Marine safety experts, Ocean Safety are delighted to announce their partnership with the UK Double Handed Offshore Series. Ocean Safety has a long pedigree of working with offshore sailors and look forward to working with the crews and series organisers on the latest in safety equipment and technology.
For many years two-handed racing has seen a huge increase in popularity internationally. The need for social distancing during the pandemic has made the short-handed discipline all the more attractive. With the hopeful return to a full racing calendar in 2021, Figarist and Round the World Sailor Henry Bomby, together with a group of like-minded sailors, has created an association and offshore series which has met with approval from the Royal Yachting Association and the Royal Ocean Racing Club.
“Double handed offshore racing is unique in that men and women, amateurs, professionals, aspiring Olympians and young up-and-coming talent can all compete together on the same race course at the same time,” commented Henry Bomby. “With so many great races already, the vision of the series is to cherry pick the best double handed races on offer each year into one season long series.”
“We also hope to grow the community with regular training sessions where we can share coaching costs and work together to improve the performance of the group,” Bomby added.
The UK Double Handed Offshore Series is an IRC series for all boats that are sailed double handed with a rating between 0.990 and 1.055 TCC. Six events make up the stand-alone series, running from May to August 2021, including the ISC Round the Island Race and the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race, which is non-discardable.
In recognition of the diverse number of teams taking part, there will be a range of different trophies that have been supported by companies in the marine industry. In total there will be six categories of winners. The overall winner will be awarded the Sea Ventures Trophy at the Rolex Fastnet Race prize giving. Additional prizes will also be awarded for the First Mixed Team (RYA), First under 25 sailor (B&G), First Corinthian Team (Musto), First Master Team (North Sails) as well as a Media Prize (Ocean Safety) for the best media content throughout the season sent back during racing.
Eight teams have already entered the series: Henry Bomby & Shirley Robertson, Kate Cope & Matt Beecher, Dee Caffari & James Harayda, Kelvin Rawlings & Stuart Childerley, Richard Palmer & Jeremy Waitt, Nigel Colley & Crew, Gavin Howe & Maggie Adamson, and Sam Cooper and Crew.
For more information about the UK Double Handed Offshore Series, including the Notice of Series: https://www.doublehandedoffshore.com/