Great Britain claim Offshore Double Handed World Championship victory by 65 seconds

The Lorient Agglomération Race, the Final of the  2024 Offshore Double Handed World Championship, produced an intense battle in conditions ranging from 30 knots and two metre swell to zephyrs of wind with flat calm.

During the race, the wind direction moved 180 degrees and the offshore islands and Brittany Coast produced game changing effects on the prevailing wind. Ten teams started the World Championship Final and eight of them featured in the top three boats during the race.

A dramatic final leg in light airs resulted in the lead changing hands on numerous occasions. Just a few miles from the finish, the four leading boats were neck-and-neck peeling to spinnakers but Adamson & Finlayson kept their Code Zero flying. A world championship should be won by a fine margin and in the last mile of the race, the British team did just enough, to hold on to their slender lead and win the Offshore Double Handed World Championship.

“I can’t really believe that it has happened,” commented Maggie Adamson. “We hung in there, we never give up. At the end, we saw a little bit of breeze towards the shore and we were getting freed off, so we went in for that. We held the Code Zero a little bit longer, we had both our spinnakers ready to go but we felt that we were a bit faster with that set up. It is just those little things; keeping your head out of the boat worked, we just stayed focused.”

“I am too tired to take it all in,” commented Cal Finlayson. “It was a good fight, we were all bobbing around the last mark, 24 miles from the finish, and it was a case of getting the boat moving in the shutdown, which is always a bit tricky. The two French teams got moving and slipped ahead of us and it went right down to the wire from there. To beat such great sailors is surreal to be honest, especially in Lorient, the home of French offshore racing.”

The Offshore Double Handed World Championship Prize Giving was held in the Éric Tabarly Sailing City Museum. All of the competing teams were invited to the stage to collect mementos and goody bags.

The top three boats were awarded medals for their achievements to huge applause from the audience. The loudest cheer of the night was for Maggie Adamson and Cal Finlayson, proceeded by the national anthem of the United Kingdom. After the ceremony, Maggie Adamson a champion fiddle player, played a medley of songs from The Shetland Islands, Maggie’s home in the northernmost region of the United Kingdom.

The Royal Ocean Racing Club will be welcoming the Offshore Double Handed World Championship to Cowes, UK in September 2025.

2024 Offshore Double Handed World Championship – Devil in the Detail

The first leg of the Lorient Agglomération Race was a 50-mile blast reach south in big breeze and mountainous waves. Elodie Bonafous & Basile Bourgnon (FRA) revelled in the full-on conditions opening up a lead of over three miles.  Unfortunately for Erik Van Vuuren & Yvonne Beusker (NED) gear failure resulted in retirement after impressing with a cracking start. Lina Rixgens & Sverre Reinke (GER) and Maggie Adamson & Cal Finlayson (GBR) were leading the chasing peloton of Sun Fast 30s behind the French leaders.

After sunset, the fleet entered Quiberon Bay, where wind shadow from the islands and local currents created a tactical scenario of cat and mouse. Bonafous & Bourgnon were still leading, but a hitch north cost about a mile of their precious advantage. Negotiating the course to the north of Belle-Île proved to be very complex. Bonafous & Bourgnon went west, presumably anticipating the forecast shift in wind to the north. The shift did not materialise for ten hours and the boats behind caught up the leaders. For the first time in the race, Bonafous & Bourgnon looked vulnerable. The big climbers in the rankings were Jonas Gerckens & Djemila Tassin (BEL) and Benjamin Daniel & Sarah Nicholson (CAN).

At the final mark, 24 miles before the finish, Bonafous & Bourgnon were finally passed, having been in pole position for 127 miles. The tenacious British team of Adamson & Finlayson was the new leader, battling with the two French teams; Bonafous & Bourgnon and Charlotte Yven & Lois Berrehar (FRA). As, the leaders headed east for the finish, the wind faded almost completely. The top five boats, led by Great Britain, compressed together on the water. The two French teams battled with the Brits. Two consistent performers; Gerckens & Tassin and Waksman & Justina Pacheco (URU), were threatening the leaders.

The stage was set for a dramatic finish, won by just 65 seconds by Maggie Adamson & Cal Finlayson (GBR). Maybe the British Code Zero against the spinnakers of the French and Belgians was the difference. Maybe the Brits just found better breeze? The rest, as they say is history!

Text and images courtesy of RORC.org.