Sailing-Three navigators, one ocean - how rival minds will approach the Atlantic

ARRECIFE, Lanzarote, Jan ‌10 : When the RORC Transatlantic Race fleet slips its moorings in Lanzarote on Sunday, the Atlantic will present itself as a vast, shifting puzzle — 3,000 miles of trade winds, pressure systems and hard choices. 

Three of the sport’s finest navigators will attack it in sharply different ways, each route bent to the character, limits and latent speed of the yacht beneath them.

Juan Vila on Carkeek 45 Ino Noir, Will Oxley aboard the Botin-designed Baltic 111 Raven, and Miles Seddon navigating the MOD70 Zoulou all bring world-class credentials. Their approaches will reflect not only personal experience but the nature of the boats they are sailing.

Vila embodies the art of ‌patience. "Ino Noir is not as fast as the big maxis I’ve worked on, and that changes everything," ‌he said at Marina Lanzarote as the boat was being prepared for the race. 

“On a fast boat you sail from one weather system to the next. On a smaller boat you wait for the weather to come to you, so positioning becomes far more important,” said the America's Cup veteran. His medium-range strategy focuses on currents and trade wind evolution rather than chasing distant weather systems.

At the opposite extreme, Oxley, aboard the Baltic 111 Raven, must manage a superyacht capable of sustained 25-27 knot speeds. "The faster you go, the more the waves matter," said Oxley, who navigated Comanche ‍to the 2022 monohull record.

"We actively route to avoid rough water, even if that means sailing further."

For Australian Oxley, Raven’s first competitive Atlantic crossing is about execution. “We have spent a long time learning the boat and building reliability. Success is sailing at full potential for the whole race and finishing with a healthy crew