Boat Racing Articles
Boats slipped out on time at 09:30, but the Bravo course became a waiting game. The ILCA 6 Women Gold fleet sat under AP flags as a shaky 4–5 knot breeze toyed with the race committee. A string of general recalls didn’t help, and the first start didn’t stick until after 12:15. That delay trickled through to the Women’s Silver and the ILCA 6 Men sharing the same patch of water.
© ILCA European Championship
From light airs to heavy hitters — Marstrand turns up the heat at the ILCA Europeans.
29-08-2025
New names join the line-up this year, including Rod Appleyard’s RP69 Moneypenny from Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, Dara Johnson’s silver-hulled Gunboat 68 Slingshot, and Grant Poklington’s 40-foot flyer Anarchy, racing in the Super 40 division.
The heart of the regatta, however, is the loyal fleet who make the pilgrimage year after year. Boats like Stuart Malouf’s multihull Coconuts (NSW), John and Kim Clinton’s much-loved Holy Cow! (NSW), Mark and Karen Tobin’s C’est La Vie (QLD), and Wayne Millar’s Zoe (QLD) — last year’s divisional winner — form the backbone of this great tradition.
27-08-2025
Two days into Leg 2 of The Ocean Race Europe, and the Bay of Biscay is dishing out exactly what everyone feared — flat seas, fickle breeze, and a fleet so tight you can throw a net over the top five. With Cape Finisterre closing fast, the sailors are staring down a long, sleepless night where one bad sail trim could cost everything.
25-08-2025
It’s that time of year again—Sunday dawned on Cowes with a roar of engines, a flash of sun on horsepower, and a hum that made even Cowes Castle wake from slumber. The legendary Cowes–Torquay–Cowes powerboat race, the world’s longest continuous offshore powerboat contest, thundered back onto the water as part of the Cowes Powerboat Festival, organised by the British Powerboat Racing Club (BPRC). For weeks, the bay has smelled of fuel and anticipation. Today, it finally delivered.
24-08-2025
After years in the wilderness, one of powerboating’s most entertaining traditions is roaring back to life on the South Coast. The UK Powerboating Club has confirmed that the inaugural Solent Powerboat Poker Run will be staged on 25 August 2025 — and already the buzz is spreading from Cowes to the Hamble.
22-08-2025
SailGP — the fastest show afloat — has confirmed a major three-season commitment for Germany, making Sassnitz a fixture in 2026 and 2027 after a sell-out debut where Deutsche Bank’s home team won race one and ROCKWOOL Denmark hit a record-breaking 103.93 km/h.
20-08-2025
Bright skies, patchy breeze, and a finish line just off the Isle of Wight — Leg 1 of The Ocean Race Europe wrapped up with Biotherm banking a faultless win, and Malizia stealing second with a gutsy call off Dover.
19-08-2025
The opening chapter of The Ocean Race Europe 2025 has already been a thriller — Kiel’s coastal hustle, the straight-line sprint across the North Sea — but the final act is shaping up to be pure endurance theatre. Less than 100 miles to go, and the finish promises a marathon of light winds, tight lanes, and endless, back-breaking manoeuvres.
16-08-2025
In Kiel the talk wasn’t of spinnakers and start guns – at least, not at first. The city played host to The Ocean Race Summit Kiel, a gathering where ocean scientists, policy shapers, industry leaders and world-class sailors traded race tactics for hard truths about the state of our seas.
13-08-2025
Collision drama as two boats forced back to Kiel minutes into The Ocean Race Europe.
The Ocean Race Europe barely had time to catch its breath before chaos hit. Just one mile into Leg One, two of the IMOCA giants – Team Holcim PRB and Allagrande MAPEI Racing – collided side-to-side at high speed in the tight, jostling opening exchanges, sending both skippers and shore crews scrambling.
12-08-2025
Strap in for six weeks of offshore mayhem. Seven of the fastest, foiling, fully-crewed IMOCAs on the planet — and their multination, mixed-gender crews — are setting out from Kiel this weekend on a 4,500-nautical mile sprint-slugfest to Boka Bay, Montenegro.
11-08-2025
Big boats. Big stakes. Bigger delays. The Britannia Cup showdown saw Tony Langley’s Gladiator muscle into Class Zero, joining the heavyweight fleet on a day when patience proved the sailor’s greatest virtue.
09-08-2025
Sail takes a back seat this weekend as the offshore racers roll in for Round 4 of the 2025 UKOPRA Championship — and this one’s set to be a belter. The Lymington Challenge kicks off Saturday, August 9th, with a fleet of 15 boats battling it out in the fast-flowing waters of the Western Solent. Expect noise, speed, and a proper offshore showdown between Hamstead Ledge and the Needles.
08-08-2025
There aren’t many sailing events that can claim near-century status with their class, culture, and charisma still fully intact. The Bacardi Cup does it all with a wink and a wedge of lime. Now entering its 99th year, the Bacardi Cup is one of the most iconic, enduring regattas in the world—and one of the very few where the drinks sponsor has been onboard since the start.
07-08-2025
Cowes Week began under a light north‑westerly breeze, with all eyes on the forecast: Storm Floris, emerging from Iceland, promised a dramatic shift in wind direction and intensity later in the day
Due to the lighter airs and anticipated changes, race officials postponed the start for two hours and shifted larger Black‑Group yachts off the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) line to a committee‑boat start off Beaulieu, while smaller keelboats and one‑design fleets, including the J/70s, SB20s, Etchells, Dragons, Flying 15s and others, were held offshore near Thorness before any gun was fired
06-08-2025
Will Farnell Named ORCV Youth Sailor of the Year
The Ocean Racing Club of Victoria has named 16-year-old Will Farnell as its 2025 Youth Sailor of the Year — a fitting title for a young man who’s already logged more sea miles than many twice his age, and who carries the saltwater tradition in his bones.
04-08-2025
Delta Marine, famed American yacht manufacturer, pays homage to the legacy of its deceased co-founder, Ivor Jones.
03-08-2025
CHERBOURG, July 2025 — The rain eased and the rum bottles emptied as dawn broke over Port Chantereyne, Cherbourg. The tension, the tides, and the spinnakers finally settled after one of the closest Admiral’s Cup battles in decades, with Peter Harrison and Monaco’s own Pierre Casiraghi leading Team Jolt to a dramatic win aboard their TP52 Jolt 3 and the Carkeek 40 Jolt 6. Ten points clear of Karl Kwok’s ever-formidable Beau Geste, the Royal Thames lads (with help from the Yacht Club de Monaco) stood tallest after a week of ferocious racing.
02-08-2025
The Rolex Admiral’s Cup fleet spent a wild second night offshore, taking on the long, punishing beat through the Celtic Sea. The wind wasn’t ferocious, but the sea state was—big Atlantic swell, relentless chop, and a hard-earned haul towards one of offshore racing’s most iconic landmarks: the Fastnet Rock. Standing 54 metres tall, forged from Cornish granite, the lighthouse marks more than just a turning point in the Rolex Fastnet Race. In its 100th edition, it’s a century-old beacon of salt, grit, and glory.
01-08-2025
Rolex Fastnet Race | Admiral’s Cup Dispatch – July 2025
There’s a new name at the top—and it’s flying the Dutch tricolour. The young guns aboard ROST Van Uden (RMYC) have clawed their way into the AC1 lead on corrected time, and they’ve done it with nerve, timing, and a whole lot of boat speed. With 150nm to go, they’re three hours ahead after IRC correction and showing no sign of blinking.
01-08-2025
Its started on Saturday 26 July 2025
Veterans of the last two Rolex Fastnet Races are checking the weather with cautious optimism. After two editions that opened with 30-knot headwinds and a battering Channel slog, the long-range forecast for this centenary running looks — dare we say it — gentle.
31-07-2025
After the cannon roared, the fleet scattered like gulls in a gale. Black Pearl (YCCS), skippered by Stefan Jentzch, wasted no time — tacking straight toward the mainland shore. She sniffed out a lift and took it like a thief in the night, gaining ground fast. But out near the island side, Jolt 3 (YCM) helmed by Peter Harrison, was all business — early leader on the water and staying sticky to the fleet like barnacles on a buoy.
30-07-2025
As the Admiral’s Cup fleet thundered west toward Start Point, the gloves were off and the tactics got real. The leaders split north of the rhumb line—Black Pearl taking the high road, while Eric de Turckheim’s Teasing Machine dug in low and fast to the south. Black Pearl rounded Start Point with a boat length to spare over Jolt 3, both storming along at nine knots. Slightly offshore, Rán and Teasing Machine were pushing harder, notching up close to ten.
29-07-2025
Beau Geste and Nola Strike as Light Airs Test the Best in the Solent
Soft breeze, strong tide, and no margin for error. A classic light-wind shootout, where every shift mattered and boat speed had to be earned, not expected.
26-07-2025
Hawaiian sunshine, stories in the rigging, and rum in hand — the final Transpac 2025 prize-giving brought down the curtain in style on one of the world’s great ocean races. Held Saturday, July 19 at Kaneohe Yacht Club, the last of three awards ceremonies gave crews, skippers, and families a chance to celebrate not just the winners, but the sheer feat of making it across 2,225 miles of the Pacific Ocean.
26-07-2025
The 2025 Rolex Fastnet Race marks 100 years of hard offshore truth — and the multihull fleet has shown up in force. A record 20 boats are racing in the MOCRA class, all gunning for the coveted Crystal Trophy, a prize that’s older than some of the hulls — and certainly a few of the crews.
25-07-2025
The Admiral’s Cup roared to life with a deceptively light start — and then reminded everyone why it’s earned its legend. The 160nm Channel Race looked tame leaving the Solent, but by sunrise the next day, the fleet limped back soaked to the skin, eyes red and salt-blasted. A confused sea, building pressure topping 25 knots, and a foaming downwind leg back from France — it was a full-pelt Atlantic slap in the face. The final reach to the finish? A screecher, with kites straining and helms gritted.
24-07-2025
Its starts on Saturday 26 July 2025
Veterans of the last two Rolex Fastnet Races are checking the weather with cautious optimism. After two editions that opened with 30-knot headwinds and a battering Channel slog, the long-range forecast for this centenary running looks — dare we say it — gentle.
24-07-2025
They came, they foiled, they snatched it. Peter Burling’s Black Foils pulled off a slick, late-game heist in Portsmouth to steal a home win from Dylan Fletcher and the Emirates GBR crew — putting New Zealand on top of the 2025 SailGP leaderboard in the process.
23-07-2025
With just under a week left to run, the 2025 Transpac fleet is officially past halfway, surfing westward across the Pacific towards Honolulu’s Diamond Head. After setting off in staggered starts on July 1, 3, and 5, 53 yachts of every style and strategy—ranging from 35 to 88 feet—have now picked up the trades, leaving behind fickle calms and early retirements (four boats have dropped out). The leaderboard is starting to shape up, but the race is far from over.
22-07-2025
Under blazing skies and with the Solent simmering in summer heat, the UKOPRA Offshore Powerboat Championships roared back into action on Saturday with the third round of the series: the legendary “Solent 80.” Eighteen boats took on the demanding clockwise circuit around the Isle of Wight, delivering drama, mechanical heartbreak, and spectacular performances—classic offshore racing in all its noisy, unpredictable glory.
21-07-2025
Revived by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) for its centenary year and to be held biennially thereafter, the 2025 edition promises high-performance racing, intense offshore challenges, and a celebration of sailing heritage.
18-07-2025
The Admiral’s Cup returns to Cowes from 17 July to 1 August 2025, reviving offshore sailing’s iconic team race. National teams will compete in inshore and offshore events, celebrating Corinthian spirit, tradition, and global competition on the Solent.
17-07-2025
Don't forget this weekend the iconic Portsmouth Waterfront Grandstand will transform into the pulse of adrenaline‑fuelled sailing as SailGP’s high-tech F50 catamarans take centre stage. These cutting‑edge, foiling catamarans—each 50 feet long and capable of flying above water at nearly 100 km/h—are the pulse of the sport.
17-07-2025
The 2025 Transpac is full steam ahead, and the fleet is chewing through the miles toward that sweet slice of volcanic paradise: the Diamond Head finish line off Honolulu. It’s the 53rd running of this epic 2,225-mile dash across the Pacific — and it hasn’t disappointed. A race born in 1906, Transpac is part marathon, part chess match, part saltwater soap opera. This year’s show kicked off with staggered starts over five days — a pursuit-style shuffle that’s split the fleet and stirred the pot.
16-07-2025
The Ocean Race will return to Itajaí, Brazil during the 2027 and 2031 around the world races.
Known for its enthusiastic fans who welcome the sailors and teams after weeks of racing through the challenging conditions of the Southern Ocean, Itajaí is always a welcome stop on the race calendar. This will mark the fifth time the race has been in Itajaí and the 11th visit to Brazilian shores.
15-07-2025
Whitstable Yacht Club's annual celebration of Laser/ILCA racing, Laserfest 2025, saw a robust participation of 40 boats hailing from local and distant clubs.
15-07-2025
The New York Yacht Club has rolled out the third announcement of skippers for its International Women's Championship in 2026.
14-07-2025
The 20 biggest, fastest boats racing in the 2025 Transpac began their offshore sprint from Los Angeles, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii, today. Ranging in length from 51 to 88 feet, these boats are competing in four divisions and also aiming to win the race’s two most prestigious prizes. The Barn Door Trophy honours the boat with the fastest elapsed time across the 2,225 nautical mile racecourse, while the King Kalakaua Trophy is awarded to the team that posts the fastest corrected time using the Offshore Racing Rule handicap system.
12-07-2025
The seventh regatta of the 2025 EurILCA Europa Cup Trophy kicked off yesterday in Warnemünde, Germany, with the first two races.
A total of 302 sailors from 32 countries are competing in the ILCA 4, ILCA 6, and ILCA 7 classes.
The weather, unlike the previous day’s forecast, was overcast with a few raindrops, but the wind was steady and reliable.
10-07-2025
British skipper Sam Goodchild celebrated his first victory in the IMOCA Class yesterday after crossing the finish line of the Course des Caps - Boulogne-sur-Mer - Banque Populaire du Nord, a 1,800-nautical mile sprint around Britain and Ireland.
10-07-2025
IRC Zero has a rich seam of ocean-going history running through it. While French round the world race legend Jean-Luc Van Den Heede (aka VDH) isn’t competing in the Rolex Fastnet Race, two of his former steeds will be on the IRC Zero start line.
10-07-2025
Just 100 days to go until SailGP – the most exciting racing on water – takes flight on the stunning Bay of Cadíz, the global racing championship has today announced that Global Smart Logistics Partner, DP World, will become Title Partner of the Spain Sail Grand Prix, the penultimate event of the 2025 Season Calendar. Unfolding over two action-packed days of racing in the Andalucía region of Spain (October 4-5, 2025), the event marks SailGP’s fourth visit to the city of Cádiz.
10-07-2025
Onboard Reporters in the Course des Caps: up close with the sailors and enjoying the challenge of bringing the race to life
09-07-2025
Seventeen boats begin the 2,225-mile Pacific Crossing in light air conditions in Transpac's second start
The chase is on in the 53rd edition of the 2025 Transpacific Yacht Race, with 17 boats in three divisions departing Los Angeles today on their 2,225-mile journey to Honolulu. While these boats are competing within their own divisions, they are also chasing down the 16 entrants that started on Tuesday, July 1—preparing to be chased by 20 more that start on Saturday, July 5.
08-07-2025
Ferrari Sets Sail: The Hypersail Project Blends Automotive Genius with Oceanic Innovation
Ferrari, a name synonymous with blistering speed, engineering precision, and automotive luxury, has made a bold move beyond racetracks and into the realm of offshore sailing. In an announcement that stunned both the automotive and maritime worlds, Ferrari unveiled Project Hypersail, an audacious fusion of Formula 1-grade technology, renewable energy, and cutting-edge naval architecture.
05-07-2025
Hamilton Island Race Week’s 40th anniversary celebrations are hotting up, with more than 160 entries confirmed for the annual sailing regatta to be contested from 16-23 August in the glorious Whitsunday Islands.
05-07-2025
The 16 boats that crossed the starting line today in the 2025 Transpac are up against the challenge of a lifetime. As the smallest yachts in this year’s 53-strong fleet, they are about to endure the greatest number of difficult days at sea, but they also have the greatest—and longest—opportunity to enjoy the splendours of sailing across the Pacific. After all, the more time one spends at sea, the more exposure one has to its moods and its majesty.
04-07-2025
The fight to claim the prestigious monohull line honours prize in the centenary edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Rolex Fastnet Race is lining up to be a tough one between the world’s fastest 100ft maxi yachts. The winner of the Erivale Trophy for monohull line honours will follow a long line of the most significant offshore racing yachts of all time, such as Rambler 88, Comanche, ICAP Leopard 3, Alfa Romeo, Stealth, Steinlager 2, Congere, Nirvana, Condor, American Eagle, Gitana IV, Stormvogel, Latifa, among many others.
03-07-2025
Marstrand challenges Lanzarote Calero Sailing Team in one of the toughest regattas on the circuit
Lanzarote Calero Sailing Team wrapped up their participation in the 44Cup Marstrand in 10th place after a week marked by extreme weather conditions that tested the international sailing elite. Strong winds and a rough sea state caused by Friday’s storm created a technically and physically demanding setting, even forcing the cancellation of the previous day’s racing for safety reasons.
03-07-2025
Day 1 - 44Cup Marstrand, 25 June 2025: The Lanzarote Calero Sailing Team began their participation in the 44Cup Marstrand with an intense day on the water, marked by sunny conditions, gusty winds, and a series of incidents that impacted the day’s results.
02-07-2025
The Lanzarote Calero Sailing Team is heading into the third stage of the 2025 44Cup in Marstrand, Sweden, with a clear objective: to turn the season around and climb the overall rankings. The team returns to these waters with good memories, having claimed a remarkable third place the last time they raced in Marstrand back in 2011.
26-06-2025
Melbourne, VIC – Under crisp winter skies and a solid northerly breeze, the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria’s (ORCV) DYSC Marine Supplies Winter Series Race 1 delivered spectacular racing this weekend. With 36 boats lining up for the start, competitors were treated to classic Port Phillip conditions – shifting winds between 10 to 20 knots, flat seas, and plenty of tactical opportunities.
26-06-2025
Now 20+ years old, the Class40 has proved itself one of the most successful genre of offshore race boat ever. Since Géry Trentesaux and class co-founder, round the world sailor and journalist Patrice Carpentier entered their first Pogo 40 in the 2005 edition, the Rolex Fastnet Race has included a strong entry from this French box rule class, providing it with its own class since 2009. Today the Rolex Fastnet Race features in the Class40’s main championship.
25-06-2025
Hold onto your hats and tighten your lifejackets—SailGP is going to Germany for the very first time, and it promises to be an event for the ages. On August 16–17, the high-octane sailing series known for rewriting the rules of maritime racing will descend on the town of Sassnitz, nestled on the Baltic gem that is the island of Rügen. This isn’t your grandfather’s regatta—this is SailGP, where boats fly, and reputations are forged at over 100 kilometres per hour.
17-06-2025
Revel in the nautical challenge of the Bembridge Sailing Club's mid-June Keelboat race. A lively weekend, defined by sunny skies, spirited competition and sailing camaraderie.
16-06-2025
For 2026, the BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival has moved the event forward a week from previously published dates to March 23-29. Additionally, Scrub Island will now kick off the Sailing Festival, and the Nanny Cay Cup Round Tortola Race has moved to Wednesday (March 25, 2026).
15-06-2025
The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) has long acknowledged the slow but steady path toward gender inclusion in offshore sailing. For the forthcoming Admiral’s Cup, every boat must have at least one woman, as well as another sailor under 27. The goal is to expand access, broaden the talent pool, and create a more diverse and vibrant racing community.
13-06-2025
Diego Botin’s Spain SailGP Team leads the fleet after a stormy and tactical opening day of the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix. France, ROCKWOOL Denmark and New Zealand are all hot on his heels for all-important leaderboard points heading into Championship Sunday.
12-06-2025
Poole Bay 100 Offshore Powerboat will take place on Saturday June 14th, which will see teams competing for the second round of the 2025 UKOPRA Offshore Championships which will be hosted by Poole Quay Yacht Haven and organised by World Powerboats Events Ltd.
10-06-2025
Honours to Zoulou, skippered by 84-year-old Peter Cunningham
09-06-2025
BONDS Flying Roos Take Flight: Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds Hop Aboard Australia’s SailGP Juggernaut
09-06-2025
Good luck to all taking part in today's the Round the Island Race 2025, 7th June. Organised by the Island Sailing Club, this annual spectacle draws over 1,700 boats and 16,000 sailors, making it one of the largest yacht races globally and the fourth largest mass participation sporting event in the UK.
07-06-2025
SailGP Hits the Bookies as High-Speed Catamarans Return to New York. SailGP, the high-octane, data-fuelled racing league that’s turned sailing into a stadium sport, has dropped anchor in the world of sports betting. Just ahead of this weekend’s Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix (June 7–8), the global series is now letting fans back their hunches with a wager or two.
04-06-2025
Less than two months now remain until the start of the 2025 Rolex Fastnet Race, this year coinciding with the Royal Ocean Racing Club's centenary. Another huge fleet has entered. While 2023’s 50th edition of the event, that back in 1925 caused the RORC to be founded, saw a record 430 boats set sail, the 2025 entry list indicates that even this figure may be exceeded when the race starts from Cowes on 26 July, bound for Cherbourg-en-Cotentin via the famous Fastnet Rock off southwest Ireland.
03-06-2025
SailGP has today announced that the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team, has officially been acquired by a consortium of accomplished investors and sports industry leaders, including Hollywood royalty, Anne Hathaway. The consortium is led by Muse Capital founding partner, Assia Grazioli-Venier, and luxury brand entrepreneur, Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo, with one of the world’s most decorated sailors and SailGP icon, Jimmy Spithill, as CEO and co-owner.
29-05-2025
A Royal Navy warship and a tall ship will be attending and participating in the 38th Falmouth Classics Regatta from 13th – 15th June.
HMS Express, number 163, one of sixteen Archer Class P2000 fast patrol boats and assigned to the Devonport based Coastal Forces Squadron will be in the Port of Falmouth during the Classics Regatta.
24-05-2025
Experience the thrilling spectacle of the RS Tera SW Traveller Series expertly hosted by Whitefriars Sailing Club.
20-05-2025
Embark on an exciting journey as the remarkable 52 Super Series Fleet ventures unfathomably into the Atlantic ocean.
20-05-2025
Experience the high-stakes world of youth sailing at the 2025 Cadet Alf Simmonds Trophy event at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy.
11-04-2025