, a Baltic 55 sailing yacht, originally built…
Two days left until Rolex Giraglia fleet departs Italy
A total of 164 boats are registered with just a few days left until the start of the 69th Rolex Giraglia. Sixty of the participants will take part in the first leg of the event on Friday 10 June, departing from Sanremo…
Charles Caudrelier qualifies for Route du Rhum
With five months to go until the start of the Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe, Charles Caudrelier has secured his entry ticket for yachting’s main event of 2022. Taking advantage of the long weekend to set sail singlehanded, the…
11th Hour Racing Team arrives at Rhode Island following transatlantic crossing
11th Hour Racing Team has completed its first major fully crewed ocean crossing. The new IMOCA race boat Mālama arrived in its home port of Newport, Rhode Island, this evening at sundown following a successful 10-day transatlantic training run from Concarneau, France. …
Abandoned Infiniti 52 found off Portuguese coast
Tulikettu, deemed lost at sea in April, has been found and safely returned to shore. The first Infiniti 52 Tulikettu, designed by Hugh Welbourn, was sailing from Cascais, Portugal, back to the team base in Gosport, England across the Bay of Biscay….
How to qualify for the Global Solo Challenge
There must be thousands of sailors worldwide who dream of sailing around the world, non-stop and alone. Just you and your boat overcoming the elements and achieving one of the pinnacles of yachting aspiration. Up until now, for most of us,…
Kenichi Horie, 83, becomes oldest person to sail solo non-stop across Pacific
Before he set off, Kenichi Horie said his only fear about sailing solo non-stop across the Pacific Ocean was his age. But on Saturday, the 83-year-old – known as ‘Japan’s most famous yachtsman’ – proved it was not an obstacle after…
ARCA SGR scores 151 Miglia-Trofeo Cetilar double
The 13th edition of the 151 Miglia-Trofeo Cetilar, fourth event in the International Maxi Association’s 2022 Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge will be remembered for its unique weather conditions from flat calms to 25+ knots upwind and because ARCA SGR scored…
Vale Andrew Strachan
Andrew Strachan, the history-making line honours winner of the tough 1993 Sydney Hobart with his Farr 47, Ninety Seven, passed away suddenly on Saturday evening. Andrew only took delivery of Ninety Seven, distinguished by its 9797 sail number, in December…
Weather patterns while sailing past Cape Verde archipelago
Almost 2000 miles into the circumnavigation, having left A Coruña and passed the Iberian Peninsula, the Canary Islands, and the coast of Mauritania, the skippers of the Global Solo Challenge will metaphorically ‘leave the old world’. From the Cape Verde archipelago and following almost the same…
Leading voices call to protect Antarctica and Southern Ocean
The Ocean Race Summit Stockholm – Racing to protect the Southern Ocean, brought together sailors, scientists, policymakers and adventurers yesterday, Wednesday 1 June, to discuss the urgent need to protect Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Recognising the inherent rights of…
‘Little Aussie Lap’ update: Sailor forced to retire
On Sunday Xavier Doerr departed Southport Yacht Club, Queensland on his ‘Little Aussie Lap’. The 21-year-old had aimed to beat the World Speed Sailing and Guinness World Records as the fastest and smallest racing yacht to solo circumnavigate Australia without…
Unusual forecast could give 151 Miglia-Trofeo Cetilar a new complexion
Almost always the 151 Miglia-Trofeo Cetilar offers typical weather for a mid-season Mediterranean offshore race: light winds, sea and land breezes and calms. However at present this looks not to be the case for the 14 maxis among the 263…
Inaugural Baltic Sea Race start nears
A new era of offshore racing in the Baltic Sea begins in 2022 with the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s new 630 nautical-mile race, starting from Helsinki, Finland on July 21 and heading around Gotland before returning to the tranquil harbours…
Scene is set for the arrival of Pro Sailing Tour in Cowes
The Pro Sailing Tour, offshore sailing’s most exciting new competition, is coming to Cowes. The home of yacht racing on the Isle of Wight will host the event for the first time in a little over a month, bringing high…
Windy start for Queenslander’s circumnavigation of Australia
Two days in and it has been absolutely hard going for Xavier Doerr, who on Sunday departed Southport Yacht Club, Queensland on his ‘Little Aussie Lap’. The 21-year-old is aiming to beat the World Speed Sailing and Guinness World Records…
Tasmanians prepare for assault on 50th Melbourne to Hobart
Tasmania can lay claim to a rich history in the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria’s (ORCV) Melbourne to Hobart Yacht Race, or ‘Westcoaster’ as it’s also known, with the likes of Bob Clifford, John Saul, Michael Pritchard, David Alpin and…
Can yachts capsize in mountainous seas and high winds?
When researching the attributes of the yachts entered into the Global Solo Challenge (GSC) and the possibility of them capsizing and whether they would self-right, one of the first pieces of advice I found was, that you should not go sailing in…
Mark Sinclair in town for another Golden Globe Race
At 1406hrs today (Friday local time), Australian Mark Sinclair crossed the famous Nouch Sud cardinal buoy off Les Sables d’Olonne in France, ending a 174-day solitary voyage at sea with some preparation for the Golden Globe Race starting 4th September,…
Twenty-one-year-old attempts solo circumnavigation of Australia
Tomorrow (Sunday) 21-year-old Australian Xavier Doerr will commence ‘The Little Aussie Lap’, a solo non-stop unassisted circumnavigation of Australia, on his 21ft Mini Transat yacht, Waterline. The Queensland sailor will attempt to beat the World Speed Sailing and Guinness World…
Transpac 2023 open for entries
Los Angeles, California: The Transpacific Yacht Club is pleased to announce that the entry process is open for the 2023 edition of the Los Angeles to Honolulu Transpacific Yacht Race, known as the Transpac and on its 52nd edition of…
The Ocean Race aims for equal number of male and female competitors
The Ocean Race, the world’s toughest test of a team in sport, is aiming for a 50:50 split of women and men competing in the round-the-world sailing fleet within the next three editions of the Race, building on its historical…
Golden Globe 2018: One last finisher, three years later
Golden Globe Race (GGR) veteran, Australian oceanographer Mark Sinclair, ‘Captain Coconut’, crossed the Les Sables d’Olonne start line of the GGR’s 50th anniversary nearly four years ago on July 1, 2018. This Friday, May 27, he will finally cross the finish line as…
Lisa Blair smashes Antarctica circumnavigation record
Australian solo sailing record holder Lisa Blair has made landfall in Albany, Western Australian today, Wednesday May 25, shaving 10 days off the record to claim the Antarctica Cup and the World Sailing Speed Record for the fastest circumnavigation of…
French sailor becomes 49th GSC entrant
Stéphane Girolata has discovered the sea and sailing almost by chance, whilst running a mushroom farming business he wanted to get a boating licence to reach out to new potential clients anchored in the bay of Saint-Tropez. It was a turning…
Australian sailor breaks world record for circumnavigation of Antarctica
Australian solo sailing record holder Lisa Blair is set to make landfall in Albany, Western Australian tomorrow morning, (Wednesday May 25) shaving 10 days off the record to claim the Antarctica Cup and the World Sailing Speed Record for the…
Lisa Blair blog: One more sleep (take two)
On Monday February 21, Australian sailor Lisa Blair set sail from Albany, WA in a second attempt to sail solo, non-stop, around Antarctica in record time aboard her yacht ‘Climate Action Now’. Blair is still trying to raise money to…
Fourteen-year-old British sailor sets sights on Mini Transat
Teenage solo cruiser Katie McCabe has set her sights on a transatlantic crossing in a 21ft race boat. The 14-year-old said: “After spending eight weeks on board the lovely Falanda as I completed my circumnavigation of Britain last summer, I only fell…
Which GSC yachts were Sparkman & Stephens?
Amongst the entrants for the Global Solo Challenge (GSC), you may have noticed a yacht to be skippered by Dafyd Hughes, an S&S 34. One of the smallest yachts in the fleet that will set off on the circumnavigation next year. This…
Normandy Channel Race wrap up
Even before the starting gun fired, the 13th CIC Normandy Channel Race was expected to be a record-breaking edition. With an historic 30 boats entered, an unprecedentedly high calibre line-up, and the presence of nearly all the latest additions to…
Fast and close racing at RORC Vice Admiral’s Cup
Cowes, Isle of Wight: A thriller on the opening day of the RORC Vice Admiral’s Cup delivered three fast-paced and testing races for every class in a solid west/south-westerly of 12-14 knots after a short wait for the wind to…
Lyra crowned first IMA Maxi European champion
A complex week of racing at the International Maxi Association’s inaugural Maxi European Championship, comprising last weekend’s Regata dei Tre Golfi offshore, followed by four days of inshore and coastal courses on the Bay of Naples, culminated in the one…
Record-holding racing multihull attacked off Yemen
Multiple security services are reporting what may have been an opportunist approach and attempted boarding of a famous racing sailboat sailing near the coast of Yemen. While both the UKMTO and MICA Centre reported that a vessel was attacked while…
