Open-Water-Racing Articles

Paprec Arkéa edges ahead in a dramatic dash past Sardinia.

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.
The Ocean Race Europe as Paprec Arkéa edges ahead in a dramatic dash past Sardinia.
© Georgia Schofield

From calm to chaos: the Med delivers drama as the IMOCA fleet hurtles south toward Montenegro.

17-09-2025

Final Push to Montenegro: A Grand Mediterranean Showdown

IMOCA crews final Push to Montenegro
© Lloyd Images
This isn’t just another leg. This is the decider — a course so sprawling, so unpredictable, and so packed with Mediterranean quirks that it promises to shake every ounce of stamina and strategy out of these sailors. A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean On Friday morning Race Control revealed the course. And it’s a beauty. The fleet leaves Genoa, traces the jagged outlines of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily, then bends south toward Greece before the final charge north into the Adriatic.
13-09-2025

Allagrande Mapei Racing Locked in a Genoa Dogfight

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

Lanzarote Calero Sailing Team Closes Out 44Cup Worlds, Sets Sights on Fuerteventura

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

Fleet Departs Nice in Glamour Conditions as Leg 4 of The Ocean Race Europe Gets Underway

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

Trans-Tasman Showdown Closes Day Three at Hamilton Island Race Week

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

Mediterranean Chaos: Leaders Stumble, Fleet Closes In

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

Offshore Glory and a New Champion Crowned

Last weekend, the storied waters off the Isle of Wight roared to life as the GoGPS Cowes International Powerboat Festival delivered another adrenaline-fuelled weekend of offshore excitement. Against a backdrop of choppy seas, fierce competition, and crowds lining the coast, seven boats battled across the Cowes–Torquay–Cowes course, delivering drama in every wave. When the smoke cleared, Good Boy Vodka emerged victorious—marking a stunning breakthrough in this legendary event.
30-08-2025

A Festival of Sail in the Whitsundays

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

Biotherm storms to Portsmouth as Malizia’s Dover gamble strikes gold

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

Tacks, Traffic, and Tired Eyes: The Final Push to Portsmouth

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 rocks The Ocean Race Europe start

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

From Baltic grey to Adriatic blue, seven IMOCAs chase glory

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

Cowes Week began under a light north‑westerly breeze

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

Jolt, Van Uden, and the Youthful Dutch Storm the Admiral’s Cup and Fastnet Finish Line

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

Black Pearl First to the Rock as the Rolex Admiral’s Cup Teams Power into the Celtic Sea

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

Dutch Grit and Gybes: ROST Van Uden Take Command in AC1

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

Northwesterly to the Rock — but no headbanger, finally

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

Hard Gains and Narrow Escapes – Admiral’s Cup Fleet Charges West

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

Record MOCRA Turnout for the Fastnet Centenary

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

Baptism by Spray: Admiral’s Cup Opens With a Brutal Channel Test

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

Northwesterly to the Rock — but no headbanger, finally

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

Could two shiny new JPK 1050s cause trouble in IRC Two?

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 return of one of sailing’s most iconic regattas

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

THIRD AND FINAL STARTERS DEPART LA FOR DIAMOND HEAD

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

Up close with the sailors and enjoying the challenge of bringing the race to life

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

SailGP on its way to Sassnitz

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

Diego Botin’s Spain SailGP Team leads

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

THE ‘BONDS FLYING ROOS"

BONDS Flying Roos Take Flight: Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds Hop Aboard Australia’s SailGP Juggernaut
09-06-2025

Round the Island Race 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

Record-sized fleet

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