Offshore Doubles push for Olympic event

Published on October 25th, 2020

Since its launch on October 11, Offshore Doubles now has over 1000 members from 56 countries as the organization seeks to strengthen the community of double handed sailing while advocating for the Mixed Two Person Keelboat Offshore event to be confirmed for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Six continents are now represented with female membership at 13 percentage, with Andrew Pindar and Rich Du Moulin joining the established Board.

Andrew Pindar OBE DL, has been sponsor of many high-profile winning teams in both inshore and offshore sailing, many women’s teams and singlehanded sailors. In 2019, Andrew initiated and commissioned through World Sailing Trust, a report on girls and Women in Sailing resulting in a blueprint for gender equity throughout the sport.

“I was intrigued by the concept of Offshore Mixed Doubles in both the Olympics and at the local level as pathways for women to build a wide range of skills in sailing, pathways that have traditionally been more accessible to men,” explained Pindar. “I believe Offshore Doubles Sailing Association is already helping to build a community in this fast growing segment of our sport.”

Rich Du Moulin has an impressive sailing resume, including five America’s Cup campaigns and 25 Bermuda Races (7 double handed). He has been Commodore of the Storm Trysail Club, US Rear Commodore of RORC, and has been double handed sailing offshore actively since 2002.

“Sailing double handed offshore is exhilarating,” notes Du Moulin. “You have the feeling of sailing alone but have the help when you need it. With COVID-19, it was the only way to sail and we were able to do 7 Double handed races this year. With Stan and Sally Honey, we developed and are popularizing a new Man Overboard (MOB) retrieval methodology which we believe will be particularly important for double-handers.”

Offshore Doubles is for everyone interested in double-handing offshore from couples and friends doing weekend races to Olympic athletes and serious programs globally.

As the 2020 World Sailing meetings will determine if the Mixed Two Person Keelboat Offshore event will continue to be on the slate for Paris 2024, the organization is eager to grow membership to show the Olympic committee that Doubles has broad global support.

Membership is free at https://offshoredoubles.org