What Does the Revived Admiral’s Cup Mean for the Racing Scene?
Georgie Corlett-Pitt takes a look at the revived Admiral’s Cup and what it means for the racing scene…
Years in the planning, and looking set to become a biennial fixture, the much-feted Admiral’s Cup returns this summer after a 22-year hiatus. As a celebration to mark the centenary of host club, the Royal Ocean Racing Club, this initial reincarnation is both a nostalgic nod to the heyday of the yacht racing scene, and the catalyst for a new era in elite racing.
The first Admiral’s Cup was held on the Solent back in 1957, devised by Sir Myles Wyatt (RORC Admiral at the time), to encourage US teams to compete here to boost standards of racing. Centred around the two pinnacle events of Cowes Week and the Fastnet Race, with a Channel Race added in between, the first year saw the home team excel in a windy Fastnet to walk away with the Gold Cup, as it was then known, which has since become one of sailing’s most prestigious trophies.
While the Americans declined an invite to the 1959 event, the Dutch and French instead stepped up. From there, word spread, and entries over the next few editions snowballed, luring the Americans back for a win in 1961.
By 1967, the entry list was up to 12 nations, with Australia lifting the Cup by a huge points margin. The three-boat team-based event was fast becoming the ‘unofficial’ world championship of yacht racing; a look back through the archives now make a fascinating excursion through key moments of yacht design and racing history, with crews including not only sailing legends the likes of Dennis Connor and Sir Peter Blake, but also royalty and politicians – famously Sir Edward Heath helping the British team to Admiral’s Cup victory in 1971 while prime minister, sailing his S&S 32ft Morning Cloud II alongside Bob Watson’s Cervantes IV and Arthur Slater’s Prospect of Whitby.
That year was the fifth (of a total nine) times the Brits claimed victory; despite the prime minister finishing the Fastnet far behind his teammates, he had done just enough to wrest the Admiral’s Cup away from the defending Americans and deny a particularly strong Aussie team. Good job, seeing as no less than 27 British boats had tried-out for the team that year; the IOR replacing the old RORC rating rule had opened up the range of yachts eligible to enter.
Halcyon Days
It was with that, that entry numbers continued in the high teens for the next two decades, with nations as diverse as Bermuda, Papua New Guinea, Argentina and Japan represented. Britain’s early dominance eased as other nations shared the spotlight. In 1987, the Kiwis, dominating on the world stage and fresh from their America’s Cup debut, disrupted Germany’s double-win streak.
The event was as professional as sailing got by now, with teams not only arriving early in the Solent to practise, and employing team managers, but bringing video analysis, coaches and chefs into the mix. Sponsorship followed too, with Champagne Mumm becoming title sponsor in 1983. The draw, it seems, was undeniable.
By 1989, the calibre of racing hit a high, and the Brits edged victory by a slim margin from the Danes. Peter Morton, part of the winning crew, attributes success to team captain Harold Cudmore’s advice to focus on the big picture rather than individual races.
As the 1990s unfolded, numbers began tapering. RORC switched to level rating with One Tonner, Two Tonner and IOR 50s, switching again to Mumm 36, ILC 40 and IMS 44-50 just a couple of years later. France, Germany, Italy, the US and the Netherlands took turns at winning. For the Dutch, their 1999 victory was particularly sweet, having taken part in every edition since 1959, and one boat having to overcome rig damage from a collision in the second race.
By 2001, interest had waned entirely; by now neither the Fastnet nor Cowes Week were included in the Admiral’s Cup race series, and the racing scene faced a slump thanks to escalating costs and rating rule changes. The event was put on hold. A change to encourage entries – of two (rather than three) boats from any one club (rather than nation) – saw 2003 go ahead, with the Royal Prince Alfred YC team of Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats and Colin O’Neil’s Aftershock dubbed the winners. But then, a last-minute cancellation in 2005 saw the event become dormant for more than two decades.
Admiral’s Cup: A New Beginning
History, however, is history, and now, after years of ‘what ifs…’, the event is finally fully reawakening, enabling an important new era to begin.
For 2025’s event, club (or country) representative teams will field two boats racing under IRC, one in Admiral’s Cup 1 (TCC 1.280-1.464, LH 13.41-17.20m) and one in Admiral’s Cup 2 (TCC 1.100-1.276, LH 11-13.40m). Fifteen teams and several new boats have been confirmed. Many of the world’s best sailors are signed up, there are no nationality or pro-sailor limits, and crews include a minimum of one female and one under-27 sailor.
When the first race gets underway on 19 July, the competition is expected to be intense. The RORC management race team has Steve Cole as race director and Stuart Childerley as PRO, working closely with a special Admiral’s Cup Advisory Committee and tasked with ensuring fair racing. The series mirrors schedules of Admiral’s Cups past, with weighted scoring; a Channel Race is followed by several inshores with the Fastnet as the finale; Cowes Week has not been included.
Socials at RORC’s recently revamped Cowes clubhouse will kick-start the event, with a grand prizegiving in Cherbourg post-Fastnet wrapping things up in style. There will be plenty to celebrate no doubt in an event that is set to inspire and provide opportunity for a whole cohort of sailors for whom the Admiral’s Cup has, until this point, been consigned to the history books – which, while defining, are now somewhat dusty.
Already, the superlative level of competition promised by this event has provided a focal point for campaigns and design development. And while the entry list is bursting with prestige, it’s also packed with youth orientated development teams, a huge boost for the race scene overall.
Admiral’s Cup: Meet the Teams
With inshore and offshore elements, and its unique two-boat scoring format, the overall winner of the Admiral’s Cup will need crews and yachts – times two – to excel at both technical and endurance sailing.
Many teams have already congregated in the Solent in preparation, and are swelling numbers at key events. Just as was Wyatt’s aspiration back in the day, the 2025 Admiral’s Cup is set to raise the bar.
One of two teams representing the host club RORC (‘Red’), is long-time Admiral’s Cup revival campaigner and past RORC Commodore, James Neville, sailing his well-proven and super-slick Carkeek 45 Ino Noir alongside fellow RORC member, Per Roman on his JPK1180, Garm, one of three competing, and overall the lowest rated entrant. Roman has described the competition as likely to be a “hornet’s nest”, but that’s something it seems he’s well prepared for, coming fresh from a convincing IRC2 win at the RORC Easter Challenge.
RORC ‘White’ meanwhile comprises two top-pedigree race boats under new ownership: Chris Frost’s Carkeek 40+ AMP-Lifi (ex Girls on Film) along with Jon Desmond’s PAC52 Final Final (ex Warrior Won); the latter will bolster their build up with the IRC Nationals in June, while Chris Frost’s team will clock up crucial extra offshore miles in the Myth of Malham.
The Admiral’s Cup would not seem complete, given its early origins, without an American entry, and for 2025 that comes in the form of New York YC. The Botin 56 Black Pearl, the highest rated in IRC1, skippered by Stefan Jentzsch, boasts a multi-national team of pros among them manager Marc Lagesse. Black Pearl joins its offshore prowess with the Ker 43 Abracadabra, skippered by father and son duo Donald Thinschmidt Jr and Snr with Andy Beadsworth onboard.
Given that the current holder of the Admiral’s Cup is Australia, it’s entirely fitting to see the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia proudly fielding a team in what Commodore Sam Haynes described as “a premier event in offshore sailing”. Gordon Ketelbey’s TP52 Zen joins with Sean Langman’s modified GP42, Back 2 Black (ex Khumbu). Langman purchased Back 2 Black especially for this regatta, and has employed the expertise of Nick Bonner to help master the local conditions.
Holders of the ‘other’ Cup (yes, the America’s) the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is expected to fare well, with the combo of current Fastnet Race and past Sydney-Hobart winner Max Klink’s Botin 52 Caro, and James Murray’s GP42 Callisto (ex Dark ‘N’ Stormy). Both are already training hard, with Caro placing second in IRC1 at the RORC Easter Challenge, and Callisto aiming to boost Fastnet prep with entry to the 235nm Myth of Malham Race.
Also turning heads will be first-time Admiral’s Cup entrant Yacht Club de Monaco, a team spearheaded by Peter Harrison, owner of the two entered boats – the Botin 52 Jolt 3, and a Carkeek 40, Jolt 6, (ex Rebellion). Support comes from Pierre Casiraghi, Vice-President of the Club and founder of Team Malizia, who will skipper Jolt 6 with an all-star crew including Boris Hermann, Will Harris, and Cole Brauer. Harrison describes the event as “legendary” and predicts close racing with “little room for error”, putting big emphasis on pre-event training. The entry forms part of a vision by the club’s President, HSH Prince Albert II to inspire followers of Boris Herrmann/Team Malizia’s success in the Vendée Globe. Recent first and third places in IRC1 at the RORC Easter Challenge shows the Jolt duo are well placed to do just that.
A Formidable Pairing
From across the Channel, Eric de Turckheim’s NM54 Teasing Machine and Philippe Frantz’s NM43 Albator present a formidable pairing for the Yacht Club de France. Both are well-respected IRC racers with outstanding track records – Teasing Machine, recent winner of both the RORC Transatlantic and the Middle Sea races, is known for her experienced team of regulars which includes Laurent Pagès as manager/tactician.
Heading up the team for Italy’s Yacht Club Costa Smeralda is Giovanni Lombardi Stronati, with a brand-new, truly head-turning one-design, the Wally Rocket Django WR51, set to be the world’s fastest boat under IRC and ORC rating, racing alongside a JPK 1180 Django JPK, which has headed to the Solent early to include the Myth of Malham in its warm-up. Crews are largely drawn from the Azzurro TP52 programme; Vasco Vascotto is team manager and closely involved in the development of the team’s new boat.
A Baltic-based team sees Niklas Zennström’s high-profile Carkeek CF 520 Rán, and Taavet Hinrikus’ offshore-optimised MAT 1220 Nola team up, the two friends uniting their nations of Sweden and Estonia. Of the many top sailors onboard Rán will be Tim Powell, veteran of the Admiral’s Cup. Already clocking second overall in the RORC Caribbean 600 this season, look out for them at the IRC Nationals in June.
Sailing under the burgee of the Royal Irish Yacht Club are two well-known boats, Ron O’Hanley’s Cookson 50 Privateer will sail with Ian Walker onboard. Privateer features a canting keel and has an edge in strong winds, with past successes in the Fastnet and RORC Caribbean 600. Meanwhile, Tom Kneen’s new JPK 1180 Sunrise IV, will also compete. As a relative-newcomer, Kneen’s rapid-paced success in offshore racing is impressive, with stand-out wins including the Fastnet and Middle Sea races. Irish teams have had a long association with the Admiral’s Cup, despite the nation never having won – the vehemence of the 1979 Fastnet putting paid to what was their closest chance; O’Hanley himself has been a big revival supporter, and the RIYC is excited to use their entry to inspire others.
On behalf of the Royal Maas Yacht Club Rotterdam, is Rotterdam Offshore Sailing team (ROST) a KER 46 (the lowest rated in IRC 1) skippered and coached by Gerd-Jan Poortman with a crew of youth sailors on a pro pathway. They’ve teamed up with Baraka GP, a fast Ker 43 (the highest rated entry in IRC2) owned by the Family De Graaf who take a largely Corinthian approach. Both are well-known boats that are currently gathering real momentum on the IRC circuit, shown by a fifth and fourth respectively at the recent IRC Easter Regatta.
Admiral’s Cup veteran Karl Kwok returns for the Royal Hong Kong YC, with an IRC Europeans winning TP52 Beau Geste, and a specially commissioned Botin 40 Beau Ideal. Set to splash in May, the new boat is designed as an all-rounder with simplicity at the fore. This is another team out to inspire, with a team of mixed experience levels managed by Admiral’s – and America’s – Cup veteran Gavin Brady.
With a past win-count of four, second only to the UK’s, Germany certainly has form in the Admiral’s Cup. For 2025, impressively, three teams are entered. From Bayersiche YC in southern Germany, is Carl-Peter Forster’s TP 52 Red Bandit, winner of last year’s Middle Sea Race, and Dirk Clasen’s Humphreys H39 Gingko. Representing Regatta Verein Greifswald is Holger Streckenbach’s TP52 (ex Azzurra past winner 52 Super Series), and Walter Watermann’s GP42 X-Day sailing with a largely youth crew. From Hamburg Sailing Club, is Edelweiss, Thomas Reinecke’s Millenium 40 with Fastnet and Baltic Sea Race pedigree, and Elida, Thomas Tison’s captivating wooden 48ft cruiser-racer which will surely draw the eye.
As for who will win, well, we’ve waited this long…
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