Offshore Doubles hits 1,000 members from 52 nations and adds key Board members

OffshoreDoubles.org has announced today that it has hit 1,035 members from 56 nations from six continents within its first two weeks of existence.

Larry Rosenfeld, president of Offshore Doubles said, “We are thrilled to see the momentum behind the discipline of Offshore Doubles both mixed and open and are pleased to welcome Andrew Pindar and Rich Du Moulin to our Board. Both bring tremendous expertise to our organization.”

Andrew Pindar OBE DL, has been sponsor of many high-profile winning teams in both inshore and offshore sailing, many women’s teams and singlehanded sailors. His teams have been around the world seven times. In double handed sailing, among the silver his teams have won are the Transat Jacques Vabre, Round Britain and Ireland and last month a new record in the Round Ireland. His GAC Pindar logistics partnership with World Sailing has benefited sailors from all nations and supported the return of sailing to the Paralympic Games. In 2019, Andrew initiated and commissioned through World Sailing Trust, a report on girls and Women in Sailing resulting in a blueprint for gender equity throughout the sport.

“I was intrigued by the concept of Offshore Mixed Doubles in both the Olympics and at the local level as pathways for women to build a wide range of skills in sailing, pathways that have traditionally been more accessible to men,” explained Pindar. “I believe Offshore Doubles Sailing Association is already helping to build a community in this fast growing segment of our sport.”

Rich Du Moulin has an impressive sailing resume, including five America’s Cup campaigns and 25 Bermuda Races (seven double handed). He has been Commodore of the Storm Trysail Club and US Rear Commodore of RORC. Rich has been double handed sailing offshore actively since 2002 and set the World’s Record in 2003 with Rich Wilson from Hong Kong to New York on the trimaran “Great American II.” He has been personally passionate about Safety at Sea and instrumental in ensuring that the majority of sailors who race offshore have been through Safety at Sea courses. 

“Sailing double handed offshore is exhilarating. You have the feeling of sailing alone but have the help when you need it. I’ve been sailing with the same friend for 20 years and we still learn, every time we go out there. With Covid, it was the only way to sail and we were able to do seven double-handed races this year,” he said. “With Stan and Sally Honey, we developed and are popularizing a new Man Overboard (MOB) retrieval methodology which we believe will be particularly important for double-handers.”

Offshore Doubles is for everyone interested in double-handed offshore from couples and friends doing weekend races to Olympic athletes and serious programs globally. We all have much to learn and teach and it’s our mission to bring this community together. There are more than 5,000 boats racing double-handed under rating rules and thousands in many strong one design fleets around the world, so we know the interest is there.

We are calling all sailors to please come join us NOW at https://offshoredoubles.org! The World Sailing meetings this week will determine if the Offshore Mixed Doubles Event will continue to be on the slate for Paris 2024 and we need to show the Olympic committee that Doubles has broad global support.

Don’t forget to invite your co-skipper and share with your friends!