Route du Rhum – all systems go
The big day is approaching and with just 12 days to go until they set sail across the Atlantic, the 123 entries in the 11th Route du Rhum are making for Saint Malo and its famous ramparts en masse. The…
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.
Lepage to be evacuated from sinking yacht this morning
French solo yachtsman Loïc Lepage is expected to be evacuated from his dismasted yacht Laaland shortly after first light on Tuesday (23:30 UTC Monday). By then both the bulk carrier Shiosai and the sailing yacht Alizes II will have reached…
Golden Globe Race: Loic Lepage situation under control for now
Dateline 21.10. 2018 – Hobart, Tasmania. SITUATION UPDATE At 15:00 UTC on October 21. At 18:27 UTC on Saturday 20th Oct. the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre at Canberra (JRCC Aus.) picked up a distress beacon alert from French solo skipper Loïc…
Golden Globe Race: MAYDAY alert from Loic Lepage
At 18:30 UTC, French solo yachtsman set off the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) on his yacht Laaland after being dismasted earlier in the day some 600 miles SW of Perth Western Australia. The incident began 5 hours earlier when…
Eighth Coastal Classic win for Frank Racing
The Waitemata put on a dazzling display of sailing for spectators of the 36th PIC Coastal Classic yacht race this morning, with 165 boats starting the epic journey from Auckland to Russell in the Bay of Islands. Every year since…
Golden Globe Race: Mark Slats due to arrive at Hobart film gate
At 08:00 UTC Friday, (18:00 local time Hobart) Dutch sailor Mark Slats was 230 miles from the BoatShed.com Hobart film drop, making 7.4 knots in what he describes as excellent conditions. “Flying along. Just made contact with Tasman Maritime,” the…
Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe: Prepare for Ultime class
Get ready for the most spectacular show on water as six of the world’s fastest multihulls prepare to rampage across the Atlantic in the 40th anniversary staging of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe. Setting sail from Saint Malo in Brittany…
Coastal Classic 2018: It was a good one – for being on the wind
Considering that the fleet was on the wind for the entire race from Auckland to Russell, the PIC Coastal Classic was deemed “a good one”, by competitors who were enjoying the Bay of Islands’ sunshine after the race. As the…
Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: One week to close of entries
Prospective entrants for the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s (CYCA) 2018 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race have just one week before entries close, when they can join the 80 already submitted, inclusive of a record five super maxis and 12…
International Fleet set for RORC Transatlantic Race
Crew from all over the world will be competing in the 2018 RORC Transatlantic Race which sets off from Marina Lanzarote, Arrecife on Saturday November 24th. The 3,000 nautical mile-long race to Grenada is the final challenge in the Royal…
To boldly go – the voyages of the Starship Enterprise … so far
It was a forlorn Anthony “Captain” Kirke who arrived at Geographe Bay Race Week in February 2017. The plan had been for his Farr 40 “Enterprise” to sail in IRC Racing Division. The entry was paid up, the crew was…
PIC Coastal Classic “won't be easy”
Competitors at a ‘winning strategy’ information session to prepare for the Friday morning start of the PIC Coastal Classic yacht race have learned one key thing from the experts: It won’t be easy, and it never is. With a wind…
Jean-Luc Van Den Heede continues to extend his lead in Golden Globe Race
Jean-Luc Van Den Heede continues to extend his lead over the seven remaining Golden Globe Race yachts, now stretched across 4,800 miles of the Southern Ocean. This last weekend saw the 73 year old Frenchman follow in the wake of…
Lisa Blair plans to be the first woman to circumnavigate Australia solo and non-stop
On Saturday, October 20, yachtswoman Lisa Blair will embark on her latest adventure, in an attempt to become the first woman to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around Australia. The Australian is no stranger to such a challenge and holds…
Ichi Ban continues dominance in Blue Water Pointscore
Matt Allen’s Botin-designed TP52 Ichi Ban has again proven its current dominance in the ocean racing circuit with another IRC and ORCi Division win in the Blue Water Pointscore series, this time in the Newcastle Bass Island Race. The current…
Comanche claims another record
Comanche, owned by Jim Cooney and Samantha Grant, has claimed a second race record in as many outings, taking line honours in the Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore Series Newcastle Bass Island Yacht Race. After a fast trip to…
It’s about time for another Newport-Coffs showdown
At 77, Lake Macquarie skipper Doug Coulter has no intention of slowing down over the Christmas-New Year break – if anything, his yachts are getting faster with advancing years, and he’s hoping to again vie for line-honours in the Pantaenius…
Growth and evolution for 2018 Coastal Classic
While the weather is difficult to predict with any certainty one week out from the race start, one thing that the organisers of the PIC Coastal Classic do know for sure, is that there is a fresh buzz about the…
Comanche leads fleet in Newcastle Bass Island Race
Comanche led the fleet out of Sydney Heads on Friday evening after the start of the Newcastle Bass Island Race, the third event in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s (CYCA) Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore series. Jim Cooney…
High-flying IMOCA’s in Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe
With 20 skippers at the start in St Malo on November 4, including 10 foiling boats, this edition of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe in the IMOCA class promises to be competitive and exciting. In the space of four years,…
Rolex Middle Sea Race: Golden anniversary for Malta's maritime jewel
Geneva, 10 October 2018 – The 2018 golden jubilee edition of Malta’s most famous yachting event promises to be the biggest ever. The Rolex Middle Sea Race, which this year marks the 50th anniversary of its founding, will again start…
Route du Rhum Class40s – an Atlantic armada
The largest fleet in the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe 2018 – the solo transatlantic race that starts from St Malo on November 4th – is the Class40 monohull division with 53 sailors taking part. This record entry, that makes up…
Ready to do battle: Defence Force vs Coastguard volunteers
Two organisations who pride themselves on the wellbeing of New Zealanders at sea are due to square off as part of next week’s PIC Coastal Classic yacht race from Auckland to the Bay of Islands: it’s the New Zealand Defence…
The Rhum Multi class and the sailing superstar in its midst
The Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe “Rhum” multihull division is made up of 21 catamarans and trimarans that range in size from 39-59ft and are sailed by skippers who are almost all amateurs. The fleet includes sisterships of the first winner…
Jean-Luc Van Den Heede passes through Golden Globe Hobart film gate
Jean-Luc Van Den Heede reached the BoatShed.com Hobart film gate at 07:30 local time on Saturday (21:30 UTC Friday) to drop film and letters before heading out of Storm Bay to resume his lead in the Golden Globe Race. The…
Details revealed on crewed IMOCAs in Fully Crewed Around the World Race
Accessible to interested teams since 1st October, the preliminary version of the Sailing Instructions for the next crewed round the world race with stopovers (previously known as the Volvo Ocean Race) has given us an insight into this event, which…
Jean-Luc Van Den Heede ETA at Hobart film gate Saturday
At 6pm Friday, Tasmanian time, French Race leader Jean-Luc Van Den Heede was 40 miles from the BoatShed.com film gate at Hobart, Tasmania, his Rustler 36 Matmut making 3.7 knots. The 73-year old skipper is expected to sail in to…
Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe – the Mono Rhum Class
Today marks one month to go until the start of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe. On November 4, 124 skippers will be leaving St Malo in Brittany to take on the 3,542-nautical mile course to Point-à-Pitre on the French Caribbean…
More technology, more diversity, more sustainability… looking ahead to the next VOR
The next edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, scheduled to start in 2021, will include two dynamic classes of boats, more women racing than ever before, and a youth challenge trophy. Initial details have just been released with the Preliminary…
Jérémie Beyou's thoughts on using IMOCAs in the Volvo Ocean Race
Ahead of the start of the 2018 Route du Rhum, we headed to Lorient, France to catch up with Volvo Ocean Race winner Jérémie Beyou. Having finished third in the 2016 Vendée Globe, he knows the IMOCA class well –…
Sydney-Hobart champion the first entrant in 2019 Adelaide-Lincoln Yacht Race
Geoff Boettcher's stranglehold on the Teakle Classic Adelaide to Port Lincoln Yacht Race will be tested next year, as Australia's most in-form racing yacht enters the premier South Australian offshore event for the first time. Reigning Rolex Sydney Hobart…
Racing to Fiji with a Laser strapped to the deck
Nearing the halfway stage of the inaugural Limeburners Point Laser Sailing Club Australia to Fiji shorthanded yacht race Anaconda Australia, a Beneteau First 44.7 with Laser Anaconda 208323 strapped to the deck, as sole entrant, is set for line honours…
Golden Globe skipper Gregor McGuckin arrives in Perth
Gregor McGuckin arrived into Rockingham, Perth, Western Australia today aboard the Australian frigate HMAS Ballarat following the dismasting of his Biscay 36 yacht Hanley Energy Endurance during a southern ocean storm on 21st September. Speaking at a press conference, the…
Jeanne Socrates, 76, ready for another attempt at round-the-world journey
Times Columnist. By Jeff Bell. After a two-year wait, 76-year-old Jeanne Socrates is ready to make another attempt at a solo around-the-world sail, without touching land. In 2016, she started the journey twice from Victoria but had to stop both…
Spindrift 2’s 8000 miles of training
Five days after leaving the dock in Newport, Rhode Island, to set sail for her home port, the maxi trimaran Spindrift 2 returned to La Trinité-sur-mer in Brittany, France after completing her second transatlantic training in as many months. This…
GGR Skipper goes to aid of yacht in South Indian Ocean
At 20:00 UTC on 26th September, Golden Globe Race HQ in Les Sables d'Olonne received a request from the manager of the 32ft sailing yacht Selene for assistance from any GGR yacht in the area because her skipper Kjell Litwin is…
HMAS Ballarat will transport Irish Golden Globe competitor to Fremantle
The Australian frigate HMAS Ballarat will be within helicopter range of Ile de Amsterdam at first light tomorrow (Thursday) and will commence operations to pick up Gregor McGuckin, one of two Golden Globe Race skippers dismasted during a fierce storm…
Maserati and PowerPlay set for RORC Transatlantic Race
Two MOD70s have entered the RORC Transatlantic Race for a thrilling high-speed multihull match race from Lanzarote to Grenada. Giovanni Soldini's much modified Maserati (now called a Multi 70) and Peter Cunningham's PowerPlay (formerly Concise 10) have both confirmed that…
Second solo sailor rescued successfully by French fisheries patrol vessel
The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC) in Canberra has just confirmed that Gregor McGuckin, the second Golden Globe Race solo sailor to have been dismasted in the South Indian Ocean, was picked up safely from his yacht at 12:10 UTC today….
Sehested and Nicholson set their sights on 2021 Volvo Ocean Race campaign
Monday, September 24, 2018 | Copenhagen, Denmark: Two months after completing the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race around the world in fourth place aboard team AkzoNobel, two key members of the squad have set their sights on competing in the next…
