Oceanic yacht racing is one of the most dangerous sports in the world. [1] It was particularly dangerous in the early days when oceanic racing was more like early mountain climbing in terms of sense of adventure and achievement. Modern safety and communication equipment has improved safety however like any sport in natural environment risk is always present. In many races, participants have changed from explorer to professional athlete.
Race Name | Date | Name | Place | Boat | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Whitbread / Volvo Ocean Race | 1973 | Paul Waterhouse, Dominique Guillet and Bernie Hosking | Southern Ocean | Tauranga, 33 Export, Great Britain II (respectively) | Each swept overboard (Hosking twice) [2] [3] |
Whitbread / Volvo Ocean Race | 1989 | Tony Phillips | Southern Ocean | Creighton Naturally | Swept overboard and recovered too late |
Volvo Ocean Race | 18 May 2006 | Hans Horrevoets (NED) | Off Land's End | ABN Amro Volvo 70 | Washed overboard and recovered |
Clipper Round the World Yacht Race | 5 Sep 2015 | Andrew Ashman (GBR) [4] | IchorCoal / Clipper 70 | Head Injury Boom/Mainsheet | |
Clipper Round the World Yacht Race | 1 April 2016 | Sarah Young (GBR) [5] | IchorCoal / Clipper 70 | Swept overboard | |
Clipper Round the World Yacht Race | 18 Nov 2017 | Simon Speirs (GBR) [6] | Great Britain / Clipper 70 | Swept overboard | |
Volvo Ocean Race | 26 Mar 2018 | John Fisher (GBR) [7] | Southern Ocean | Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag Volvo Ocean 65 | Swept overboard |
Race Name | Date | Name | Place | Boat | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
BOC Challenge | 1986 | Jacques de Roux (FRA) | Southern Ocean | Skoiern IV | |
Vendée Globe | 1992 | Nigel Burgess (GBR) | Atlantic Ocean | Nigel Burgess Yachts | |
Vendée Globe | 1992 | Mike Plant (USA) | Atlantic Ocean | Coyote | Lost at sea prior to departure |
Vendée Globe | 1997 | Gerry Roufs (CAN) | Southern Ocean | Groupe LG 2 | |
Race Name | Host Club | Date | Name | Place | Boat | Description | Ref. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1976 OSTAR | Royal Western Yacht Club | Mike Flanagan (USA) | GALLOPING GAEL | 38 ft Monohull Sailor and Boat Lost at Sea | [8] | |||
1976 OSTAR | Royal Western Yacht Club | Mike McMullen | Three Cheers | |||||
1978 Route du Rhum | 16 November 1978, | Alain Colas | Azores | Manureva | Unknown | |||
1979 Fastnet race | Royal Ocean Racing Club | 15 Sailors | ||||||
1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race | Cruising Yacht Club of Australia | 27 December 1998 | Phillip Charles Skeggs Bruce Raymond Guy | Business Post Naiad | drowned heart attack | |||
28 December 1998 | John Dean, James Lawler and Michael Bannister | Winston Churchill | all drowned | |||||
28 December 1998 | Glyn Charles (GBR) | Sword of Orion | ||||||
Doublehanded Farallones Race | 27 March 1999 | Harvey Shlasky (USA), 51, of Berkeley, California | White Lightning, J/29 | , [9] [10] | ||||
Transat Jacques Vabre | 21 October 1999 | Paul Vatine (FRA), 42, Le Harve | ORMA 60 | Boat Capsized Paul was ondeck and lost other crew member was below deck | [11] | |||
Doublehanded Lightship Race | Island Yacht Club of Alameda | 16 March 2008 | Matthew Gale (USA), 68, Mill Valley, California Anthony Harrow (USA), 72, Larkspur, California | Daisy, Cheoy Lee Offshore 31 | [12] | |||
Cowes-Cherbourg Race | Royal Ocean Racing Club | June 2011 | Chris Reddish (GBR), 46 | Lion, Reflex 38 | [13] | |||
Chicago-Mackinac Race | Chicago Yacht Club | July 2011 | Mark Morley (USA), 51 Suzanne Bickel (USA), 410 | Wingnuts, Kiwi 35 | head injuries and drowning during capsize [14] | |||
Farallones Race | San Francisco Yacht Club | 14 April 2012 | Alexis Busch (USA) of Larkspur Jordan Fromm (USA) of Kentfield Alan Cahill (USA) of Tiburon Elmer Morrissey (IRL) Marc Kasanin (USA) | Low Speed Chase, Sydney 38 | [15] [16] | |||
Calif. to Ensenada, Mexico yacht race. | 28 April 2012 | Kevin Eric Rudolph (USA), 53, of Manhattan Beach, Calif., William Reed Johnson Jr. (USA), 57, of Torrance, Calif., | Aegean, Hunter 376 | [17] [18] | ||||
Islands Race | Newport Harbor and San Diego Yacht Club | 9 March 2013 | Craig Thomas Williams (USA), 36, California | Uncontrollable Urge, Columbia 32 Carbon | [19] [20] | |||
Chicago-Mackinac Race | Chicago Yacht Club | July 2018 | Jon Santarelli (USA), 53 | Imedi, TP52 | overboard resulting from wave strike | [21] |
Race Name | Host Club | Date | Name | Place | Boat | Description | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Big Boat Series | St. Francis Yacht Club | 18 September 1994 | Larry Klein (USA), 42, San Diego | San Francisco | Twin Flyer, 38 foot sloop | [22] | |
2007 | Bruce Goldsmith (USA), 71 | J/29 | Boom head injury | ||||
America's Cup Testing | Golden Gate Yacht Club | 9 May 2013 | Andrew Simpson (GBR) | San Francisco | Artemis Racing, AC72, Boat 1 | Entrapped after the boat broke apart and capsized. | |
Antigua Superyacht | 8 March 2022 | Sam Richmond (GBR), 38 | 102 ft S/Y Farfalla | Training Incident with rigging failure causing a head Injury | [23] [24] | ||
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.
The Ocean Race is a yacht race around the world, held every three or four years since 1973. Originally named the Whitbread Round the World Race after its initiating sponsor, British brewing company Whitbread, in 2001 it became the Volvo Ocean Race after Swedish automobile manufacturer Volvo took up the sponsorship, and in 2019 it was renamed The Ocean Race.
The Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac is a 333-mile annual yacht race starting in Lake Michigan off Chicago, Illinois, and ending in Lake Huron off Mackinac Island, Michigan. It is hosted and managed by the Chicago Yacht Club. The "Mac" was first run in 1898 and is the oldest annual freshwater distance race in the world. The race hosts several hundred competitors each year and over 3,000 sailors.
The sport and practice of single-handed sailing or solo sailing is sailing with only one crewmember. The term usually refers to ocean and long-distance sailing and is used in competitive sailing and among cruisers.
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.
The Volvo Open 70 is the former class of racing yachts designed for the Volvo Ocean Race. It was first used in the 2005–06 race.
A boat is said to be turtling or to turn turtle when it is fully inverted. The name stems from the appearance of the upside-down boat, similar to the carapace of a sea turtle. The term can be applied to any vessel; turning turtle is less frequent but more dangerous on ships than on smaller boats. It is rarer but more hazardous for multihulls than for monohulls, because multihulls are harder to flip in both directions. Measures can be taken to prevent a capsize from becoming a turtle.
Torben Schmidt Grael is one of the most well known Brazilian sailors, renowned in international competitions. A descendant of Danes, he was taken sailing by his grandfather at the age of five years on the sailboat Aileen, of the 6 Metre class, which was the boat used by the silver medal-winning 1912 Summer Olympics Danish sailing team. Once he moved to Niterói, he started sailing with his brother, Lars Grael, also an Olympic medal winner, on the Bay of Guanabara. Another brother, Axel Grael, is the current mayor of Niterói. He is father of Olympic champion Martine Grael and sailor Marco Grael.
A sailing yacht, is a leisure craft that uses sails as its primary means of propulsion. A yacht may be a sail or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, so the term applies here to sailing vessels that have a cabin with amenities that accommodate overnight use. To be termed a "yacht", as opposed to a "boat", such a vessel is likely to be at least 33 feet (10 m) in length and have been judged to have good aesthetic qualities. Sailboats that do not accommodate overnight use or are smaller than 30 feet (9.1 m) are not universally called yachts. Sailing yachts in excess of 130 feet (40 m) are generally considered to be superyachts.
The United States Sailing Association is the national governing body for sailing in the United States. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Bristol, Rhode Island, US Sailing is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. US Sailing offers training and education programs for instructors and race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including National Championships and the US Sailing Team.
The 1993 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, sponsored by Kodak, was the 49th annual running of the Australian "blue water classic" Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. It was hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia based in Sydney.
The 2005–06 Volvo Ocean Race was held between 5 November 2005 and 17 June 2006. Seven boats took part in the race and made ten stops in nine countries.
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 Volvo Ocean 65 is a class of monohull racing yachts. It is the successor to the Volvo Open 70 yacht used in past editions of the Volvo Ocean Race. It was announced at a conference in Lorient, France, during a stopover in the 2011–12 Volvo Ocean Race. The yacht was used for the 2014–2015, the 2017–2018 and the 2023 editions. The 2014–2015 Volvo Ocean Race was the first one-design event.
Horacio Carabelli is an international sailor and engineer.
The 2014–15 Volvo Ocean Race was the 12th edition of the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race. It started on 19 October 2014 in Alicante, Spain, and concluded in June 2015 in Gothenburg, Sweden. After 38,739 nautical miles of ocean racing, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing led by skipper Ian Walker claimed the overall trophy.
The 2017–18 Volvo Ocean Race was the 13th edition of the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race. It started in Alicante, Spain, and concluded in The Hague, Netherlands. GAC Pindar provides logistic support for the race. At the stopovers, teams had premium bases for better fan interaction.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to sailing:
Juan Vila is a Spanish sailor who has competed in multiple America's Cups and Whitbread Round the World Races.
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.