Online Sailracing!

In previous years we have raced circumnavigational series around Australia regularly and North America a few times, and across the many seas of Asia also, but Africa has been less explored. So, this year we will explore ‘Africa by Sea’, finishing with a transit of the Suez Canal, but, as there will be two discards, it can be ‘chickened out of’.

It is arguable that our long-standing Sprint Series, featuring short races of just a few hours, does not give enough ‘bang for our high-resolution bucks’ from our unique wrfems weather, so this year, additionally to the Sprints, we will race a hires series of races of 24 hours duration - the ‘Red Eye’ - which to win may require a certain amount of sleep management.

In 2016 we introduced our version of the DN ice yacht to an unsuspecting online sailing public. On good ice and in good wind it skates at up to 50 knots, tacking and gybing at will without performance loss. Racers loved it, so much so, that every northern hemisphere winter since we have organized a four-race series. In 2025 we will again host an Ice Series, but straddling the entire year, which means trips to the southern Andes and the Himalayas will be required.

Apart and entirely different to the DN, we have one other highly unusual craft in our boathouse. Although it floats in a fluid, it is not a boat either, but a balloon buoyed by the air, and this year, in response to public demand, we will race our SOL Balloon in a proper series. ‘Sinbad by Balloon’ will, like his seven online voyages of three years ago, take you to the four corners of the Indian Ocean.

In recent years, and in years gone by as well, within our Ocean Championships, we have also raced a Round the World (RTW) series, and we will do so again in 2025, but this year it will be a RWW 'Round Our Water World' eight-race series, in other words races that, again responding to demand, will avoid land as much as possible, by going from lonely island to lonely island à la Kevin Costner in the eponymous epic movie, in a mixed bag of ocean greyhounds.

     

The other four ocean races will be: 1/ a race from Cape Horn to Sables d'Olonne in a tuned-up foiling IMOCA 60, which hopefully will be able to match this year's Vendee fleet on their way home up the Atlantic, 2/ a race from Valparaiso to San Francisco inspired by Isabel Allende's terrific read 'Daughter of Fortune' , 3/ a second literature-inspired race from Cape Town to Java (lesser-known 'Mountains More Ancient' by Isna Marifa about the indentured Cape Malays of the 18th C), and of course 4/ our great and festive annual Christmas to Christmas race, back E to W.

There will be one other ocean race, which because of its great length in a comparatively slow yacht, to best match the real-life competitors we will be racing against, will not count towards the Ocean Championships; the Melbourne Osaka Cup .

Finally, as always, we will be partnering with numerous real-life race organizations and many of these partnerships will be in the form of short series. Click on any of the buttons below for further details about any of these.

       

       

Fair winds from SOL to all!

Go to post

Christmas(W) to Christmas(E) Island 2024 - RESULTS

click on results image to see larger

Commentary

This was an extraordinary race for sure. This traditional Christmas race, normally sailed from east to west, this time in reversed direction though, second time in the history of the X2X. 109 parties sat sail on time and an additional 57 joined in later. 134 managed to reach the finish line (time of writing).

Initially there was 3 different strategies, eventually split to 6 main schemes. Some strategy involved going further away (backwards) from the finish line. Some of the top finishers went as far ‘backwards’ as 300 nm, occasionally with a negative VMC of almost 7 kn, being 1600 nm behind the front runners. This all to seek advantage from ‘the roaring forties’, and also obviously with success.

The most extreme strategies north vs south went as far apart as 5700 nm (N41° vs S54°).
The main strategies’ mutual 'podium’: #1-North, #2-South, #3-West, #4-Northwest. Longest route sailed: #1-North, #2-South, #3-Nortwest, #4-West. The Western route being more or less along the rhumbline, and closest to the great circle, of all strategies.
Longest distance sailed, 8945 nm, finishing #109.
Race reports are worth checking out.

Go to post

The Beagle in the Azores 2024 - RESULTS

click on results image to see larger

Commentary

A year has passed and we have sailed the globe, visiting one remote island group after another remoter island group aboard our replica of Fitzroy's and Darwin's HMS Beagle. Reports were written and notes taken, not as copious as Darwin's, naturally, but nevertheless under the button above, as always loosely based on the flag of where we sailed, you can read how this last race in our epic repeat circumnavigation panned out. Our reporter, KaSToR, new to Sailonline, who had proved the fittest around Mauritius, was surprised that covering WRmirekd was not sufficient for a repeat, because...

it was Patrick70119 who sailed the perfect race, which required careful judgment as to when to ease sails and when to stay close-hauled, as no matter what way we turned our Beagles, the wind seemed always to be from ahead. So well done, Patrick70119, but well done WRmirekd of course also, who comfortably took the title 'Survival of the Fittest' overall, and KaSToR, for the report and for showing the promise of a serious challenge for the top of the SYC ladder next year.

Go to post

Two Oceans Doublecross TIMED Race 2024 - RESULTS

click on results image to see larger

Commentary

It was a fun two weeks of sailing the serpentine course around Robben, Seal, and Dassen Islands off of Cape Town in the waters of the Atlantic and Indian oceans. 74 boats completed at least one try with the top finishers making their runs on November 26 completing the circuit in just over 14 hours. Congratulations to SOLer caperko from Switzerland for a first ever podium finish, and also to Lady_X_I for a second podium this time in first place!

Go to post

Go to the archive