Norway wins Repechage Race ‘golden ticket’ to the 2026 Offshore Double Handed World Championship finals

The repechage offered one last opportunity for teams that had failed to qualify from their opening races, with only the winner earning a place in the final. 

After 124 nautical miles of close racing, the longest course of the championship so far, NOR01 crossed the finish off Marseille at 09:37:20, narrowly ahead of IRL01, sailed by Richard Bretherton and Inka Lührs, with ESP01, Hugo Ramon Froye and Gráinne Costigan, close behind. 

The course took the fleet from Marseille towards Cap Croisette and the limestone cliffs of the Riou islands before turning west for a downwind leg to the ODAS buoy. From there, the boats sailed a VMG downwind leg north-west to Baronnets, off the Camargue coast, before beginning a 60-nautical-mile overnight beat back towards Planier lighthouse, the Frioul Islands and the finish. 

The race started at 11:00 in a 10-12 knot south-easterly breeze, with ESP01 first across the line, followed by NOR01 and IRL01. 

An offset mark had been positioned one nautical mile to windward, where ESP01 again led from NOR01 and IRL01. On the beat towards Cap Croisette, IRL01 headed further left and found a lift from the coast, while ESP01 sailed further right and slipped behind NOR01.

Most of the fleet chose the narrow passage between Cap Croisette and Île Maïre, a challenging 70-metre-wide channel with depths of just two to four metres and high cliffs creating strong, gusty winds funnelling through the gap. 

NOR01 tacked through first, followed by IRL01. ESP01 was caught in a wind shadow beneath the cliffs and dropped to third. 

USA01, sailed by Adj Lee and Cade Morris, was the final boat to benefit from the passage, while CAN01, Michael Egberts and Catherine Kierans, and JPN01, Yoshihiko Murase and Nanami Iguchi, chose the longer route around the outside of Île Maïre. 

The beat towards the eastern turning mark presented another tactical choice, with several possible routes between the mainland and the offshore islands.NOR01 remained in the lead, while ESP01, 

NOR02 — Lars-Fredrik Moe-Helgesen and Gina Lillemork Nilsen — and USA01 benefited from flatter water in the lee of Île Riou. IRL01 chose to pass north of Île Plane and lost ground, dropping to fifth. 

NOR01 was first around Grand Congloué Island, the eastern turning mark, and executed a clean A2 spinnaker hoist to accelerate away from the fleet. ESP01 rounded second and also hoisted cleanly. NOR02 struggled briefly with its spinnaker, allowing USA01, which had rounded close to the cliffs, to move into third. 

At the ODAS buoy, the fleet split as the course turned into a VMG downwind leg. ESP01, now leading, stayed on port tack with second-placed NOR01 and fourth-placed NOR02. USA01, in third, and IRL01, in fifth, gybed away onto starboard. 

The right-hand side of the course paid handsomely, providing stronger pressure and a faster angle under spinnaker. 

USA01 surged into the lead, while IRL01, following a similar route, climbed into second. By nightfall at Baronnets, the westernmost point of the course, USA01 had opened a 1.5-nautical-mile advantage. IRL01 was second, with ESP01 third and NOR01 fourth. 

But the long beat back towards Marseille transformed the race again. 

NOR01 showed superior upwind speed and steadily worked its way back through the fleet. By midnight, the lead was changing hands between IRL01 and NOR01, with ESP01 close behind. 

For long periods, all three boats were separated by little more than 0.1 nautical miles. 

The final leg from Planier lighthouse was a reach in around 15 knots of breeze. NOR01 held the lead, while IRL01 pushed hard to find a way past, deploying its Code Zero in marginal conditions in a final attempt to gain extra speed. 

It was not enough. NOR01 crossed the finish first at 09:37:20 to win the repechage and secure the final place in the championship decider, with IRL01 second and ESP01 third. 

The 2026 Offshore Double Handed World Championship final starts at 11:00 on Wednesday, 30 September and is expected to last around 48 hours. 

The 11 qualified boats are: AUS01, BEL01, FRA01, FRA02, GER01, GER02, NED01, NOR01, SWE01, SWE02 and URU01. 

The final brings together a field with extensive offshore and international racing experience. 

Simeon Tienpont of NED01 is a veteran of three Volvo Ocean Races and a two-time America’s Cup winner, while Federico Waksman of URU01 won the 2023 Mini Transat. Djemila Tassin of BEL01 holds the Class40 24-hour distance record set during the 2025/26 Globe40 round-the-world race and recognised by the World Sailing Speed Record Council. She sails with four-time Belgian Sailor of the Year Jonas Gerckens. Other recent double-handed successes among the finalists include GER02’s Lina Rixgens, who won her class in the Race to the Arctic, while Lena Having and Eivind Bøymo-Malm of SWE02 finished third in the same event. Clara Witthinrich of GER01 won her class in the Baltic 500, while Thomas André of FRA01 won this championship in 2025. Repechage winners Karl Otto Book and Maren Magda Book of NOR01 finished fourth in the 2025 edition and now return to the final for another shot at the podium after a hard-fought victory off Marseille. 

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 and Yohan Brandt.