More sailing news

The ORC Sportboat fleet has gathered in Portoroz and is ready to race starting tomorrow Tuesday 27 August having passed their measurement checks and registration and inspection formalities. These include weighing all boats, checking all sails to be used (and measuring them when necessary), and checking all safety equipment. 

A pair of third places gained in light sea breeze conditions from the white-hot, 11-strong fleet gives Tina Plattner and the crew of Phoenix 12 the overall lead after the first two races at the Rolex TP52 World Championship on the Bay of Palma. Theirs was a very encouraging opening, and caps a good day for the Plattner family crews as father Hasso on Phoenix 11 finished second in the second race and lies fifth overall.

A day of light wind saw a slightly disrupted race schedule on Day 2 of Ready Steady Tokyo – Sailing, the official test event of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Sailing Competition.

After four days of intense racing at the 38th Copa del Rey MAPFRE, competition is about to get that bit more serious.  Heading into the final two days, the leading boats in the Swan One Design classes may look to be sitting pretty, having built up solid leads over their closest rivals, but a new scoring system introduced this year by the Real Club Náutico de Palma means those in pole position are less secure than they might seem.

While the toughest competition in the Rolex Fastnet Race will be within the individual classes, the ultimate kudos comes from winning the Fastnet Challenge Cup, the outright prize for IRC corrected time for the world's largest offshore yacht race. The challenge will be all the harder for this year's race has an immense fleet of 336 boats (excluding the 60 racing in the non-IRC fleet).

The weather will play a significant outcome in determining the overall results of the Rolex Fastnet Race. Winning your division is more within each team's control, and here we'll look at the top three IRC handicap categories in terms of size and speed. IRC Zero is where the biggest boats congregate and is likely to produce the monohull line honours winner. However, you have to go back to the 2009 and 2011 editions of the race to find the last Maxi to win overall - on both occasions the impeccably sailed Rán 2.

Quantum Racing clinched their first 52 SUPER SERIES regatta title of the 2019 season, but their perennial arch rivals Azzurra ran them close, the Italian-Argentine teams losing out by a matter of a only a couple of metres on the finish line of the last race of a windy Cascais 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week.

Pieter Taselaar’s Bliksem recorded its best performance yet at the M32 European Series Marstrand today, winning five out of six races. In the ‘one that got away’ the New York-based Dutchman’s team recovered from an OCS to finish second.

A truly unforgettable Super Final of the Tour Voile served up an even higher than usual dose of tension, excitement and top-level sailing – all set against the stunning backdrop of the Baie des Anges in Nice.