New round-the-world race to utilise own boats

The UK’s Royal Western Yacht Club (RWYC) has launched a brand-new around-the-world yachting event. It’s called Worldstar and is designed to sit alongside the Ostar (original single-handed transatlantic race), Twostar (two-handed transatlantic race), and the Round Britain and Ireland Yacht Race. The idea is that sailors can take on the world in their own boats without spending huge amounts of money and without an extensive qualification process.

The club, based in in Plymouth, on the UK south coast, has already experienced a terrific level of support for its plan, with five entries within 24 hours after launch (four of them happy surprises). Adrian Gray, vice commodore, says the key challenge would be getting the word out, but “it has been quite remarkable how quickly the racing scene has engaged with us.”

The engagement has been so high that the initially hoped-for 20 boats has now doubled to 40. “Following the huge coverage we have had on the launch, coupled with the calls and messages we have received into the club, we are expecting to sell out,” says Gray.

He says there are always challenges when setting up a race, “but as a club we are very experienced with this sort of thing,” and notes that this race is the simplest of concepts, with no gates or fines, etc. Underpinning that, sailors can compete in their own boats, starting together, without a “reduced list of approved designs”. Plus, the entry cost is low as there are no big salaries to pay.

“We are not creating an industry out of the race, the race is the focal point as are the entrants,” says Gray. “Plymouth deserves its own race that cannot be taken away and this will increase the yacht club’s reach into oceanic racing.”

Worldstar, scheduled to start on Saturday 26th September 2026, is open to solo and double-handed boats between 35 and 60ft that have done a 2,000-mile qualification passage in the allotted timeframe. The course is to start from Plymouth Sound National Marine Park, around Antarctica to starboard and return to Plymouth Sound for the finish.

No extreme qualifications for Worldstar yacht race

The intention is to help as many sailors as possible with the required experience to achieve their dream at a reasonable level of investment, says Gray, and to offer “the confidence of knowing that one of the world’s most experienced oceanic yacht clubs is with them in their quest to conquer their ‘Everest’. This will become part of a very tough three-star challenge, along with the Ostar and Twostar.”

The time required to complete the course depends on the boats that enter. “The original plan is to have a cut-off at six months, but we do not want to count out, for example, Rustler36, so we may well look at extending that to eight or even nine months,” says Gray. “This is a decision that we will make once we have two-thirds of the entries, where we can gauge what time is likely to be needed. We want this race to appeal to a broad range of boats. The good news is we are a yacht club so we do not have huge salaries to cover so as long as boats are safe then we are happy to support them right to the end.”

Race ambassador and round-the-world sailor Guy Waites says: “This is for the adventurer, for the sailor who inspires to the ultimate challenge… short-handed, non-stop, around the world via the three great capes. An event with clear guidelines, an event to facilitate your dream in, quite possibly, the boat you already own.”

Gray says the key race challenges will differ from boat to boat.

“There is the obvious challenges with the time spent in the Southern Ocean, in complete contrast there will be the challenge of finding the most efficient way through the doldrums. But ultimately we believe the biggest challenge to be getting to the start itself. Indeed, it is traditional for all our oceanic race entries to receive a race memento before the off to acknowledge that first challenge of getting to the race itself.”

He expects the competitors to be ‘seasoned’ sailors who would have been involved with races such as the Ostar, Twostar, and the two-handed RB&I, which are the Royal Western Yacht Club races. Other current race competitors could be from the Golden Globe Race or the Global Solo Challenge, says Gray. “We could also see competitors who have done or plan to do the Vendée Globe.”

RWYC has developed Worldstar to appeal to sailors who wish to complete a circumnavigation in their own boat, rating on IRC or non-rated, without the extensive qualification process.

Continue reading about yacht — and other boats — racing.

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