Sailing - 2026 RORC Transatlantic Race - Arrecife, Lanzarote, Spain - January 10, 2026 Crew prepare Ino Noir in Lanzarote Marina ahead of Sunday's start to the RORC Transatlantic Race REUTERS/Ossian Shine
ARRECIFE, Lanzarote, Jan 10 (Reuters) - When the RORC Transatlantic Race fleet slips its moorings in Lanzarote on Sunday, the Atlantic will present itself as a vast, shifting puzzle — 3,000 miles of trade winds, pressure systems and hard choices.
Three of the sport’s finest navigators will attack it in sharply different ways, each route bent to the character, limits and latent speed of the yacht beneath them.
Juan Vila on Carkeek 45 Ino Noir, Will Oxley aboard the Botin-designed Baltic 111 Raven, and Miles Seddon navigating the MOD70 Zoulou all bring world-class credentials. Their approaches will reflect not only personal experience but the nature of the boats they are sailing.
Vila embodies the art of patience. "Ino Noir is not as fast as the big maxis I’ve worked on, and that changes everything," he said at Marina Lanzarote as the boat was being prepared for the race.
“On a fast boat you sail from one weather system to the next. On a smaller boat you wait for the weather to come to you, so positioning becomes far more important,” said the America's Cup veteran. His medium-range strategy focuses on currents and trade wind evolution rather than chasing distant weather systems.
At the opposite extreme, Oxley, aboard the Baltic 111 Raven, must manage a superyacht capable of sustained 25-27 knot speeds. "The faster you go, the more the waves matter," said Oxley, who navigated Comanche to the 2022 monohull record.
"We actively route to avoid rough water, even if that means sailing further."
For Australian Oxley, Raven’s first competitive Atlantic crossing is about execution. “We have spent a long time learning the boat and building reliability. Success is sailing at full potential for the whole race and finishing with a healthy crew and yacht, and a transatlantic time that stands up against recent benchmark runs.”
Seddon, on the MOD70 Zoulou, faces a hybrid challenge of navigation and match racing. "With two boats like Argo and Zoulou, you are racing each other as much as the weather," the Briton said.
“If you find 18 to 20 knots and flat water, the boat is fully powered and the miles just disappear. Everything happens fast. We set clear limits on wind strength and direction before manoeuvres. With only six crew, communication is constant and plans need to be clear.”
Despite the technology, Seddon believes discipline matters most. “Small risks are possible because speeds are high and you can recover quickly. But if you stop paying attention, you can get a very long way off course.”
Race officer Chris Jackson’s forecast of well-established trade winds points towards a more direct Atlantic crossing, with the fleet likely to favour the rhumb line — the constant-compass course between Lanzarote and the Caribbean — rather than diving deep south towards Cape Verde. He expects a brisk start of around 10 knots (18.5 kph), freshening slightly through the afternoon.
After rounding the laid mark off Puerto Calero Marina, Jackson said crews should anticipate a lighter-wind escape from the Canary Islands before settling into more reliable trade-wind conditions offshore, with the added caveat of possible isolated squalls that will need close monitoring.
How those variables are read — and acted upon — will hinge on each boat’s strengths, with Vila, Oxley and Seddon all turning the same forecast into very different tactical calls across 3,000 miles of open ocean towards the finish in Antigua.
(Reporting by Ossian Shine; Editing by Clare Fallon)
