News · Updated 2026-02-16

Results, Launches and Boat Shows

The race course is the most honest test a yacht ever gets. These entries explain the events that shape design and the shows where new hulls first appear.

§ 01 / Entries

Recent log entries

2026-01-05
Rolex Sydney Hobart
The Boxing Day classic, and why it breaks boats.
2026-01-19
America's Cup
Foiling monohulls and the road to Naples.
2026-02-02
Rolex Fastnet Race
Cowes, the Rock and the Cherbourg finish.
2026-02-16
Boat show calendar
Where to see the year's launches.

Offshore racing crew sitting on the windward rail as spray breaks over the bow in a heavy sea

2026-01-05 · Offshore

What 628 nautical miles to Hobart asks of a boat

The Rolex Sydney Hobart, organised by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, starts on Sydney Harbour on 26 December and runs 628 nautical miles south to Hobart in Tasmania. The course looks straightforward on a chart. In practice it crosses Bass Strait, where a southerly change can flip a downwind sleigh ride into a punishing beat within an hour, then ends with the River Derwent, where the breeze can die to nothing within sight of the finish.

For the 100-foot supermaxis the race is a contest of sail inventory and structural margins. For the smaller boats that often contend for the overall Tattersall Cup on handicap, it is about keeping the crew rested and the boat whole. When we look at retirement lists, the pattern is consistent: rigging, rudders and torn mainsails, not navigation. That is the reason our reviews spend time on chainplates and steering systems.

Spectators gathered along a harbour wall watching racing yachts in the bay on a clear afternoon

2026-01-19 · Inshore

America's Cup: from Barcelona to Naples

The 37th America's Cup was sailed off Barcelona in 2024, where Emirates Team New Zealand defended successfully against INEOS Britannia, the first British challenger to reach the Match in decades. The AC75 foiling monohulls, with cyclors replacing traditional grinders on some boats, have pushed hydrofoil control systems and flight software into the wider sailing world.

The 38th edition has been announced for the Bay of Naples. For cruising owners, the relevance is indirect but real: foil and appendage research, composite techniques and simulation tools developed for the Cup routinely filter into performance cruisers within a few design cycles.

Fleet of racing yachts crossing a start line under full sail with a committee boat in the foreground

2026-02-02 · Offshore

The Fastnet's Cherbourg finish, five years on

The Rolex Fastnet Race, run by the Royal Ocean Racing Club in odd-numbered years, starts from Cowes on the Isle of Wight, rounds the Fastnet Rock off south-west Ireland and, since 2021, finishes in Cherbourg rather than Plymouth. The change lengthened the course to roughly 695 nautical miles and added a final cross-Channel leg through the tidal streams around Alderney.

Navigators now plan the last day around the Alderney Race as carefully as they plan the Rock rounding. It rewards boats that sail well on a reach in confused water, and crews who still have the energy to make good tidal calls after four nights at sea. The 2027 edition will be the next opportunity to watch it play out.

§ 02 / Shows

Boat show calendar

Shows are where new models appear, but they are also where builders control the light, the cushions and the music. Take a torch, open the engine room, ask for the specification sheet and ask when the boat will be available for a sea trial.

Show	Place	Usual timing	Best for
boot Düsseldorf	Düsseldorf, Germany	January	Indoor; production sailboats
Cannes Yachting Festival	Vieux Port & Port Canto	September	European launches, sail and power
Monaco Yacht Show	Port Hercule, Monaco	September	Superyachts
Southampton International Boat Show	Southampton, UK	September	Cruisers, on-water display
Fort Lauderdale Int. Boat Show	Florida, USA	Late Oct / Nov	Motor yachts, Americas market

Dates change each year. Confirm with the organiser before travelling.