Sailing-From student crews to superyachts, Atlantic charge to set off from Lanzarote

ARRECIFE, Lanzarote, Jan ‌9 : Some 21 teams from 19 nations are tinkering, fettling and gearing up in Lanzarote for a high-speed Atlantic adventure when the 2026 RORC Transatlantic Race sets sail to Antigua on Sunday, with everything from student crews to superyachts ready to tackle the 3,000-nautical-mile voyage west.

The Royal Ocean Racing Club event, run in partnership with the International Maxi Association and the Yacht Club de France, will see monohulls start at 1230 GMT from the waters off Arrecife, with multihulls following 10 minutes later. The fastest boats are expected to complete the crossing in under seven days, while the smallest yachts may still be racing more than a fortnight after the start.

Multiple trophies await the ‌fleet, with the prestigious RORC Transatlantic Race Trophy awarded to the overall winner on IRC corrected time, ‌the benchmark measure of offshore racing throughout the world.

In addition to overall honours, the IMA Transatlantic Trophy is awarded to the first maxi yacht to finish, and the Multihull Line Honours Trophy goes to the fastest multihull.

At the sharp end of the multihull fleet, a familiar MOD70 trimaran battle is brewing between Argo and Zoulou. "It is a really exhilarating experience to travel that fast across the water, so getting to do that for 3,000 miles across the Atlantic is a thrill the whole time," said Argo's Jason Carroll.

Zoulou's Ned Collier Wakefield expects a tight contest: "If it turns into a downwind drag race, we'll be ‍glued to each other all the way across. The boats are effectively on the same page now, and the latest foils and rudders give huge stability and lift without taking control away."

For monohull line honours, radical offshore design Baltic 111 Raven