The Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England, hadn’t experienced a summer invasion of this scale or caliber in more than two decades. The arrival of 30 grand-prix race yachts, and the onslaught of owners, shore crew, grand-prix veterans and eager sailing teams, was indeed a moment to behold. Everyone was hyped for the revival of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s iconic regatta, and here in the busy seaport of Cowes, the Admiral’s Cup—once old, was new again.

Before we turn our attention to the current affairs in the UK’s cradle of sailing, however, a brief history of the Admiral’s Cup is necessary. The RORC founded the regatta in 1957 with a simple but compelling concept: a nation-against-nation series raced by teams of offshore yachts. At the time, the offshore racing scene was booming. The Fastnet Race was increasingly drawing international entries and Cowes Week itself was the jewel in the crown of the big-boat racing landscape.

The Admiral’s Cup stitched these elements together into a cohesive narrative: three-boat national teams, typically composed of the most competitive yachts from a country, would race a series of inshore events before culminating in the legendary Fastnet Race—the 650-nautical mile epic from Cowes to the Fastnet Rock and back to Plymouth.

The format was designed to reward versatility: a winning team had to perform in the tight confines of Solent courses and not just survive, but thrive, in the offshore waters of the Irish Sea and beyond. This highly compelling formula attracted the world’s very best boats, skippers, and crews, and many countries ran trials to identify and deploy their very best assets.

The 1970s and 1980s were the Admiral’s Cup’s golden years. In those decades, the Cup was the regatta to win for any serious offshore racing nation. Big-name sailors of the era—Lawrie Smith, Harold Cudmore, Ted Turner, and Iain Macdonald-Smith, to name a few—became household names in the sport. Simultaneously, some of the most famous racing yachts of the era—Impetuous, Morning Cloud, Ragamuffin, and Container—all became part of sailing lore through their Admiral’s Cup exploits.

National rivalries ran deep and fierce. The Americans brought cutting-edge design and deep pockets. The Australians were dogged and fiercely competitive. The Germans were ruthlessly well-organized. And the British fought tooth and nail to defend the Cup on their home waters.

At its peak, as many as 20 nations fielded teams, and the Admiral’s Cup became a spectacle, drawing international media coverage and hordes of spectators to Cowes and the Fastnet finishing port of Plymouth. By the 1990s, however, changes in rating rules (the transition from IOR to IMS), rising campaign costs, and the proliferation of competing grand-prix circuits, such as the Audi MedCup for TP52s and the burgeoning Farr 40 one-design class, as well as a growing calendar of superyacht regattas, all conspired to dilute the Admiral’s Cup’s once-unassailable status.

In 2003, only seven teams competed. The RORC cancelled the 2005 edition citing a lack of entries, and with no clear path forward, The Cup quietly faded, becoming a relic of its heyday, its trophies collecting dust behind glass in the RORC’s clubhouse in Cowes. It was a disappointing loss for the offshore racing community. For many, the Admiral’s Cup wasn’t just a regatta; it was an institution, a cultural cornerstone of post-war international yacht racing.

Over the past several years, however, the regatta’s revival was carefully planned by key members of RORC. Renowned French offshore racer Eric de Turckheim—owner and skipper of a string of serial trophy-winning yachts called Teasing Machine—was the RORC Vice Commodore in 2022 and headed the club’s program and race committee.

Not surprisingly, the Frenchman fondly recalls racing in Cowes in the 1970s, still in his early 20s and dreaming of one day being part of the glitz and glamour of the Admiral’s Cup. Tasked with bringing it back after 22 years, he smartly opted to simplify the event’s rules and regulations to make it easier for teams to be formed.

“Bringing back the Admiral’s Cup was important,” de Turckheim says. “RORC offshore races have been very successful and continue to grow in participation. You just have to look at the number of entries for the Fastnet Race, which grows every year. But it was also important to bring back the international teams to Cowes and the return of the Admiral’s Cup was one way of achieving that.

“Secondly, we wanted to give back some importance to inshore racing. RORC is very active on the offshore front but not so much with inshore. But we have so much inshore racing going on with the TP52s, the Maxis and the Maxi 70 classes and that makes it an important factor.”

Choosing the size of boats was a simple decision. “In the 50- and 40-foot range, you have some top boats and crews all around the world,” de Turckheim points out. “So that’s why we limited it to those two categories, which are quite professional.” 

The most intriguing change was the RORC’s decision to make the Admiral’s Cup a competition between yacht clubs rather than nations—a move that simplified the formation of teams given that coordinating things with a yacht club is infinitely more straightforward than dealing with national governing bodies. As great as it was to have the Admiral’s Cup be a nation-based competition, the appeal of the yacht club route is also compelling.

The RORC keeps good company, so it should be no surprise that the entry list ultimately featured a swath of top-tier international clubs, such as the Yacht Club de Monaco, Royal Hong Kong YC, Italy’s Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, the Netherlands’ Royal Maas Yacht Club, Royal Swedish Yacht Club, Yacht Club de France, New York YC, and Royal Irish YC. There were three German teams from Regatta Verein Greifswald, Bayerischer Yacht Club, Hamburger Segel Club, as well as two entries from the RORC.

The big-boat class featured six IRC-optimized TP52s, including four Botin designs. Peter Harrison’s Jolt 3 represented the Yacht Club de Monaco; Karl Kwok’s Beau Geste flagged for the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club; Maximilian Klink’s Caro sailed for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Club; and Gordon Ketelbey’s Zen hailed from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.

Slightly smaller, but designed as a TP52 slayer, was Giovanni Lombardi Stronati’s WallyRocket51 Django WR51—a boat with head-turning looks that was a weapon in both the inshore and offshore races. Equally striking to look at, but less sparkling in terms of results, was Niklas Zennstrom’s Carkeek 52 Rán. Worthy of note amongst the bigger boats was the Ker 46 Rost Van Uden, a member of the Royal Maas YC team run by Dutch around-the-world racer Gerd-Jan Poortman.

The small-boat class had Peter Harrison’s Carkeek 40 Monaco, American James Murray’s GP42 Callisto (sailing for RNZYS), Karl Kwok’s Botin 41 Beau Ideal (for Hong Kong)—a boat built specifically for the 2025 Admiral’s Cup, and Giovanni Lombardi Stronati’s JPK 11.80 Django JPK.

The format was six inshore races over three consecutive days in the highly tidal and obstacle-ridden confines of the Solent, sandwiched between two offshore races—the opening 165-nautical mile Channel Race and the final 695-nautical mile Rolex Fastnet Race, which took the fleet out to the southern tip of Ireland and back into the English Channel to the finish in Cherbourg, France.

With a double-points coefficient for the Channel Race and triple for the Fastnet Race, the challenge facing the teams was how to optimize their bigger offshore-configured boats for the inshore series, and how to make the smaller inshore boats—many of which had been set up to race in the regionally popular Fast 40 division—into potent offshore machines. It was a challenge that appeared to be welcomed by the owners and sailors alike, as a welcome change from Mediterranean-style windward/leeward racing. It also proved to be a boon for sail and systems developments across the fleets.

Rodney Ardern, a veteran of America’s Cups, Volvo Ocean Races, and Admiral’s Cups, and sailing aboard TP52 Jolt 3 for the Yacht Club de Monaco, says his team embraced the opportunity to break out from the norm of the 52 Super Series and usual offshore races. “This is a good combination of all that in a compact week,” he says. “We spent a lot of time developing the boats, and the sails in particular, with reaching sails, staysails, jib tops, and all of the kind of stuff you don’t spend a lot of time on unless you are on a pure ocean racing boat.”

Ardern says the major difference in the big boat class was between the older and newer boats. “Our 52 was an older design that dates back to when there were still reaching and coastal components to the Super Series. So, we don’t have sheeting systems that go through the deck, and that makes us relatively waterproof when we go offshore. Then, there are newer 52s like Beau Geste, as well as the specialist offshore 50s like Caro and Rán; those two are so powerful and have water ballast, so are pretty hard to keep up with offshore.”

Australian mainsheet trimmer Chris Hosking, racing on the all-new WallyRocket51 Django WR51, says the rejuvenation of the Admiral’s Cup has brought back an element of regatta racing that had been missing for a long time.

“In the Admiral’s Cup, there’s a lot of reaching and sailing at different angles and different modes. There are some skills that we are having to revive, for sure, and some that people are having to learn for the first time. Picking the sails for a day of inshore racing isn’t easy, either, when you have a windward/leeward first and then a round-the-cans course afterwards. You don’t know the course for the second race when you leave the dock, so we have to bring more sails than we would want to for weight, just in case.”

Then, there’s a great deal to think about, Hosking says, when it comes to switching a boat from offshore to inshore mode. “There’s obviously all the safety equipment that changes. The sail inventory changes. You do whatever you can to make the boat lighter: the reefing lines come out; all your bits and pieces like offshore gear bags and spares come off.”

Switching Django WR51 the other way—from inshore to offshore efficiency—means adding in an extra quota of reaching sails.

“Stuff like the Code 0, the jib top, and a big genoa staysail,” Hosking says. “Then there’s the capability to reef. We reef much earlier when we are reaching, and we might pull a reef in as low as 16 to 17 knots of breeze when we have got the Code 0 up and we need to sail a hot angle. It would be much more effective to reef the main rather than switch from a masthead zero to a jib top.

“With a boat that is this new, we are still learning and understanding every day. Even when we are racing, we are working out what the boat likes and what it doesn’t. It’s a constant process of evolution.”

The 30-boat Admiral’s Cup fleet made for a striking sight out on the swirling waters of the Solent. Given the levels of professionalism and preparation for most teams, starts and mark roundings were plenty intense, and boathandling at the front of the fleet was top shelf. Four clubs dominated the top of the leaderboard across the eight-race series, where the team scores were tallied based on individual race points rather than their series scores. The Yacht Club de Monaco’s immaculately prepared pairing Jolt 3 and Jolt 6 both won their classes to give the principality club the overall victory. Runner-up was Royal Hong Kong YC, where Beau Geste and Beau Ideal finished fifth and third. Third overall was Italy’s Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, whose Django WR51 and Django JPK 11.50 finished third and fourth in IRC1 and IRC2 respectively.

Credit is also due to the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Zen—owned and skippered by Ketelbey—which backed up an excellent inshore series with a fourth place in the Fastnet Race to finish 1 point in arrears of Jolt 3 in the IRC1 standings. Poortman’s young crew on the Ker 46 Rost-van Uden also performed well in the inshore racing, before pulling off a stunning victory in the Fastnet Race to finish fourth overall in IRC1.

There was, however, much more nip and tuck to the racing than results might suggest. The battle in IRC2 between Jolt 6, James Murray’s Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron entry Callisto, and Beau Ideal burned fiercely throughout the regatta. The Fastnet Race was the decider, with a 1-point overall advantage going to the Monaco boat only after coming out of a jibing duel with the Kiwi yacht on the final approach to Cherbourg.

So, the Admiral’s Cup is back, and, by any reasonable measure, its return was resoundingly successful. Chatter in the pubs and restaurants of Cowes during the regatta was all about the rosy future of international team competitions like this. Moreover, it seems the British flagship event’s successful return may have triggered a wider revival of international team competitions.

On the eve of the start of racing at the 2025 Admiral’s Cup, the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda announced an Italian version of the Admiral’s Cup—the Sardinia Cup—last held in 2012, would return in 2026. There were even numerous unsubstantiated rumors of plans for Hawaii’s Kenwood Cup (formerly the Clipper Cup) to also be revived.

The next edition of the Admiral’s Cup has been provisionally scheduled for July 2027 in Cowes. No doubt there will be evolution of the format by then—perhaps a return to three boat-teams—and the inking of a title sponsor to provide the necessary funding required to fully return this gem to its glimmering state.

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For those who have forgotten the Admiral’s Cup, a quick history lesson: The Royal Ocean Racing Club created the regatta back in 1957 and it was the stuff of legends until the event was canned in 2005 after participation waned. In its heyday it was a legendary big-boat showdown with three-boat national teams battling through grueling inshore races before tackling the epic Fastnet Race. As a young reader of Sailing World in the 1980s, I remember well the stories and images of this faraway circus of custom raceboats and sponsored teams. There was nothing like it.

When American sailor Ron O’Hanley, who has checked off virtually every major offshore race with his 20-year-old canting-keel Cookson 50, first heard about the Admiral’s Cup revival, his decision to participate seemed straightforward. 

“At the time, it seemed like a no-brainer, which was, in retrospect, quite naive,” O’Hanley says. “In the end, it was appropriately a heavy lift.”

His motivation stemmed partly from his experience chairing the strategy committee of the New York YC board. “I’ve always viewed the club in particular as having a special role in advancing the state of the art of sailing,” he says. “The idea of this thing coming back and coming back in the form that it was being proposed was quite attractive.”

If preparing for your local overnight race is a lot of work, consider the complexity of the Admiral’s Cup. Getting the boat to Europe may actually be the easiest part.

Stepping up to fly the burgee of the New York YC in this year’s new club versus club Admiral’s Cup format were members Stefan Jentzsch, with his sophisticated Botin 56 Black Pearl in the big-boat fleet, and Donald Thinschmidt’s Ker 43 Abracadabra with an international crew. O’Hanley initially planned to partner with another club member to fit the Admiral’s Cup’s two-boat scheme, but found this challenging because of what he perceives as a waning interest in distance racing in the United States. Finding a partner where everything aligned never happened. “It’s a time commitment and financial commitment, not just for the boat owner, but a lot of other people,” he says.

While his search for an American partner proved unsuccessful, an unexpected opportunity emerged when the Royal Irish YC approached him. As a relatively new member of the club, which he joined after enjoying his offshore sailing experiences in Ireland, O’Hanley instantly appreciated their commitment to the event. “They lined up a great small boat partner,” he says. That was Tom Kneen’s JPK 11.80 Sunrise, overall winner of the windy 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race. “To me, it was as much about supporting this thing and getting it off to a good start.”

The Royal Irish YC proved invaluable in assembling a competitive team. The Admiral’s Cup requires that each boat include two women and at least one member under the age of 27. “We used to have members under the age of 27 and now they all have children,” O’Hanley jokes, highlighting the challenge of meeting this requirement for established teams.

The Irish club also helped secure crew members and provided financial assistance to ensure their participation. Their moral encouragement proved significant, too. “I can’t understate the amount of moral support,” O’Hanley says. “Them on the dock, them shooting their videos…they sent me a picture of basically what was going on back in the clubhouse watching the starts.”

Imagine the same impact at any club in America, members rooting for sailing friends faraway, representing on the big stage. It was a missed opportunity for sure.

The beauty of the Admiral’s Cup is that it combines two distinct disciplines: fast-paced inshore buoy racing and complex, current-riddled distance courses. “The formats couldn’t be more different,” O’Hanley says. “You’ve got that inshore stuff…two laps around the course. And then you’ve got what they call ‘around the cans’ —we would call short navigator’s races around navigational marks—and then finally, obviously, the Fastnet.”

This variety places significant demands on both boats and crews. “It puts a lot on the boats and the crews to be able to do all that,” O’Hanley says. “It’s kind of the biathlon of sailing. I think that’s just a great format.”

Walking the docks at the event in Cowes, England, he was impressed by the evolution of custom designs, particularly the newer TP52s. “This latest evolution is just amazing,” he says. “The story used to be that they weren’t great offshore…they’re really highly refined, and they’ve become just much more versatile.”

He was equally impressed by the smaller competitors in the 40-foot range. “What really stood out there was just very powerful boats in a small package. They look like a heck of a lot of fun,” he says. “As I think about next time, I’m not sure whether I’d want to be the big boat guy or the little boat guy if I were to do it again.”

Privateer was notably the oldest boat in Cowes, but still plenty competitive in its conditions. “The only thing original on the boat is the hull,” O’Hanley says. “The prod has been extended three times. There’s a new rig, new keel, new rudder. We’ve done a lot to the boat.”

Despite its age, the boat—and the crew—delivered when it needed to. “Our two best races were one in heavy conditions and one in the lightest conditions,” O’Hanley says. He does, however, acknowledge that the boat isn’t ideal for the demands of the Admiral’s Cup. “It’s really not the horse for the course. If I were doing it again, I’d give real thought…”

He also heaps praise on the Royal Ocean Racing Club for its comprehensive media push, which he believes American yacht clubs could learn from. “The video and social media support from the RORC on this, and coverage was a real lesson to all of us,” he says. “The real-time excitement that got built there, I think was a good lesson for all of us, because it’s a little bit of an uphill climb here in the U.S. on distance sailing. Part of what we need to do is just show the excitement of it.”

Looking ahead, O’Hanley sees potential for increased American involvement in the Admiral’s Cup. “What makes the Admiral’s Cup, this format, this location, just so interesting and so challenging is also what makes it so rewarding,” he says. “I mean, there’s just an incredible sense of accomplishment. We certainly would have liked to have done better, and we think we know what we need to do to do better, but there’s just an extraordinary sense of accomplishment when you’re done.”

The next edition is on the calendar for July 2027. That’s plenty of notice, and the RORC reminds us Yanks that, “The Admiral’s Cup is more than a trophy, it’s the beating heart of international team racing.”

Get the defibrillator, STAT, because time is of the essence.

“If you’re a year out, you may be too late,” O’Hanley advises. “So, if you’re thinking about it, you ought to be thinking about it now. And I would encourage others to consider it and don’t be put off by the highly professional, purpose-built boats and all that. There are a lot of others in there, and so much of this is about the adequacy of your preparation, optimizing your boat and having the right partner, because it is a team event. It’s about the two of you, not just how the one of you do. Having the right boat makes sense, but it’s really about the preparation you put into it.” 

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The Royal Ocean Racing Club announced on Wednesday that the Yacht Club de Monaco (YCM) emerged as winner of the 2025 Admiral’s Cup. After an intense battle during the RORC Channel Race, six inshore races in the Solent and the prestigious finale, the Rolex Fastnet Race, the Yacht Club de Monaco team is victorious.

Runner-up for the Admiral’s Cup is the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. Completing the Admiral’s Cup series podium is the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.

Vice-President of the Yacht Club de Monaco and co-skipper of Carkeek 42 Jolt 6 (YCM) is Pierre Casiraghi, who spoke about the historic win: “Honestly, I still can’t quite believe what we’ve achieved. To win the Admiral’s Cup in its revival year and with Monaco’s first ever participation is beyond words. I’m not a professional helm and this was the most exhausting race I’ve ever done. But we knew the Fastnet would be decisive and our team executed it flawlessly. Will Harris, our navigator, was just phenomenal, he didn’t miss a beat.

“From the moment we exited the Solent everything went to plan. We held our lead, fought off relentless pressure from Callisto (RNZYS) and Beau Ideal (RHKYC) and made every move count. The team showed incredible resilience, character and trust in each other. This was a true team effort, from the sailors to the shore crew.

“For Monaco, this is historic. We’re a small place, but we’ve just shown we can achieve great things. I hope this inspires the next generation of young sailors at Yacht Club de Monaco – they followed our every move. Right now, I’m exhausted and can’t imagine doing another offshore race on a 42-footer any time soon, but this has been a magical journey. The Admiral’s Cup is an extraordinary event, brilliantly organized and fiercely competitive. I’m proud beyond words to have been a part of it.”

Yacht Club de Monaco member Peter Harrison, skipper of TP52 Jolt 3 (YCM) spoke about the debut win in the Admiral’s Cup for the YCM: “This is without a doubt the biggest result I’ve ever had in sailing and I doubt it will ever be topped. To help lead the Yacht Club de Monaco to its first Admiral’s Cup victory on our very first attempt is just extraordinary.

“From the start, Pierre Casiraghi and I believed in this campaign. The Club was fully behind us, and with Matt Adams managing the project and a world-class team around us we built something truly special.

“We had a strong core, many of whom I’ve sailed with for years on the Maxi 72 and we carefully brought in talent who would complement that group. It was about chemistry, trust and shared commitment. Everyone delivered. From shore crew to helm, from sailmakers to strategists, it was a true team effort. It’s a huge moment for Monaco and I believe it firmly establishes YCM as a force in offshore sailing.

Right now, I’m a bit exhausted, but if you’re going to win the Admiral’s Cup, you need to start planning a year out and I know we’ll be thinking seriously about defending it. The event was impeccably run and every race was delivered. Full credit to the RORC team. It’s been a phenomenal experience and a celebration we will remember for a long time.”

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