Offshore racing is now two sports

Offshore coach Stuart Greenfield is concerned about the direction of offshore racing as fully-crewed teams are losing out to doublehanded entries. This is great for the growth of shorthanded sailing. Not so good for the growth of sailing. Here’s an excerpt from his commentary from the UK:

The Jazz Trophy, awarded to the overall winner of the RORC Season’s Points Championship, is the world’s largest offshore racing series. From 2016 to 2021, every winner was fully crewed. Since then, no fully crewed boat has won it.

The milestones stack up across the decade. Alexis and Pascal Loison became the first two-handed overall winners of the Fastnet in 2013. Jangada became the first two-handed overall winner of the RORC Transatlantic Race in 2020, then won the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race outright in 2022.

In the 2025 centenary Rolex Fastnet Race, two-handed boats filled the entire IRC Overall podium. Jean-Pierre Kelbert and Alexis Loison won on the JPK 1050 Léon by almost two hours. Didier Gaudoux and Erwan Tabarly were second on Lann Ael 3. Tanguy Bouroullec and Achille Nebout were third on the Pogo RC Amarris.

Winning margins over 695 miles are normally counted in minutes. Two hours is not noise. Nor is a four-year run on the season championship. This is a trend, and it is accelerating. – Full report