Please select your home edition
Edition
A+T Instruments BFD 2024 Leaderboard

The changing face of offshore racing

by Mark Jardine 9 Jan 2023 11:00 PST
The late Sir Peter Blake's 1989-90 Whitbread winning Steinlager II fully restored and now operated by the New Zealand Sailing Trust for youth sailing and adventure programs. Preserving the past, in order to help shape the future © New Zealand Sailing Trust

Sunday saw the opening battles of The Ocean Race, with both the IMOCA and VO65 fleets taking part in the Alicante In-Port Race. It was a testing day on the water with the wind dropping to almost nothing towards the finish. If you want to catch up on the race, then I highly recommend watching the highlights videos rather than the full race replays...

Losing title sponsor Volvo was a huge blow for the event, but the organisers have soldiered on with a much-reduced budget, and of course the delay due to Covid-19, just like nearly all events scheduled during the pandemic, both big and small. In many ways it's remarkable that they've got to this point.

It's 50 years since the Whitbread Round the World Race first set sail. The 1973-74 edition attracted 17 entries, with a peak of 29 for the 1981-82 edition. Arguably the peak for this event in terms of global recognition, and coverage in non-sailing media, was in the 1989-90 edition, with the two New Zealand ketches - Steinlager 2 skippered by Peter Blake and Fisher & Paykel skippered by Grant Dalton - battling it out around the world. In the end Steinlager 2 won all six legs, but both Fisher & Paykel and the Swiss sloop Merit, skippered by Pierre Fehlmann, pushed them hard at times.

Since then, we've seen box rules and a One Design introduced to try to limit costs and tighten up the racing. The Whitbread 60 was the first of these, with ten racing in the 1993-94 edition alongside five maxis, and then ten in the 1997-98 edition and finally eight in the 2001-02 edition. Then came the Volvo Open 70 design rule for three editions, and the Volvo Ocean 65 for next three, including the current edition. The last time the race managed to get entries into double figures was 1997-98.

On that basis, attracting a fleet of eleven teams to Alicante is a huge achievement, especially in the current climate but, make no mistake, this race is a shadow of its former self. The six VO65s are only competing in three legs: Alicante, Spain to Cabo Verde; Aarhus, Denmark to The Hague, the Netherlands; and The Hague to Genova, Italy (legs 1, 6 & 7 of the full course) and competing for 'The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup'. It is only the newly-introduced IMOCA fleet, the class which is strong due to the Vendée Globe and other major Atlantic events, which is completing the full lap of the planet.

So why has The Whitbread Round the World Race / Volvo Ocean Race / The Ocean Race been on a downward trajectory for 20 years when the Vendée Globe has been on the rise in terms of competitors, finishers, and coverage? Offshore racing itself is more popular than ever, with events like the RORC Transatlantic Race attracting bumper entries, and the biennial Rolex Fastnet Race filling its entry quota in minutes, so surely the interest is there?

Is it the size of boat which is off-putting? A look at the maxis and super maxis taking part in the glitzy Mediterranean and Caribbean inshore events, with their fully professional crews decked out immaculately in matching uniforms, shows that big boat sailing is flourishing, so I don't believe this is the reason. Yes, these events generally last a week rather than the six months of The Ocean Race, but these yachts end up doing a full circuit of events.

So much of offshore racing is about adventure and triumph through adversity. The original Whitbread Round the World Races were amateur affairs and the boat names were just that, not a corporation. In my opinion, the transition to professional offshore sailing worked better for the singlehanded events than the fully-crewed events as you could still identify with a single adventurer, rather than a group of sailors representing a brand.

Of course, all the IMOCA yachts in the Vendée Globe are sponsored to the hilt, with brands which are household names, particularly in France, but there is still the lone adventurer aboard; the likes of Michel Desjoyeaux, Vincent Riou, François Gabart and Armel Le Cléac'h are the faces which represent their sponsors and are so well-known that they adorn billboards and command pictures on both the front and back pages of the major French newspapers.

The Vendée Globe has managed to jump the hurdle of fully professional campaigns while retaining its original identity, whereas The Ocean Race doesn't evoke the same sense of adventure as the original Whitbread Round the World Race.

So, is fully-crewed round the world racing a thing of the past? Maybe not, as the man behind the Golden Globe Race revival, Don McIntyre, has started the Ocean Globe Race, which has attracted several Whitbread veterans and is billed as an 'eight-month adventure around the world for ordinary sailors on normal yachts' and is set to start on Sunday 10th September 2023. So far, the race has attracted over twenty entries as Don explains:

"The Ocean Globe Race has a vast array of yachts from 46 to 73 feet. The boats compete in three distinct classes, Adventure, Sayula, and Flyer, both for line honours and in corrected time under the IRC rating. The original 1973 Whitbread ran under the old IOR handicapping system and while overall line honours and class winners are of note, for sailors following the adventure, most will be watching the IRC overall handicap leader board on the tracker."

This is unashamedly going back to the roots of the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973. Adventurous sailors putting together fun campaigns to go on the voyage of a lifetime.

So maybe the face of offshore racing hasn't changed much at all? Maybe it just got a little side-tracked along the way, and just like the race itself, is going full circle. The face of offshore racing often has a fair few lines from the harsh weather, but a big smile as the spirit and enjoyment of the adventure comes back to the fore.

Mark Jardine
Sail-World.com and YachtsandYachting.com Managing Editor

Related Articles

The power of tech
What is the cost of safety? How do you measure it? More importantly, how do you appreciate it? What is the cost of safety? How do you measure it? More importantly, how do you appreciate it? Posted on 2 Jul
Some thoughts on provisioning for distance sailing
A new perspective on provisioning and time spent at sea One of the great joys of distance racing unfurls the moment that the dock lines are untied. Suddenly, the myriad packing lists that inevitably define most trip-planning efforts become about as relevant as a tax return from eight years ago. Posted on 1 Jul
Bill Guilfoyle on the 2025 Transpacific Yacht Race
Bill Guilfoyle discusses the 2025 Transpacific Yacht Race When it comes to offshore sailing in the United States, the biennial Transpacific Yacht Race reigns supreme for its distance and promise of off-the-breeze sailing angles. Posted on 1 Jul
Jazz Turner completes Project FEAR
Drama right to the end in her non-stop, solo, unassisted navigation of the British Isles Jazz Turner has completed Project FEAR, her non-stop, solo, unassisted navigation of the British Isles in her Albin 27 yacht. A flotilla of supporters met her in Seaford Bay, which grew and grew the closer they came to Brighton Marina. Posted on 1 Jul
One thing. One big, very fast boat
One thing that opened the door, another made us enquire some more - 50 knots! Yes. It was one thing that opened the door, as it were. One thing that piqued the curiosity enough to go, ‘I'll take a look at that!' One thing that when you're trying to crack in excess of 50 knots... Posted on 30 Jun
A brief history of marine instrument networks
Hugh Agnew has been involved since the outset, and continues to develop at the cutting edge One man who has been involved since the outset, and continues to develop at the cutting edge, is Hugh Agnew, the Cambridge-educated mathematician who is one of the founders of A+T Instruments in Lymington, so I spoke to him to find out more... Posted on 25 Jun
Harald Findlay on the 2025 Edgartown Race Weekend
A Q&A with Harald Findlay on the 2025 Edgartown Race Weekend When it comes to racing sailboats on the East Coast of the United States in the summer months, few places are as classic as the waters surrounding Martha's Vineyard's northwestern flank. Posted on 18 Jun
Sailing and the summer solstice
Celebrating sailing and the longest day of the year If you love long evenings and early mornings, this is one of the best times of the whole year, as the summer solstice (Friday, June 20) and the entire rich expanse of summer are about to burst into bloom. Posted on 17 Jun
Video Review: The Amazing Cure 55
Composite Construction meets Cruising Convenience It was two years ago at the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show that I talked to Dave Biggar about his ideas and plans for the Cure 55. At the 2025 show I got to step on board the yacht and see how his ideas became reality. Posted on 17 Jun
The Big Bash
Every summer the tournament rolls into town. A short format of the game. Fun and excitement abound. Every summer the tournament rolls into town. Local and international players. A short format of the game, run over a relatively compact six-week season. Posted on 15 Jun
Maritimo M50Allen Dynamic 40 FooterBarton Marine Pipe Glands