Yacht racing is a sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course marked by buoys or other fixed navigational devices or racing longer distances across open water from point-to-point. It can involve a series of races with buoy racing or multiple legs when point-to-point racing.
Gipsy Moth IV is a 53 ft (16 m) ketch that Sir Francis Chichester commissioned specifically to sail single-handed around the globe, racing against the times set by the clipper ships of the 19th century.
Sir William Robert Patrick Knox-Johnston is a British sailor. In 1969, he became the first person to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe. Along with Sir Peter Blake, he won in 1994 the second Jules Verne Trophy, for which they were also given the ISAF World Sailor of the Year Awards. In 2007, at the age of 67, he set a record as the oldest yachtsman to complete a round the world solo voyage in the Velux 5 Oceans Race.
The Velux 5 Oceans Race was a round-the-world single-handed yacht race, sailed in stages, managed by Clipper Ventures since 2000. Its most recent name comes from its main sponsor Velux. Originally known as the BOC Challenge, for the title sponsor BOC, the first edition was in 1982. In the late 1990s the race was renamed the Around Alone. The 2010-11 race was the last to take place and attracted just five entries. The event has not been held since.
The clipper route was derived from the Brouwer Route and was sailed by clipper ships between Europe and the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. The route, devised by the Dutch navigator Hendrik Brouwer in 1611, reduced the time of a voyage between The Netherlands and Java, in the Dutch East Indies, from almost 12 months to about six months, compared to the previous Arab and Portuguese monsoon route.
The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is a biennial sailing race that takes paying amateur crews on one or more legs of a circumnavigation of the globe in 11 specially-designed identical yachts owned by Clipper Ventures. Professional skippers and additional qualified persons (AQPs) lead each teams on the 10-month journey. All participants must complete a four-week training course before starting the race. The race was conceived in 1995 by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and is run by Clipper Ventures plc. The race has been held every two years since 1996, although in 2004 there was not a race and biennial racing resumed in 2005.
New Zealand "Kiwi Magic" was the America's Cup challenge boat sailed by Chris Dickson in the Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger series held in Gage Roads off Fremantle, Australia during the summer months of 1986 through 1987. She was New Zealand's first America's Cup entry and was the premier boat in the New Zealand Challenge syndicate.
Alex Thomson is a British yachtsman.
The 2008–09 Volvo Ocean Race was a yacht race held between 4 October 2008 and 27 June 2009, the tenth edition of the round the world Volvo Ocean Race.
The 2001–02 Volvo Ocean Race was the eighth edition of the around-the-world sailing event Volvo Ocean Race, and the first under the name Volvo Ocean Race. For the 2001–02 the sponsorship of the race was taken over by Volvo and Volvo Cars. The race was renamed the Volvo Ocean Race. Stopovers were added in Germany, France, and Sweden being the Volvo's three biggest car markets in Europe. In addition the points system had been modified significantly in an effort to keep the race competitive until the final leg. The previous "points" race having been effectively won two full legs before the final gun.
The first around the world sailing record for circumnavigation of the world can be attributed to the surviving crew of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, including the last captain Juan Sebastián Elcano who completed their journey in 1522.
The 2011–12 Volvo Ocean Race was the 11th edition of the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race, yacht race which started with an in-port race in Alicante, Spain on 29 October 2011 with six Volvo Open 70 yachts at the start line and ended with an in-port race in Galway, Ireland on 7 July 2012. The 39,270 NM route involved stopovers and in-port races in Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, Itajaí, Miami, Lisbon, Lorient, and finally Galway. The race consisted of nine ocean races and ten in-port races.
The Parmelia Race, Plymouth to Perth, 1979 was a feature event of the Western Australian 150th Anniversary Celebrations, 1979. Competitors were invited to recreate the 1829 voyage of the merchant barque Parmelia bringing the first British settlers to the Swan River Colony. The race was organised by the Royal Perth Yacht Club of Western Australia and sponsored by the Parmelia Hilton International in Perth.
The sport of sailing involves a variety of competitive sailing formats that are sanctioned through various sailing federations and yacht clubs. Racing disciplines include matches within a fleet of sailing craft, between a pair thereof or among teams. Additionally, there are specialized competitions that include setting speed records. Racing formats include both closed courses and point-to-point contests; they may be in sheltered waters, coast-wise or on the open ocean. Most competitions are held within defined classes or ratings that either entail one type of sailing craft to ensure a contest primarily of skill or rating the sailing craft to create classifications or handicaps.
The Swan 65 is a large fibreglass fin+keeled masthead ketch- or sloop-rigged sailing yacht design, manufactured by Nautor's Swan. It was introduced as the new flagship of Nautor in 1973. At the time of its launch it was the largest glass reinforced plastic (GRP) constructed yacht in the market and because of its excellent racing history, one of the most famous Swan models ever built. The first 65-footers were delivered to owners in 1973, and the production continued until 1989 with 41 hulls built in total.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to sailing:
Wendy Tuck is a yachtswoman and previous chief instructor and principal at the Clipper Race training base in Sydney, Australia. She was the first female skipper to win a round-the-world yacht race.
Joe English was an Irish yachtsman, professional sailor and sailmaker. He competed at multiple world championship-level sailing events, including America's Cup, the Whitbread Round The World Race and Admiral's Cup race series. In 1989, English skippered Ireland's first entry to take part in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race.
Lisa Blair is an Australian solo sailor who holds multiple world records. She is also an advocate for action against climate change, which she promotes through her Climate Action Now project. She has written a book, Facing Fear, about her first attempt at circumnavigating Antarctica solo on her yacht Climate Action Now.
The Ocean Globe Race (OGR) 2023 is the 50th-anniversary celebration of the original Whitbread Round the World Race (WRTWR), the first fully crewed round-the-world race in 1973. It was founded by Australian adventurer and circumnavigator, Don McIntyre. It features yachts similar to those used at that time. Except for safety equipment, no modern technology is allowed. The Ocean Globe Race (OGR) set sail with 14 teams on September 10, 2023, from Ocean Village in Southampton (UK), to circumnavigate the globe with 3 stopovers: Cape Town, Auckland, and rounding Cape Horn, Punta del Este (Uruguay), before returning to Cowes in April 2024.
