‘Racing yacht design is advancing rapidly but the growing gap between mainstream production boats and more extreme specialist designs is putting pressure on handicap systems, event formats and participation,’ says Frédéric Bouvier of J/Composites. From low freeboard and shallow, beamy cockpits to sailplans with square-topped mainsails and giant asymmetric kites, each capable of creating a partial eclipse, through to specialist double-handed racing yachts that are designed to promote shorthanded crews, these are exciting times for the racing scene. The recent success of some scow hull configurations have been among the latest developments to challenge what we consider as normal, yet despite their unconventional looks their growing popularity in some areas suggests that the sport is on the verge of yet another new trend.

But at what price?
Bouvier, a lifelong racing sailor who has clocked up many sea miles both inshore and offshore, says he is the first to acknowledge and celebrate the rapid and exciting growth in design.

As J/Composites’ commercial director his day job takes him to the heart of the sport where their own models frequently go head-to-head with some of the most extreme designs on the racing circuit. And while he freely admits that his prime commercial focus is on J/Boats, the combination of this and his long and sustained involvement as a hands-on participant in the sport provides both perspective and a useful datum to understand and comment on where things are heading.

‘It is definitely an exciting world right now with one of the widest ranges of options for owners and crew that we’ve seen, but this rapid, and at times extreme development, also comes at a cost,’ he says. ‘The technical improvements within racing design have been fascinating but they have also been responsible for a polarisation of sailing. Supporters of more radical designs would argue that innovation has always driven the sport forward and that rating systems must evolve accordingly. However, the result is that it has become difficult if not impossible at times to provide equitable racing across a range of similarly sized boats that were designed to excel in different ways. The problem now is that often we’re asking our rating systems to compare bananas with carrots.

‘Take the current and growing trend in scow designs as an example. There is no question that they are capable of raising the performance bar, they’ve already proved it. The way in which the limitations of these designs, particularly upwind, have been overcome is fascinating. But this is also a configuration that is very hard to build competitively as a production boat for mainstream racing as the performance benefits depend on creating large, voluminous structures down to a weight.

‘This in turn leads to an expensive path with boats built from advanced lightweight materials which in turn pushes the price up, ‘he continues. ‘And in simple terms, extreme designs, exciting as they are, have never been a good way of attracting people in big numbers.’

It is easy to see his point, but surely the argument is that rating systems are there to even out those differences?

Bouvier believes that handicap systems are now being pushed harder than ever to provide equitable racing between boats with very different performance profiles across a wide range of conditions and disciplines. And while the argument isn’t a new one, he and many others are concerned at what effect this will have on the sport and where the solutions lie.

According to the J/Composites team there are ways of tackling the issues. They see advantages and opportunities in their long term and wide-ranging experience where they have been immersed in the thick of strong domestic racing in France and in the varied fleets on the international scene. The ability to make their own assessments in how different configurations could be catered for to provide close equitable racing, by studying their own fleet of almost 200 J/99s, is a good starting point.

‘One of our goals here is to see whether it would be possible to bring a standard J/99 with, say, an alloy mast, back into contention with the more advanced specifications by adapting a handicap. If we can, then our longer-term goal is to apply this to other areas of our range.

‘To achieve this, we will be focussing on the J/99 to start with as it is a very versatile design which has proved to be successful in both fully crewed and shorthanded events across both inshore and offshore racing.

‘The design has also been pushed hard by some stiff competition too, so we know the data is good and that the results prove consistently that the J/99 is a highly adaptable and competitive design. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised, after all it has smooth polar curves rather than those of more extreme designs that have performance spikes. Naturally, this is one of the clearest indicators to a good all-round performer.’

Making close comparisons across a varied fleet and establishing what works and why started at the Spi Ouest regatta in La Trinité this spring.

‘We had 10 closely matched J/99s in the middle of the IRC2 fleet which gave us a good datum,’ he continues. ‘All the boats in this class were of a similar overall concept and were separated by just a few points on rating which meant that the racing was about getting a good start, taking the right shifts, making good manoeuvres at the leeward mark and so on. Success was not defined by your handicap figure.

‘But what was particularly interesting was comparing our performance in the water and on handicap to boats of a similar size but with very different design concepts such as the new scows and others that were in IRC1. Because we had rolling starts on the same course we were able to look at the numbers and make good comparisons. And what was clear was that while they were quicker on the water we would have beaten them on corrected time by a big margin. And the reason is that these boats were having to race on a windward leeward course with a full crew which is at odds with what these offshore boats are designed for.

‘One of our main concerns is that in trying to account for this disparity with the more extreme, grand prix designs, that handicap systems forget about the bigger number of competitors in the mainstream classes. And when I say this, I mean we are afraid for the sport as a whole, not for our business because if that does happen it actually opens a door for companies like ours that have a strong following to do our own thing – but that’s not what we want.

‘The Admiral’s Cup is a good example. There is no doubt that it was a huge success, great to watch and I’m sure great to be a part of. But the risk is that it is driving IRC into a very professional, expensive area and away from the mainstream. The same can be highlighted under ORC with latest new design campaigns. The investment into development, especially AI assisted, has set another standard to challenge the loopholes of the handicap system’

J/Boats has another way of collecting data, making comparisons across an impressively wide range of models and making their point thanks to their own well-attended regattas such as the J/Cup Europe.

But Bouvier and J/Composites believe that the future of keelboat racing is not simply about the numbers. Events need to be fun too. And while you might think this is a case of stating the obvious and unrelated to the technical arguments, Bouvier and the team argue that they are linked. They argue that time, money and commitment that has been invested to refine grand prix designs and the way that they are sailed has increased pressure to succeed which in turn has raised expectations at the cost of general enjoyment.

‘The simple fact is that if a crew’s goal is solely to win, then only one crew will be happy,’ he says. ‘Aside from the social events which are important of course, the changes that have taken place in the way that events are structured plays into whether people enjoy their racing. Spi Ouest is a good example again as it is typical of other events. The total number of competitors has reduced but the number of classes has increased which dilutes the racing while making it more complex to run for the organisers. It doesn’t make sense on any front. We believe that the answer is to bring more competitors together in fewer classes, but this means addressing the format of the racing itself along with tackling handicap issues for boats that are of different concepts.

For Bouvier, the problem is not only technical. Once boats become harder to compare fairly, events become more fragmented, more expensive and, ultimately, less enjoyable for the majority of competitors.

‘No one here is pretending it is easy, but we do believe that it is necessary for the health of the sport.’

More on J/Composites

First, she's a major badass – and second, her résumé is a breath of fresh air when it comes to America’s Cup sailor signings.

It will come as no surprise to readers that the 29-year-old’s background combines elite-level competition experience in the British Olympic Sailing Team (where she was understudy to gold-medal-winning kite surfer Ellie Aldridge at Paris 2024) with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering (pretty much a prerequisite for any aspiring America’s Cup sailor in this current era of semi-automated, AI-driven, foiling boats).

What people probably were not expecting is the pure adventurer element of her résumé, which includes working as a basecamp guide on Everest, climbing mountains in Alaska and traversing Mongolian mountain ranges.

Read more

The French syndicate has been a little quiet recently since flooding their AC75 during a capsize in Lorient a few weeks ago, so it seemed like an opportune time to revisit my interview with Jason, which I had begun by asking him about his impressive French language skills...

JC: I was impressed to hear you speaking to the local media here in fluent French. What’s the story behind that?

JS: Well, my partner, Manon Audinet, is French. She was the skipper of the French Women’s America’s Cup team in the last edition. We’ve been together for 11 years now. I’ve now got a French passport as well as my New Zealand one. Our son, Louis, was born in France. So we’ve definitely got a strong link with France, and it’s great to be able to continue that for another America’s Cup cycle.

JC: Can you tell us about what you expect your role to be in the French team for the 38th America’s Cup?

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For me and the many other race crew who spent much of March in the Caribbean, it was an unforgettable month of sunshine, smiles and strong winds, and a wonderful reminder of why the sport of superyacht racing is so important to this very special part of the industry

The Caribbean superyacht regatta season got under way in its usual style with the Antigua Superyacht Challenge, where a fleet of 10 sailing superyachts gathered at Nelson’s Dockyard. The programme began with an optional Round Antigua Race: a 46.8-mile anticlockwise lap of the island, or the shorter Part-Island Race. Pursuit-format series races filled the following days and rewarded precise timing, boat handling and strategic decision-making.

This four-day event remains proudly non-commercial, with the emphasis on safe, competitive racing and delivering an unforgettable experience that people want to come back to. Fleet diversity defines this regatta, from towering schooners to modern super-sloops, and devising a format that pitches these designs against one another on equal footing is exactly what the Superyacht Racing Association (SYRA) and the ORCsy rating system is about.

What unites the fleet isn’t just scale or design, but a shared commitment to racing well, safely and fairly, plus an equally strong emphasis on the camaraderie that defines superyacht regatta participation, both on the water and ashore. It’s a unique environment – if you’ve not yet been a part of it, give it a go.

Participants and spectators were able to follow the fleet and on-water action with the recently updated TracTrac software, and we saw it used for the first time in Antigua. A collaboration between TracTrac, ORC and SYRA helped develop the system so sailors, owners and guests can see how they’re doing on the racecourse and against the opposition in real time. You can assess your projected ranking during racing and see provisional results as yachts cross the finish line. The software shows sailors where they’re gaining, and losing, with greater accuracy than ever before, and really adds another layer to the experience.

For ORC and SYRA, the improved software will be vital for data gathering, allow for better race monitoring, performance reviews and rule observance, and we’ll also be able to replay and study on-water situations.

Ashore in Antigua, over 300 sailors – owners, guests and crew – came together for the prize giving. The Gosnell Trophy, awarded to the yacht best representing the spirit of the regatta, went to the 65- metre schooner and SYRA-member Adix, racing in her first Superyacht Challenge.

‘It’s a real honour to receive the Gosnell Trophy,’ said Captain Oliver Bell. ‘For us this regatta has never just been about results, it’s about the spirit of the event and the people involved. To have the other teams vote for us makes it incredibly special… the atmosphere on the water and ashore has been brilliant. I’m incredibly proud of our crew. Everyone pulled together and pushed the boat hard in some demanding conditions.’

There was also a standout performance from the 66m Hetairos, another SYRA member, which not only won the Stan Pearson Trophy but set a new race and monohull course record for the Round Antigua, completing it in three hours, 20 minutes and 35 seconds. For the record achievement, the Hetairos team were awarded the captain’s weight in rum.

Another boat making an impression this season was Spirit 111 Geist, new to both the Caribbean circuit and to SYRA membership. Lymington local and ex- America’s Cup sailor Matt Cornwell was aboard, alongside several other faces from the Solent, and he summed up their experience: ‘For the owner, captain Justin Pope and the team, racing the boat in Caribbean waters was something we’d really been looking forward to. Racing two events back-to-back, starting with the Antigua Superyacht Challenge and then the St Barths Bucket, was a great way to maximise our adventure in the tropics. Both are longstanding events with pedigree, they’re well organised and managed, but individual in their styles. We had 15-25kts every day, big seas, warm winds, great courses, and enjoyed an incredible experience that only superyacht racing can provide.’

In St Barths, the Bucket Regatta had its largest fleet since 2015. Forty-one yachts were on the list, with 34 racing. The boats were split across nine classes, including two Corinthian Spirit (CS) non-spinnaker classes. The CS has really become popular - it’s a “turn up as you are” kind of thing, maybe flying in a couple of additional talents to help the permanent crew. It provides an entry level to the superyacht racing scene without the fullon commitment, and it’s encouraging how many boats have liked what they saw and come back fully race ready the next year.

There were a couple of notable additions to the Bucket. A schooner class made its debut, bringing together three striking three-masted gaff-rigged yachts – a first for the regatta. And there was an optional fourth day of racing, giving teams more racing time and a chance to assess the competition before things got serious. With Sunday’s racing ultimately abandoned due to strong winds, that extra day proved a good call and it looks likely to become a permanent fixture.

Racing followed the pursuit format under the ORCsy rule. Topping their classes at the end of the week were WallyCento V, Swan 90 Freya, Swan 100 Onyx, Geist, Whisper, M5, Perseus 3 and Adix.

This year’s coveted Bucket trophy went to the mighty Hetairos team, who narrowly took back victory on count after a fierce battle with, Aquarius 2 (Royal Huisman) and Maximus (Vitters Shipyard). The trio of behemoths spent much of the event with only seconds between them and provided a captivating spectacle.

The 2026 Bucket was the first event for Tony Rey in his new role as SYRA president and he joined Maximus for the action: ‘Simply sailing a 60m ketch in 15-20kts of breeze in the Caribbean feels like a spectacular dream. Racing in the Gazelles class with the three big ketches, along with three iconic monster sloops, all in close proximity around islands and marks, borders on unreasonable! Sometimes sailing these yachts feels like racing a school bus on a motocross track, but we got it done, and safely.’

For Rey, it was particularly valuable to see the ORCsy prove its worth. ‘Race one had Maximus, Aquarius 2 and Hetairos all finishing overlapped after 23 miles of hard racing. After two races, we were in a three-way tie for first. We’ll have to wait until Bucket 2027 to properly break the tie on the water!’

Undeniably, whether you are stepping onto a start line for the first time or returning after many seasons on the circuit, the world of superyacht racing offers something truly special. ‘And SYRA exists to support that world,’ says Rey, ‘It’s a privilege to see these regattas from both sides of the sail. At its heart, SYRA is about community. Membership is not merely about rules or administration; it is about having a say, contributing experience, and helping to shape the future of sailing superyacht racing.’

More about the SYRA

Everyone who follows competitive sailing will be aware of Carlo’s immense talent and the scope of his career that spanned four decades at the highest level.

I worked with Carlo many times in my – much shorter – career as a sailing journalist. I first met him at a Melges 32 regatta on Lake Garda in the mid-2000s. I was writing the daily race reports and he was the official class photographer. I remember being sweaty and tongue-tied as I hesitantly introduced myself in the tiny media room we had been given to work in. I needn’t have worried. Carlo – like always, as I came to learn over the years – greeted me with a warm smile and a handshake. “Just tell me what you need – it’s no problem,” he reassured me.

Later that day, out on our crowded media rib packed with other Italian photographers, we waited at the windward mark for the leaders to make their way up the beat. As the boats approached, cameras went up and autodrives began to whirr noisily. However, in the bow of the boat, Carlo was finishing off rolling one of his trademark cigarettes. His cameras were still in his Peli case, under his left foot. As the others gave excited – and often contradictory – instructions to the rib driver about where the boat needed to be in relation to the windward buoy, Carlo looked on placidly as he contentedly puffed away. Then, as the boats came properly into range, in an unrushed single motion he leaned down, opened the case and took out his camera. As the leaders rounded the mark, he took one, then two more shots, before putting his camera back in the case and shutting the lid. It was the same at every turning mark for the rest of the day. Later, back in the media room, he sent me his 10 favourite images for the press release – every one of them worthy of being framed and hung on a living room wall.

His workflow might have looked effortless, but what I learned over the years that followed was the massive amount of preparation Carlo put into researching the perfect vantage points ashore and afloat from which to capture his unique perspective of the racing. He and his team would arrive several days ahead of the racing to scope out the best shooting spots – be it headlands or mountain tops in venues like Sardinia or Mallorca for a Maxi regatta, or the roof of a skyscraper in Manhattan for an America’s Cup World Series event.

Carlo was as much at home hanging from the open door of a helicopter shooting the Fastnet or the Sydney to Hobart fleets, as he was capturing the America’s Cup trophy from a new and interesting angle in the trophy room of a swanky yacht club. I never once heard him complain about the assignments he was given. Racing action, prize-givings, sponsor parties – he treated every job in the same ultra-professional manner, and the results were always unmistakable as having come from the Studio Borlenghi.

A couple of years after I met him, he agreed to do an interview with me about his career. Sadly, I don’t have the transcript of our chat or the article any more, but I remember him telling me how he had got his start by turning up at Italian regattas with a camera and developing the images in a makeshift darkroom in the back of his van after racing. Then, he would seek out the yacht owners and offer the photos for sale. His reputation soon spread and commissions came thick and fast. The biggest surprise in what he told me was that, despite choosing a career that would involve him spending the majority of his time on the water, Carlo never learned to swim.

A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to work closely with Carlo at the America’s Cup preliminary regatta in Jeddah, when I was driving the photo boat for him and Red Bull photographer Samo Vidic (see main image). Other than the TV cat – which is allowed inside the racecourse – the photo boats are the best seats in the house at America’s Cup events. I was in seventh heaven driving for two of my favourite photographers at an America’s Cup event, and I was loving listening to the pair of them swap photography ‘war stories’ as we waited for the fleet to make their way up to the first windward gate. I had lined myself up where they wanted me – in line with the leaders coming in on the starboard layline, but I was also nervously conscious of not drifting too close to the marks. As the boats approached, Carlo and Samo put their cameras up. I clicked the boat gently into reverse to stop its drift. Instantly, there came a growl from Carlo. “Hold the layline,” he said. His tone was uncharacteristically menacing, and I quickly returned the boat to neutral. I knew I was going to get told off later for being too close, but when I saw the shot Carlo got (above), it was well worth it.

Later in the regatta, I managed to get us up close to the Italian crew just after they crossed the finish line. Carlo put his camera up a split second before the Luna Rossa boat nosedived off its foils. Carlo got a great sequence of images of the crash. Delighted, he showed the images to me on the viewfinder of his camera. He slapped me on the back. “You took these photos,” he told me. “Right place, right time.” It took me a while to come down off the high from that, I can tell you.

Regattas will not be the same now that Carlo is no longer with us. Everyone in the media centres will miss his welcoming smile, his enthusiastic “Ciao” and always warm handshake. Thankfully, we have 40 years of amazing photos that we can continue to enjoy as we think kindly of our cherished friend and colleague. My heart goes out to Carlo’s wife, Alessandra, and the rest of his family and close friends, who will surely miss him the most.

Ciao for now, Carlo. You are irreplaceable. Thanks for inspiring us all with your incredible images – and with a life that was truly lived to the full.

For some further inspiration, check out Carlo’s sailing showcase here.

Although the 2026 edition of Cowes Week – which got underway over the weekend – may not have drawn the 1,000+ entry it reached at its peak in 2005, it has pulled in a title sponsor – North Sails – for the first time in a long time, and a very healthy fleet of more than 630 boats will be packing the Solent over the coming week.

I fell in love with Cowes Week the first time I attended, some time in the late ‘80s. I can recall as clear as day gasping as the fast ferry from Southampton weaved its way through the masses of racing boats packing the Solent. My sailing experience at that time was largely limited to dinghy sailing on the lakes and reservoirs of the north-west of England. This was something completely alien to me. I had never seen so many yachts in one place at one time. Ashore that afternoon, it seemed that everyone was a racing sailor. Cowes’ narrow high street was thronged with people in Musto, Henri Lloyd, and Helly Hansen kit. Every bar and restaurant was packed out with yacht crews reliving the on-the-water action from the day. It was a whole new world for me, and I thought it was all just fantastic.

I returned to Cowes Week regularly after that. I was there in 1996, racing aboard a new Humphreys 30 called Men Behaving Badly. The boat was yet to have its saildrive propulsion system fitted, so we somehow cobbled together a Heath Robinson-style transom bracket to hang an outboard borrowed from my J24.

The engine was just about powerful enough to get us off the dock and out of the Medina River, but had nothing like the poke we needed when the breeze dropped after racing and we had to motor against several knots of tide. That was the year of ‘Big Tuesday’, when the entire fleet got caught out in stormy conditions and the Bashford Howison 41 Silk II famously nosedived on the way downwind – a scene immortalised by the lens of Beken of Cowes.

We were having our own issues aboard Men Behaving Badly as the breeze ramped up. I had tripped during our first tack after the start and had snapped off the tiller extension. That meant I spent the rest of the race steering from a kneeling position. The wind strength got steadily higher and higher. We didn’t have a reefing point in the mainsail and we were on our smallest number four headsail as we approached the windward mark at Gurnard Ledge. Unbeknown to us, the 40-foot one-off sportsboat Camp Freddie had ended up on its side aground after trying to tack around, rather than gybe. They had fluffed the tack and ended up in irons before sliding sideways on to the bricks.

Happily, we managed to get our boat through the tack somewhat more successfully, albeit losing the wind instruments from the top of the mast as we did so. With me still kneeling on the cockpit floor, we scorched off across the Solent in a ball of spray, weaving our way between capsized and dismasted boats, as the breeze (we found out later) ramped up to a peak of 43 knots – still, I think, the windiest conditions I have raced in. On board that day, huddled at the back of the boat behind me with the rest of the crew, was the boat’s designer, Rob Humphreys. I ran into Rob recently at the Palma Superyacht Cup, and reminded him of his not-so-useful comment to me back then as I fought with gritted teeth to keep the boat from spinning out. “It’s not supposed to go this fast downwind,” he’d told me, grimly.

Somehow, we finished that race – one of just a handful of boats that did, as I recall – but not before we were blown flat several times on the final upwind with just the headsail up and a full crew on the rail. As we struggled across the finish line, it had got so windy that the Royal Yacht Britannia was being moved from its mooring off the Royal Yacht Squadron to avoid the risk of it breaking loose on its own.

After surviving the tumult – and then successfully managing to get the outboard on to its makeshift mount in pounding seas off the mouth of the Medina – we were all happy to get back to our crew house for hot showers, warm food, and some reviving beverages. I think our whole contingent was asleep by 2100.

So it came as something of a surprise the following morning to be woken early by our panicked landlord banging on the door. His wife had read a story in The Times newspaper about the crew of a boat with the same name as ours wreaking havoc in their rented accommodation. Having conducted a hasty inspection of the premises to find the place – as he put it – “tidier than it normally is”, the relieved property owner left us, apologising profusely as he went.

Sadly, I will not be in Cowes for this year’s two-hundredth edition, but trust me that I will be following along vicariously via the excellent website, on which I have already spent more than a sensible amount of time scanning the entry lists across the 37 (!) classes.

I see from the list of news stories that keen sailor HRH Princess Anne fired the first starting cannon from the Royal Yacht Squadron on Sunday. Cowes Week and the British Royal family have a longstanding relationship – Prince Philip was a regular competitor – and the Princess’s presence in Cowes guarantees some valuable mainstream media exposure for the regatta. That’s good news for the event and great return on investment for the sponsors.

Speaking of sponsors, it is great to hear the news that the 300-year-old rum distillery Mount Gay has renewed its partnership with sailing at this year’s Cowes Week. Red Mount Gay hats used to be the ultimate badge of honour for competitive sailors. I have owned a few in my time – Antigua Race Week and Key West Race Week being two I remember clearly, but sadly both now long gone. It is 43 years since the first ones were produced for the 1983 Admiral’s Cup, and I’m sure the Cowes Week 2026 versions will be as sought after and long cherished as ever. A very warm welcome back, Mount Gay!

Good luck and fair winds to all who are competing on the Solent this week – and here’s to another 200 years of Cowes Week!

The café next to the RORC office in Antigua buzzes all morning. Sailors stop by for coffee, conversations blend together and race talk moves easily from table to table. Over the course of an hour, Deborah Fish shares her thoughts on offshore racing, leadership, and the realities behind international events like the RORC Caribbean 600, speaking as both commodore of the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) and as an active, successful offshore sailor.

Fish did not grow up sailing. She started the sport later than most, in her early 30s, when she finally had the chance to race offshore. ‘I started quite late,’ she says. ‘But once I did the Fastnet Race I was completely hooked.’ Since then, offshore racing has remained a major part of her life. She first raced with the RORC in 1999 and has completed the Rolex Fastnet Race 13 times, as well as many of the other major offshore events, including the Rolex Middle Sea Race, the Sydney Hobart, and the Caribbean 600.

That offshore background shapes how Fish approaches her role as commodore. Elected in January 2024, she became the first woman to hold the position. She describes it as a role that found her rather than the other way around, at a moment when the club was entering an important phase with the long-awaited return of the Admiral’s Cup and a strong international racing calendar.

Despite the title of commodore, Fish remains deeply connected to the sailor’s perspective. She continues to race actively, often double-handed, and believes that leadership credibility comes from understanding what competitors experience on the water.

‘You have to be a commodore for everyone,’ she explains. ‘From the maxi owners to the Contessa 32s. You need to understand the whole fleet.’ That understanding is not abstract. It comes from listening, conversations on the dock, racing the same courses and recognising that decisions made ashore directly affect those made at sea.

Balancing feedback is not always easy. ‘There will always be someone who wants one thing and someone who wants the opposite,’ she says. ‘The challenge for me is to work out what’s best for the fleet as a whole.’

‘As captain of the whole crew, I also have a team behind me within the RORC. It comes down to how you build a great working relationship between the committee and the staff. This allows us to balance the racer’s perspective, the customer’s point of view and to the staff’s professional perspective. Bounce between those. Take your knowledge and experience, your views, and try to do what’s best for everyone.’

Nowhere is that more visible than in the Caribbean. ‘Here you really see it,’ Fish explains. ‘There’s a small army of staff and volunteers.’ The RORC team makes a point of meeting every boat, creating a welcoming atmosphere both on and off the water. ‘That’s why people love it,’ she says. ‘There’s so much going on and the volunteers are a huge part of that experience. They’re the people you interact with.’

Antigua itself plays a key role in fostering that feeling. Fish describes it as welcoming and safe, with a racecourse that is as beautiful as it is demanding. Fourteen islands, each with its own wind effects, create a race that is never straightforward.

‘It’s constantly interesting,’ she says. ‘And it’s exactly that combination, the challenge on the water and the people behind the scenes, that makes this race what it is.’

The Caribbean 600 is a race that Fish knows well and describes as ‘the most enjoyable 600-mile race’. Now sailing it for the fourth time, she knows its rhythm intimately. ‘You move from one navigation decision to the next, island after island. And with very little sleep.’

‘Offshore racing teaches you how to make decisions under pressure,’ she says. ‘Do you put more sail up to go faster, or do you hold back because the risk is too high? You’re always balancing performance, safety and consequences. It’s a very good life skill.’

This year, Fish is racing aboard Sedem, a Pegasus 50 owned by Dutch sailors Astrid de Vin and Roeland Franssens. The team’s journey to Antigua already reflects the broader logistics behind the race. Sedem arrived in the Caribbean via the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC ), sailing down through the Canaries before crossing the Atlantic. After the race, the yacht will return to Europe by ship.

‘They’ve been cruising the Caribbean,’ Fish explains, ‘and the boat will go back on transport with Sevenstar to Europe.’ Time, wear and tear, safety and predictability all play a role in the decision to ship a yacht rather than sail it back across an ocean. ‘Sailing a boat back can take weeks,’ Fish says. ‘It puts a lot of strain on the boat and there’s often pressure to be somewhere by a certain date.’

Offshore races like the Caribbean 600 depend on international participation, which in turn depends on reliable yacht transport. With only a handful of yachts based permanently in the Caribbean, shipping is essential to keeping the event truly international. ‘And that’s not just about moving a boat,’ she says. A modern offshore racing programme travels with containers full of sails, spare parts, tools and safety equipment. It often includes support boats such as RIBs and, in larger programmes, entire teams. At the top end of the fleet, the scale increases dramatically.

‘Some campaigns involve 45 people,’ Fish says. ‘That’s a whole organisation on the move.’ From feeding and housing the crew to managing equipment and maintaining schedules, the logistical challenge is significant. She smiles as she explains what that really means in practice. ‘Even something as simple as feeding the crew becomes a logistical exercise. There’s always someone who’s allergic to something, someone who doesn’t eat tomatoes, someone who needs to be somewhere else the next day.’

Transport offers certainty, not only that the yacht arrives safely, but that the entire campaign arrives together and on schedule. Without that certainty, Fish believes international offshore racing would look very different. For races like the Caribbean 600, where only a small number of yachts are based locally, transport is not an optional extra but a fundamental part of making the race possible. International participation is what gives races like the Caribbean 600 their character and that internationalism depends heavily on logistics. ‘Yacht transport is absolutely key,’ she says. Time constraints, wear and tear, safety and the sheer reality of modern life mean that very few owners can afford to sail their boats back and forth across oceans between seasons.

Long-term planning is also evident in the partnership between the RORC and Sevenstar Yacht Transport. From Fish’s perspective the interests align naturally. ‘We have a common goal,’ she says. ‘Making the events the best they can be for sailors.’

While a race might begin a week before the start for organisers and competitors, Sevenstar’s involvement and planning begin months earlier and continue beyond the finish line, when yachts, containers and teams move on to the next stage of their season.

Looking beyond individual races, Fish is deeply invested in the future of offshore sailing. One of the initiatives she is most proud of is the Griffin Project, a youth programme designed to bring young sailors into offshore racing. Open to sailors aged 18 to 30, the programme has already attracted hundreds of applicants from around the world. Selection is based on merit, attitude and willingness to learn, not gender. ‘When you select on that,’ Fish says, ‘you forget gender and you end up 50-50.’ The aim is simple: the long-term health of the sport. ‘Our average member is older,’ she explains. ‘If we want offshore racing to thrive, we need young people coming through.’

That same thinking extends to diversity more broadly. Visible role models matter. ‘If everyone you see in a sport is male, you think: this isn’t for me. A good mix changes that.’

For Deborah Fish, leadership remains inseparable from participation. ‘You only need two boats to make a race,’ she says with a smile. But to keep those races alive, international, competitive and meaningful requires far more than what happens between the start gun and the finish line. It requires planning, trust, logistics and people who understand the sport inside and out.

Deborah Fish is one of them.

More on Sevenstar Yacht Transport

In the video, GB1 CEO Ian Walker makes his first visit to review progress on the refit of the GB1 AC75. It’s hard not to contrast that visit with the content coming out of Luna Rossa and the Kiwis, who have both been racking up valuable days on the water since much earlier this year. The French La Roche-Posay Racing Team have also sailed their modified AC75 from their base in Lorient – although a capsize and subsequent battery fire three weeks ago have seen the boat back in the hangar for repairs since then.

In the British video, the GB1 AC75 is described as being hidden away at a ‘secret location’. (For what it’s worth, a quick Google image search of the aerial view of the city in the video suggests that it’s Avellino – about 50 kilometres from next year’s AC38 venue Naples. That shot, of course, could be stock footage intended to put nosy journalists off the scent.)

When Walker climbs down below on the old Britannia, he is heard to remark: “Everything’s out”, suggesting that the boat is, at this stage, very much an empty shell.

“This is my first visit to see the boat today,” he continues. “The first stage of what they are doing here is cutting out any unnecessary parts of the boat that won’t be required under the new rules. Then as the drawings come along, they’re starting to work up to adapt the boat. The principal visible change people will see will be getting rid of the cyclors and the reduction in the crew numbers.”

Walker – who joined the British campaign as CEO for AC38 – comments on how impressed he is with the way the boat had been built.

“It’s a work of art down below,” he says. “And, actually, having spent the last few months around the AC40s, it’s a useful reminder of the scale and power of these [AC75] boats.”

The video also features GB1’s 35-strong design team that works out of offices in Portsmouth on the south coast of England. According to technical director Nick Holroyd – a veteran of several British AC campaigns – that group is made up of software engineers, modelling engineers “who model the physics of the boat”, computational fluids engineers, and mechanical engineers. “The range of skills required in our design group to execute on these boats is quite remarkable,” he says.

Holroyd sums up his team’s challenge as ‘making the boat fundamentally more efficient’.

“The foil has to carry the weight of the boat,” he says. “If we can do that with just a little bit less drag, then we are going faster, right? Likewise, the sails have to produce a certain amount of side force to keep the boat foiling. If we can do that with a little bit less drag, then, again, we are faster.

“If the stars align, I think we can pull off something exceptional here – but we are going to have to work incredibly hard and be incredibly focused,” Holroyd concludes.

Although there is no hint of stress or panic in the video, having a shell of a boat still needing to undergo the deck modifications must be putting pressure on all aspects of the British campaign. Just how much of a delay has resulted from the looming court case with former sponsor INEOS is impossible to say. The team does now, however, appear to be pressing ahead with the modifications, and there is surely some significance in them releasing this video.

“We have to make our deadlines, we have to get the boat on the water in time and in the condition we need it to be, in order to bring the cycles of sails through, to have systems out there tested and reliable for the racing season next year,” Holroyd says. “Eventually we get to the stage of putting the electrical, hydraulic, and computer systems back into that boat, and then aim to launch at the end of this year.”

It’s worth noting that GB1 is not the only team from AC37 playing catch-up. At another hidden location – perhaps in Switzerland – the Tudor Team Alinghi AC75 is also undergoing a major overhaul to bring it up to code for AC38. In many ways the Swiss campaign has a bigger mountain to climb, having suffered damage to their boat after racing concluded at AC37 and also having broken two masts during the Barcelona campaign.

Meanwhile, the two newcomer teams, Team Australia and America Racing Challenger, are also heads down working on modifying their respective boats – although the Australians have contracted that work out to Emirates Team New Zealand, with the Americans doing the same with American Magic. Neither is expected to be on the water before early 2027.

In a much appreciated break from what has become the norm for me these days – mostly writing about ultra-fast foiling boats – I recently spent a happy fortnight reporting on a spectacularly beautiful traditional class that originated back in the early 1900s.

The 2026 International Six Metre Swiss and European Championships took place on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, and were hosted by the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) – Team Tudor Alinghi’s long-term America’s Cup partner. I was there working for the class association – a vibrant organisation that organises a World and European championship each alternate year.

Dating back to 1907 and the introduction of the International Rule – a.k.a. the Metre Rule – the Sixes are some of the world’s most beautiful and elegant racing yachts. For those who have never seen one, just imagine a scaled-down 12 Metre and you will get the idea. An Olympic class from 1908 to 1952, the world’s leading yacht designers often used Sixes as a test bed for their America’s Cup 12 Metre designs.

The class rules have been updated periodically and 1975 saw the introduction of an updated Modern design. The cut off date between a Classic and a Modern boat is January 1, 1966.

This year’s Swiss and European Championships attracted 20 entries in the Open (Modern) fleet, with 30 boats racing in the Classic fleet. There are few better host yacht clubs for a class like the Six Metres than the SNG. The club’s facilities include an excellent restaurant and bar, a close to 1,000-berth marina, an air-conditioned gym, a rowing club, and a highly active junior sailing school.

For the International Six Metre Europeans the club had cleared the waterfront outside the clubhouse to enable the 50-boat fleet to tie up stern-to in age order. Every boat’s berth was marked with a blue plaque giving details about the boat: name, sail number, designer, year of construction etc. That was a nice touch that worked really well during the event, with spectators and competitors alike strolling slowly along the long line of yachts taking in their elegance and beauty.

Swiss entries dominated the regatta, with more than half the 50-boat entry coming from the home nation. However a strong travelling contingent made up the remainder of the entries, with crews coming in from Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Sweden, and the United States.

The event was my first experience of working with the class and I have to say I was very taken by how friendly and welcoming everyone was. It has been a while since I worked on a major championship and it was nice to experience the atmosphere of anticipation as the sailors worked their way through measurement and scrutineering ahead of the start of racing. There was a classic yacht regatta feel to the event, but it was also very clear that the level of preparation across both fleets was extremely high.

Whilst the Classics are undoubtedly the prettier of the two divisions, the Modern fleet also had its attraction. Viewed from a distance on the water it is hard to tell the two fleets apart. Both sport huge overlapping headsails and have over-sized fractional spinnakers. Under the water is where the biggest differences are. The Classics have full length keels and keel hung rudders, while the Moderns are allowed fin keels with bulbs and winglets, and separate rudders. I’m sure there are many more differences between the two fleets – and I look forward to learning all about them as my relationship with the class develops.

When it came to the racing the Lake Geneva weather gods didn’t really play ball. The three-day Swiss Championships – which acted as a warm-up for the Europeans – was badly affected by thundery conditions that made for some very unpredictable scenarios on the lake.

Just four races of a possible eight were completed in the Open Championship, where renowned Swiss match racer Eric Monnin on the red-hulled SUI100 Duclop emerged as the new Swiss champion. Unfortunately, the final race in the Classic Championship had to be thrown out after the winning boat was found to be outside the time limit by a little over a minute. That denied Violetta Alvarez’s immaculately renovated GBR57 Erica being awarded the overall victory as a minimum of four races was required for a series.

When it came to the Europeans the storm systems had moved away, allowing a more ‘normal’ northerly breeze to develop in the mornings. The race committee managed to get all eight races in the series completed, albeit in breezes that peaked at 10-12 knots early in the morning and typically died away to sub-five-knots over the two-lap windward-leeward races. These tricky conditions put a premium on keeping your eyes out of the boat and meant that the final podium positions in both fleets were not decided until the very last race. Challenging and often frustrating racing for the competitors, but fascinating to watch as an onlooker.

In the end, it was Monnin once again who closed out the Open division with a win in the final race, that saw him relegate Jamie Hilton on the helm of SUI144 Eau Vive to second place. Third was the newest boat in the fleet: Dieter Schön’s IVB145 Momo. In the Classics, a win in the last race for His Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain’s ESP16 Bribon, helmed by Canadian Olympic medallist Ross MacDonald, sealed a remarkable fifth European Championship victory for the royal yacht. His Majesty was not sailing on the boat, but was on the water every day watching the action intently from a large support rib. Second in the Classics was Erica, with Reinhard Suhner’s SUI45 Mecara taking third overall.

I watched both championships play out from the best seat in the house: behind the wheel a small, but zippy rib capable of getting me to the windward and leeward marks ahead of the leaders in both fleets. One aspect I really appreciated was watching racing without any artificial boundaries. The crews were only constrained by the breadth of Lake Geneva making for some huge leverage opportunities both upwind and down – a welcome change from the grandstand sailing courses I have become accustomed to in SailGP and the America’s Cup.

You can get a real taste of what the atmosphere was like at the Europeans in this video by class videographer Jacobo Bastos – and there are lots more great images from the championships from class photographer María Muiña, here.

Meanwhile, I’m already looking forwards to the 2027 International Six
Metre World championships taking place in Helsinki, Finland next August.

For more information on the International Six Metre Class, check their truly excellent Archive website.

The weather gods looking down on the harbour in Halifax might not have made things easy for SailGP race director Iain Murray and his team, but this weekend’s seventh event of Season 6 produced some great split-fleet racing – and culminated in an exciting four-way event final that saw Diego Botín’s Spanish Los Gallos take their first event win of this season ahead of Artemis (SWE), Explora Journeys Swiss, and the overall season leaders the BONDS Flying Roos.

As well as diving into a few of the team performances that caught our eye, Magnus and Justin also talk through the key moments of the event, and try to work out what the re-shuffled standings at the top of the leaderboard mean for the rest of the season and the run-in to the Season 6 Grand Final this November.

Image © Anne Beauge / Biotherm / The Ocean Race   

Justin and Magnus pore over the events of the weekend – including a much improved performance from Giles Scott's Canadian NorthStar crew, disappointment for Diego Botín's Spanish Los Gallos who were sidelined on Sunday due to technical issues – and break down the action from what turned out to be a great event final where Tom Slingsby's BONDS Flying Roos out smarted Dylan Fletcher's Emirates Team GBR to take their third consecutive regatta win.

Image © Ricardo Pinto / SailGP

Host: Justin Chisholm
Guest: Magnus Wheatley

Episode Summary

Justin and Magnus review SailGP's Bermuda event, widely considered a much-needed reset for the series. With flat water and consistent breeze, Bermuda delivered strong racing — and a dominant performance from the Australian team.

Key Topics

Australia's Dominance Tom Slingsby and the Australian team extended their series lead with a commanding performance. Magnus credits the arrival of Ian Jensen as a transformative signing, freeing Slingsby to focus on tactics and race management. Australia's race six start on Sunday was singled out as a particular masterclass.

Spain's Challenge Spain were the closest rivals to Australia, showing genuine pace and impressive racecraft. Diego Botín and tactician Florian Trittel were praised for excellent layline calls and boat speed. Discussion of whether Spain might choose to keep their current boat rather than take a new one.

Germany Makes the Final A surprise finalist after a strong qualifying series. The team absorbed the loss of Stu Bithell to GBR and integrated Kevin Pepponet from France effectively. Justin and Magnus credit skipper Erik Heil for building a consistent midfield threat.

Great Britain — Better but not 100% GBR recovered from their last-place finish at the previous event to finish fourth, but both hosts note the team doesn't look or sound like their usual selves. Hannah Mills' voice was notably absent from the onboard audio. Still second overall in the championship.

New Zealand's Return The Kiwis are out for the rest of the season standings after their boat was destroyed in a crash (the "repaired" framing in SailGP press releases gets short shrift). Pete Burling is targeting Halifax for a return. Discussion of the development time they've lost and whether a new boat can be brought up to speed quickly.

France's Misfortune Glen Ashby, brought in as a super-sub, suffered a serious leg injury (broken tibia and fibula) crossing the boat on Saturday, putting France out of the event. Both hosts express sympathy — and note that France's two third places on Sunday show where the team's real level is.

Brazil — Crisis deepening? Dead last in the championship. Magnus raises hard questions about Martine Grael's leadership and whether the program is working. Speculation about Paul Goodison's future with the team.

Switzerland Bouncing Back Justin recently interviewed skipper Sebastian Schneider for the YRL website ("The Only Way Is Up"). After a tough start to the season they had a solid Bermuda event, with their sights set on finishing in the top half of the fleet.

USA — A Team Transformed Stormed Saturday but faded on Sunday. Still fourth overall, and both hosts agree the team's commercial operation is the model for SailGP franchises. Magnus reports spotting a major USA SailGP fan activation in Newport, Rhode Island the previous weekend.

SailGP Format Concerns Magnus raises ongoing questions about the repetitive race format — the opening reach, the top-mark carnage — and draws a comparison with Formula One's introduction of sprint races as a response to stagnation. Bermuda delivered good racing, but structural questions remain.

New York Preview The course location has been moved from last year's Governor's Island area. Both hosts expect flukey, unpredictable conditions that could scramble the standings — good news for midfield teams, potentially disruptive for the form book.

Mentioned in This Episode Tom Slingsby, Ian Jensen, Jason Waterhouse, Ryan Reynolds, Diego Botín, Florian Trittel, Dylan Fletcher, Hannah Mills, Stuart Bithell, Pete Burling, Blair Tuke, Glen Ashby, Nathan Outteridge, Ian Percy, Martine Grael, Paul Goodison, Sebastian Schneider, Mike Buckley, Andrew Campbell, Harry Melges, Kevin Pepponet, Kai Lenny, Jimmy Spithill

Links

• Justin's interview with Sebastian Schneider / Switzerland: [YachtRacingLife.com]

• Magnus's Bermuda blog post: [Rule69blog.com]

During the episode the pair discuss:

– the Australians' impressively consistent scoreline that saw them finish in the top three in all but one race over the weekend, including four straight wins on the Sunday
– Black Foils skipper Peter Burling's stellar performance in the commentary booth back in London where he proved surprisingly engaging, articulate, and insightful   
– some slick sailing by the Swedish Season 6 newcomers Artemis Racing who made it to their first event final, but had to settle for third
– how the newly-purchased Spanish Los Gallos syndicate continued to impress over the two days to finish second overall
– another credible result for Taylor Canfield's American outfit who finished the Rio event in fourth and maintain their third place in the overall Season 6 rankings
– flashes of promise from both Phil Robertson's Red Bull Italy crew and Nicolai Sehested's Danish ROCKWOOL Racing
– more disappointing results for Giles Scott's Canadian NorthStar crew and from Sébastien Schneiter's Switzerland

Draper, an Olympic 49er bronze medallist and veteran of multiple Cup campaigns, explains why he chose to step away from the America’s Cup after Bermuda and how a renewed passion for the event drew him back in. He talks candidly about relocating his family to Auckland, the decision-making process behind joining the Kiwi team, and why the opportunity proved impossible to turn down.

The conversation offers a rare insight into the inner workings of Team New Zealand, from the depth of knowledge within the organisation to the culture of efficiency and collective purpose that underpins its success. Draper also reflects on his evolving role within the team, combining sailing, performance input and mentoring the next generation of talent.

On the water, Draper shares his perspective on the latest generation of AC75 foiling monohulls, the scale of technological development since the AC72 era, and the realities of sailing these complex, high-speed boats. He also discusses the removal of cyclors, the introduction of new crew roles, and what these changes mean for the dynamics of an America’s Cup team.

Looking ahead, Draper gives his view on where the next Cup will be won and lost, suggesting that tighter performance margins will place greater emphasis on execution, teamwork and racecraft.

This is a interesting, behind-the-scenes look at life inside the defender, and a timely insight into how the Kiwi's latest America’s Cup campaign is evolving.

After a guided tour of this truly spectacular boat on the dock outside the Gitana team base in Lorient Justin sat down with Sebastien to find out more about the innovation that has gone into this remarkable ocean-going multihull.

Image © Ian Roman / WMRT

The racing may not have been as adrenaline-fuelled as the previous two events, but despite the uncharacteristic drifting conditions that prevailed out on Sydney Harbour, Magnus and I still had plenty to talk about, including:

• the two starkly contrasting performances from the event winners, Taylor Canfield's US SailGP Team – who strung together their best ever – and Tom Slingsby's hometown heroes, the BONDS Flying Roos – who sparkled at times but ultimately missed out on a place in the final by some margin.

• the impressive performances of the other two event finallists – Dylan Fletcher's Emirates Team GBR and Diego Botín's Spanish Los Gallos 

• plus, we debated the thorny question of whether SailGP might be losing its appeal to sailing fans and the wider sporting audience – and asked whether a racing format change could help to spice things up?

Image © Felix Diemer for SailGP

The pair discuss how SailGP has evolved over that period and touch on the performance upgrades the sailors have experienced aboard their F50 foiling catamarans since those early days. Sehested explains the workings of the close relationship between the sailing team and its long-time naming sponsor, the world-leading stone wool building insulation products manufacturer – ROCKWOOL, and how the company leverages its involvement in SailGP so effectively. Sehested also explains in more detail how the team's recent acquisition by Doug DeVos' American Magic organisation came about and the positive impact it will have on the team going forward. 

The pair also discuss the shocking crash that took place at the previous regatta in Auckland, New Zealand between the Kiwi and French teams that injured two crew members and has put both boats out of action for the foreseeable future. Sehested shares his opinion on whether the New Zealand team's season is effectively over and the duo discuss what might need to happen to keep the sailors safe during racing in windy conditions.

The episode concludes with Sehested taking a look ahead to the upcoming SailGP event in Sydney, Australia where the teams will have to factor in the vagaries of the wind around the notorious Shark Island.