Thoughts on double handing

The growth of doublehanded sailing has been a positive in the sport, but the introduction of this category in fully-crewed events has detractors. Now that overall honors for the 2025 Sydney Hobart Race was won by a two-up team, and seven of the top ten came from this category, the questions remain. Frederic Berg offers this view:

Rather than open a can of worms with the inclusion of double handed in offshore races such as the vaunted Sydney to Hobart, perhaps we should open a dialogue on the one area DHers have a significant unmeasured advantage over fully crewed yacht’s – the autopilot.

It’s tireless, emotionless, not subject to onboard politics and arguably, with modern computational resources and data inputs, steers better than humans. While having an auto pilot may be considered a safety requirement for DHers, should it, say… only be allowed for maneuvers and emergencies?

I love double handing. My boat partner and I DHed the 2018 Pacific Cup from San Francico to Hawaii on board an Antrim 27 and did well. We chose to race without an autopilot, and in fact, I have never used an autopilot in any DH event.

Some might say I’m less qualified than others to comment, unless, of course others haven’t raced 2,200 miles autopilotless, which is why there should be a dialogue. My point is DH racing can be done without an autopilot and from my experience it’s much more rewarding. Your mileage may vary, but I take the position that we should not allow DHers the significant unmeasured advantage of an autopilot.