Organised by Lorient Grand Large in association with FFVoile, the Yacht Club De France and the Royal Ocean Racing Club with the support of Cap-Regatta and Multiplast/Jeanneau.
Less than three days before the start of the Offshore Double Handed World Championship (ODHWC), teams from all over the world have gathered in Lorient, France. Mixed teams of two sailors from 16 nations will race offshore in One Design Sun Fast 30s. The race area starting from Lorient covers the rugged Atlantic Coast, capable of producing spicy conditions at the best of times. Racing in One Design Sun Fast 30s, the course area will be as far west as the Isles of Scilly, and to the east, the western approaches of The English Channel.
With teams assigned by World Sailing, two elimination races will decide the ten teams to make the World Championship Final. The first overnight elimination race is scheduled for Wednesday, 25 September, the second elimination will follow on Thursday 26 September. The top five boats of each elimination race will qualify for the Final Race, scheduled to start on Sunday 29 September.
Département du Morbihan Race - Elimination Race One - Start: Lorient 1600 CET Wednesday 25 September.
Elimination Race One, the Département du Morbihan Race has a full-on weather forecast of gusty, strong westerly or south-westerly wind. The race of about 12 hours will have 11 starters from Belgium, Canada, France, Great Britain, Greece, India, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Uruguay, and the United States.
France 2 - Charlotte Yven & Loïs Berrehar
France 2 can be considered among the favourites for the World Championship. Charlotte Yven & Loïs Berrehar are both members of the MACIF Skipper Programme, following in the footsteps of François Gabart, Charlie Dalin and Yoann Richomme. This year, In her second Solitaire du Figaro, Charlotte came fifth and is ranked 7th in the French Elite Offshore Racing Championship. Loïs Berrehar has been a MACIF Skipper since 2022, racing in six Figaros, Loïs was second this year and third in 2023. Loïs is ranked 3rd in the French Elite Offshore Racing Championship.
Belgium 2 - Djemila Tassin & Jonas Gerckens
Racing in the Sun Fast 30 OD, Djemila Tassin & Jonas Gerckens were in fine form for this year’s Dhream Cup coming third in a windy race. Djemila and Jonas have plans to race around the world in 2025 with an entry in the Globe40 Race.
Great Britain 1 - Maggie Adamson & Cal Finlayson
Scottish pair Maggie Adamson & Cal Finlayson are normally rivals in different two-handed teams. Maggie has raced thousands of miles with Gavin Howe’s Sun Fast 3600 Tigris, winning the doublehanded class in the 2024 RORC Transatlantic Race. Cal Finlayson races on a rival Sun Fast 3600 Diablo owned by Nick Martin, which was third out of 400 boats for the 2024 RORC Season’s Points Championship. Maggie and Cal have raced together before, coming third in the 2023 Nastro Rosa Tour.
New Zealand 2 - Aaron Hume-Merry & Anna Merchant
Aaron Hume-Merry & Anna Merchant have amassed over 6000 miles racing together two-handed over the last six years. Aaron represented New Zealand in the ILCA 7 and was included in Yachting New Zealand’s programme campaigning for the Olympics in the 49er class. Anna is a product of the highly regarded RNZYS youth training programme, she competed in her first offshore event at 17 and has podiumed at two World Match Racing Championships.
Uruguay - Federico Waksman & Justina Pacheco
Federico has been travelling the world working on sailing yachts for a number of years before deciding to campaign a Mini Transat 6.50. Winning the 2023 Mini Transat, Frederico became first South American to do so and has now set his sights on the Solitaire du Figaro. Justina Pacheco won national titles as a youth in Uruguay.
India - Sweta Shervegar & Atool Sinha
Atool is from Mumbai and has competed at the top level in match racing in India and the Far East. Sweta has competed at top level in the 470 and 49er FX Classes including runner up in 2018 Asian Games in the 49er. Atool is Captain in the Indian Armed Forces.
Japan - Yoshihiko Murase & Naho Takahara
Murase competed in the 1991 and 1995 Melbourne to Osaka two-handed race and contested six consecutive Transpacific Yacht Races, as well as three Sydney Hobarts as skipper of his 54ft racing yacht. Naho Takahara is a new Mini Transat sailor and aims to become the first Japanese woman, and the youngest Japanese person, to complete the solo transatlantic crossing.
Canada - Sarah Nicholson & Ben Daniel
Ben and Sarah are a new double-handed team but have thousands of offshore miles between them. Ben Daniel is a 27 year old sailor from British Columbia and has been racing offshore since he was 15. Sarah Nicholson is a 25 year old New Brunswick sailor with a passion for offshore racing. Alongside her current engineering role at North Technology Group, Sarah has been racing many offshore miles in recent years including skipper for the Newport to Bermuda Race.
Netherlands 2 - Tim Lemeer & Lisa Vos
The Dutch team have ties with the Magenta Project, an award-winning global charity, created to build a sustainable network and programme for more equity and inclusion for women in sailing. Tim is on the Board of the Magenta Project and former Rear Commodore of Scheveningen YC. Lisa Vos is a Magenta Mentee who was part of The Ocean Race. In 2023, Lisa became a sailor and logistics manager for VO65 Team Jajo.
Greece - Gerasimos Petratos & Evi Delidou
From Greece sail Gerasimos Petratos & Evi Delidou race their Dehler 30 Aether doublehanded which is a similar hi-tech design to the Sun Fast 30, the pair won the Doublehanded class at this year’s Aegean 600.
USA1 - Barbara Karpinski & Kevin Morgan
Barbara Karpinski has completed in just about all the major offshore races in the western hemisphere and has been a key figure in promoting the offshore double handed discipline since the movement began in the United States.
Keep up to date with all the action in the Offshore Double Handed World Championship with LIVE TRACKING For more information visit: www.lorientgrandlarge.org
Image: Charlotte Yven and Loïs Berrehar © Skipper-Macif