Game time for Admiral’s Cup 2025

The Admiral’s Cup, considered the unofficial world cup for offshore racing before ending in 2003, returns to UK waters in 2025. Fifteen 2-boat international teams will contend for the championship, competing in two offshore races and three days of inshore racing:

July 19 – Channel Race – 110-160 nm (approx. 24 hours)
July 22-24 – Inshore races
July 26 – Fastnet Race – 695 nm

With the Channel Race scored as double points and not discardable, the opener could make or break a team’s Admiral’s Cup campaign.

First run in 1928 as the ‘Junior Ocean Race’, the Channel Race was created for smaller yachts not entered for the punishing Fastnet Race, with that inaugural edition attracting 12 boats to race from Cowes (UK) to the Cherbourg (France) breakwater and back.

Nearly a century on, the Channel Race remains a fixture in the offshore calendar. Once the traditional opener for the Admiral’s Cup, it proudly reclaims that role in 2025, restoring its status as a proving ground for the international teams.

In 1957, the Channel Race made history as the first scoring race for the newly minted ‘Gold Cup’ which was to become the Admiral’s Cup. Starting from Cowes, the Channel Race course is plotted just before the start, based on weather forecast and conditions.

Details: https://admiralscup.rorc.org/