Qualifying Race 2 at the 2026 Offshore Double Handed World Championship ends with Belgium in front

Also, provisionally straight through to the final on Wednesday 30 September are URU01 (Federico Waksman & Irina Gracheva) who finished in fourth and GER02 (Lina Rixgens & Andreas Baden) in fifth.

The course was just over 64NM starting with a beat to Cap Croisette then East down the coast to a turning mark at La Ciotat. Then the course turned West to two marks off Fos-sur-Mer before the last leg to the Frioul Islands and the finish off Marseille.

The race started in 6-8kt SW winds after a short delay to allow the sea breeze to build. First over the line was FRA01, closely followed by URU01 and BEL01. Unfortunately, GER2 and SWE01 were OCS and had to return to recross the line however they soon caught up with the rest of the pack.

FRA01 went left heading for the coast closely followed by IRL01 (Richard Bretherton & Inka Lührs) in second. CAN01 (Michael Egberts & Catherine Kierans) and URU01 initially went more right but URU01 came back to join the pack at the coast.

At Cap Croisette there is a 70m gap between the cliffs of the mainland and the rocky island of île Marie. No-one in Marseille can recall sailors ever having taken their boats through that gap on a regatta. It was the Figaro sailors aboard FRA01, known for their skill with rocky passages, who risked the wind shadow of the high cliffs and blazed a trail through the gap. Most of the fleet followed them. Only IRL01 and CAN01 played it safe and went round the outside of the island, unfortunately that decision cost IRL01 many places.

By mid-afternoon BEL01 had taken the lead followed by SWE01 and FRA01 and this was the order as they rounded the most Easterly mark at La Ciotat. IRL had made up ground and was in sixth place close on the heels of GER02 in fifth.

As they raced into the night BEL01 extended their lead, FRA01, URU01 and SWE01 stayed tightly together behind them and GER02 and IRL01 were left fighting for fifth. It was a tight spinnaker leg to the West then VMG downwind into the coast.

The final leg west was hard on the wind which had been forecast to drop significantly but in fact held up until the end of the race. BEL01 crossed the line first at 23:05:12 local time.

The next race is the repechage on Monday 28 September where the boats who have not made the final yet have a last chance to qualify. Seven boats (ESP01, JPN01, NOR01, USA01, IRL01, CAN01 and NOR02) will take part and just one boat will qualify.

All boats are fitted with trackers, allowing followers to watch the racing unfold in real time. The race tracker is available at https://solusport.solustop.com/worldchampionship/carto 

Live content from onboard the boats will also be shared throughout the event as sailors give followers an insight into the twists and turns of the racing on Instagram at @cap_regatta. 

The 2026 Offshore Double Handed World Championship is organised by the Cercle Nautique & Touristique du Lacydon (CNTL), Yacht Club de France (YCF), Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) and Cap Regatta, with the support of the French Sailing Federation (FFV).

More information can be found on the CNTL Marseille website.

Images copyright Pierrick Jeannoutot