“I think it will be a very, very closely fought final, that’s my expectation,” Ben Ainslie said speaking to Yachting World just days before Prada Cup Final between his British America’s…
Helen Fretter
Editor
Pip Hare is first British skipper in Vendée Globe
Pip Hare crossed the finish line of the Vendée Globe at 0057 this morning to become the first British skipper to finish the 2020/21 race. When the gun went, she…
Vendée Globe rescue: Kevin Escoffier on his sinking and recovery
“I AM SINKING. THIS IS NOT A JOKE. MAYDAY” At 1345 (UTC) on Monday 30 November, on a grey and lumpy South Atlantic some 840 miles south-west of Cape Town,…
Vendée Globe winner: Yannick Bestaven wins after redress
In not only the closest, but also the most complex finish in the Vendée Globe‘s 32-year history, Yannick Bestaven has been declared the 2020/21 Vendée Globe winner. Bestaven was 3rd…
Vendée Globe finish: Epic conclusion to round the world race – updated
There is no such thing as an ‘easy’ Vendée Globe. It is, rightly, considered to be one of the very toughest sporting challenges in the world, and the 2020/2021 edition…
Karma: The Maxi Dolphin 75 cruiser with Mini-Maxi looks
Translated literally, karma does not mean fate, as it is commonly misused, but action. It’s the actions you have taken in the past, take now, and will take in the…
Aiming for the impossible: The inside story of the 2020 Jules Verne contenders
Forty days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds: that is the time that is embedded in the psyche of crews currently challenging for the Jules Verne trophy. The clock…
Vendée Globe rescue: Le Cam plucks Escoffier from liferaft after ‘shipwreck’ sinking mid-Atlantic
Escoffier was adrift in his liferaft for over 11 hours, some 840 miles south of Cape Town, at night in 25-knot winds and 3 metre seas, when Le Cam –…
How to follow the 2020 Vendée Globe
A record fleet of 33 skippers started the Vendée Globe on Sunday, 8 November at 1302 local time (1202 GMT) and three of them have already seen their race ended…
‘Broken’ Alex Thomson retires from 2020 Vendée Globe after rudder damage
The enormously popular skipper has announced that he is retiring from the Vendée Globe, and is currently heading to Cape Town. Speaking from Hugo Boss today, a clearly emotional Thomson…
Jules Verne Trophy: Head-to-head foiling battle begins for round the world record
The time to beat is 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds, set in 2017 by Jules Verne Trophy holder Francis Joyon on Idec Sport. First to announce…
Vendée Globe 2020 start: Record fleet sets off from Les Sables d’Olonne
After the strangest of departure days, the Vendée Globe fleet set off this afternoon at 1420 local time. To start a round the world race is always an enormous relief,…
Vendée Globe 2020 preview: Next generation foilers will sail on the limit
The world of single-handed offshore racing is a uniquely rarefied one. It’s an oft-quoted statistic that more people have been into space than sailed around the planet non-stop, but solo…
How two architects refitted a cheap old lifeboat into this Arctic liveaboard cruiser
Stødig is the brainchild of friends Guylee Simmonds and David Schnabel, both 28. Looking at the beautiful spaces they have created in this unassuming 35ft tub, it comes as no…
INEOS Team UK grinder David Carr explains what it’s really like to sail an AC75
“When you push off the dock, your life is in the hands of computers – and the guy piloting the boat out of the water, of course. All the systems…
Champagne Hippy: From sunken wreck to luxury charter yacht in 13 months
Champagne Hippy was never expected to sail again. When the keel ripped off the 82ft Polina Star III in July 2015 it sent shockwaves through the marine industry, and left…
The Yachting World hall of fame: 50 yachts that changed the way we sail
1. Mariquita Built: 1911 Design: William Fife III Mariquita is a living link between the ‘Big Class’ behemoths, such as Britannia, the J Class and all that went after, including…
Flyer: The inside story of this Whitbread winner’s amazing restoration
Flyer is one of those yachts that needs little introduction. Designed for the 1977 Whitbread Race by Sparkman & Stephens for Dutch skipper Conny Van Rietschoten, the 68ft aluminium ketch…
Battle of the giants: The inside story of the Brest Atlantiques Race
On Tuesday 5 November four giant trimarans – Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, Macif, Sodebo and Actual Leader, and their double-handed crews – left a grey and sodden Brest on Brittany’s…
Ester: The classic Swedish racing yacht that came back from the dead
The phrase ‘ahead of its time’ is over-used, but in the case of Ester, a remarkable 50ft racing yacht built in 1901, it couldn’t be more apt. For a yacht…