RORC & the Future of Offshore Racing
Where the sport is heading, and why
Offshore racing is expensive, elitist, ridiculous and still magnificent. It is also changing, and not everyone agrees on where it should go.
This section is where I argue about it. The pieces take a position on the questions the sport keeps asking: whether offshore racing is in crisis or simply evolving, whether it has become two sports as double-handed fleets grow, who should get to win, and how we bring through the next generation of offshore sailors and who pays for it.
They are opinions, but informed ones. I have been a member of the Royal Ocean Racing Club since 1979, served twice on the RORC Committee and was Rear Commodore from 2017 to 2020, so I have heard these arguments from the rail and from the committee room. That does not make me right. It does mean the arguments rest on what happens on the water, not on what is said at the bar.
Disagreement is welcome. The sport improves when owners, organisers and crews argue about it in the open.
The articles are listed below, newest first. Explore the other subjects in the FirstShift article library, or read the latest articles.
