Ocean-Racing Articles
From a crawl to a sprint The seven mixed-gender IMOCA crews had endured a frustrating opening to the 1,600-nautical mile passage from Genova to Boka Bay, Montenegro. Since leaving the Ligurian coast on Sunday afternoon, they had tiptoed east in ultra-light winds, hugging the shoreline past Nice and St. Tropez. Crews sweated in the late-summer Mediterranean heat, trimming, re-trimming, and searching for the faintest puff of air to keep their foiling machines moving.
© Georgia Schofield
From calm to chaos: the Med delivers drama as the IMOCA fleet hurtles south toward Montenegro.
17-09-2025
From Penalty to Persistence
When you start a global championship in the red, you need more than boat speed to catch up. Germany’s penalty in Sydney not only dented their points tally, it hit morale. Driver Erik Kosegarten-Heil, balancing his career as an elite athlete with training as a doctor, suddenly found himself not just steering an F50 but steadying a crew under immense pressure.
“We’re not standing still – we are progressing,” Kosegarten-Heil reflects in the episode.
15-09-2025
The stage is set for a finale worthy of The Ocean Race Europe 2025. Seven hardened IMOCA crews, battle-tested from weeks of light-air duels, bone-shaking sprints, and sleepless nights, now line up for the ultimate test: a 2,000-nautical mile marathon from Genoa, Italy to Boka Bay, Montenegro.
13-09-2025
It was the finish Ambrogio Beccaria had dreamed of since the start: an Italian skipper, sailing an Italian-flagged IMOCA, flying into his home waters of Genova under the glare of floodlights and the roar of a midnight crowd. After 600 hard miles, Allagrande Mapei Racing delivered the goods, claiming victory in Leg 4 of The Ocean Race Europe 2025 and proving that sometimes, yes, fairy-tales do come true.
12-09-2025
The Gulf of Genova has become the stage for high drama in The Ocean Race Europe 2025. After more than 400 nautical miles of pressure-cooker racing on Leg 4, the fleet is compressing once again. And right at the heart of the action – in home waters – is Italy’s own Allagrande Mapei Racing, fighting tooth and nail for the lead.
11-09-2025
Scheveningen, The Netherlands – The 44Cup World Championship came to a close in Scheveningen after four days of relentless North Sea racing that pushed crews and boats to their limits. Spain’s Lanzarote Calero Sailing Team emerged from the storm-lashed championship with a sense of pride, perspective, and determination — walking away with a hard-earned fifth place finish in one of the most brutal races of the series.
10-09-2025
The Ocean Race Europe 2025 has reached its penultimate chapter, and it opened today in pure Mediterranean style. Nice delivered a sun-splashed send-off, the Bay of Angels shimmering as seven IMOCA crews unfurled their Code Zero sails and slipped the lines for Leg 4, a 550-mile loop around Corsica before the grand finale in Genova.
09-09-2025
The RORC Transatlantic Race in association with the International Maxi Association and the Yacht Club de France will set sail from Marina Lanzarote on 11 January 2026.
06-09-2025
Day three of Hamilton Island Race Week, powered by AMEX, was everything the Whitsundays are famous for – sunshine, steady trade winds, glamour yacht debuts and tight battles across every division – capped by a spectacular Olympic-class finale.
04-09-2025
After a long, sticky night of light airs downwind sailing close along Mallorca’s rugged northern shoreline, Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm (FRA) has emerged with an 11-nautical mile advantage over Holcim-PRB (SUI), the pair locked together for much of the night in a bruising battle of patience and precision.
03-09-2025
The Mediterranean has once again lived up to its trickster reputation, turning the charge to Cartagena into a drifting match. Only hours after blasting through Gibraltar at 30 knots, Paprec Arkéa were wallowing along at barely one – watching Biotherm and Holcim-PRB slip north and the chasing pack roar back into contention.
31-08-2025
The 40th edition of Hamilton Island Race Week, presented by AMEX, is underway — a milestone celebration at Australia’s premier Whitsundays sailing and holiday paradise. More than 155 yachts are rigged and ready.
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
Portsmouth turned on the sunshine this evening as seven IMOCAs thundered off the Royal Yacht Squadron line at 17:00, launching the second leg of The Ocean Race Europe 2025. Ahead lies 1,400 nautical miles of hard running to Cartagena, Spain, with a midweek fly-by off Matosinhos-Porto to keep things lively.
23-08-2025
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
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
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
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
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
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
Wouldn’t be the first time a Jean-Pierre Kelbert design came in sideways and stole the silverware. His initials are stamped on the transom — literally — and his boats have a reputation for upsetting the pecking order in offshore racing. The 34-foot JPK 1050 might just be the sharpest new weapon in a fleet of 73, and it’s already shown a flash of brilliance.
20-07-2025
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
Some people drift into sailing. Rachel Mcguigan charged in—eyes up, hands on, no time to waste.
When she first spoke to Leo Cantwell, skipper of Aileron, he asked her straight: “What do you want to learn?” Her answer was clear and fearless: “I want to do a helming course. I want to learn bow. I want it all. I’m not mucking about.” And she wasn’t. Leo took her seriously—and from that moment, things started moving.
13-07-2025
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
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
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
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 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
BONDS Flying Roos Take Flight: Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds Hop Aboard Australia’s SailGP Juggernaut
09-06-2025
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
Showcasing remarkable prowess, determination, and resilience, Clarisse Crémer places 11th at the prestigious Vendée Globe 2024.
27-01-2025
Royal Western Yacht Club recreates maritime nostalgia, announcing a race along the 1925 Fastnet Course, while also shaking things up with a date change for the '25 Round Iceland Race.
14-01-2025