Jan 14 : The trade winds have turned the 2026 RORC Transatlantic Race into a high-speed Atlantic charge, producing extraordinary daily runs and setting up a tense race finish in Antigua.
At the head of the fleet, the MOD70 trimarans are putting on a breathtaking exhibition of extreme ocean racing. Argo and Zoulou are routinely tearing along in the high twenties and surging beyond 30 knots as the breeze builds.
On board Argo, helms are rotated every 45 minutes, drivers stepping away with red, stinging eyes after wrestling with the jet-wash of relentless salt spray.
As of Wednesday, Argo held a lead of around 50 nautical miles over Zoulou and lay just over 1,000 miles from the finish. At this relentless pace, the MOD70s are on course for a sub-five-day crossing — a staggering benchmark that underlines how far offshore multihull performance has advanced.
Among the monohulls, Raven continues to assert her authority, leading on the water by nearly 200 nautical miles.
On corrected time, the contest remains finely balanced. Palanad 4 currently leads overall under IRC handicapping, with James Neville’s Carkeek 45 Ino Noir roughly 80 nautical miles astern, separated by only five hours on corrected time.
Maxitude is also in the race. “Last night was rather busy,” said navigator Xavier Bellouard. “The sea became chaotic as the northerly swell fought the north-easterly chop. We beat our speed record at 21.7 knots.”
At the tail of the fleet but very much embodying the spirit of the race, Stimmy — the Finnish Sun Fast 3300 raced two-handed by Ari Huusela and Annika Paasikivi — still has more than 2,300 miles to sail. Huusela reports the boat is in fine shape, morale remains high and, just as importantly, fresh food is still on the menu.
With no major technical issues reported and conditions aligning almost perfectly, the RORC Transatlantic Race is shaping up to be the fastest edition since its launch in 2014, with the first finishers expected in Antigua from Friday, January 16.
The race is a biennial offshore sailing event organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club, sending a mixed fleet of professional and amateur crews west across the Atlantic Ocean from Lanzarote in Spain’s Canary Islands to Antigua. The race covers some 3,000 nautical miles and is sailed under a range of handicap and class rules, allowing radically different yachts — from high-performance multihulls to powerful offshore monohulls — to compete on the same course.
The event attracts a diverse international field that includes fully crewed racing yachts, double-handed teams and some of the most advanced ocean-racing designs in the sport.
Competitors range from elite professionals — including Olympic sailors, America’s Cup veterans and round-the-world racers — to experienced Corinthian crews taking on one of offshore sailing’s classic passages, with victory decided both by elapsed time and by corrected time under handicap rules.
(Editing by Toby Davis)
