World on Water Sept 19.25 New York Yacht Club, RORC, ENTZ AC Protocol, TF35, La Solitaire du Figaro

Please Subscribe if you like our Global Sailing content, Like and Share. It helps us show our content to more sailors. Thank you. This is your weekly Global Sailing Highlights show, The World on Water, September 19 2025. After what could only be described as a disastrous opening day for the Japan Sailing Federation team competing in the 2025 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, the squad roared back into relevance with a fourth and a first to start Day 2 of the five-day biennial competition. A 14th in the third race of the day tempered the comeback, but the Japanese team was all smiles this evening as team principal Masuhiro Bamba, walked up to accept the prize for winning Race 5. Emirates Team New Zealand are four-time winners and Defenders of the 37th America's Cup and as such they get to set the regatta rules. The 38th event will be held in Italy and their design guru, Dan Bernasconi lays out the new rules. The Royal Ocean Racing Club’s inaugural Cowes Offshore Racing Series has signed off in style after seven thrilling, hard-fought races, marking the start of a bold new chapter for Solent-based offshore competition. Launched in the Club’s Centenary year, the series gave over 500 sailors, both Corinthian and professionals, the chance to go bow-to-bow in a compact but demanding programme. With the best five races counting from seven, the fleet faced everything the Channel could throw at them — from glassy Solent drifters where inches mattered, to bruising legs around notorious headlands and into the open sea. With a three-hour-long Bay Tour race as the final test for competitors, the 61st edition of the Rolex Big Boat Series hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club came to a stunning close. The skippers at the top of the podium in the J/105 and ORC B classes were awarded coveted Rolex Submariner Dates. Bruce Stone and Nicole Breault's Arbitrage came away victorious among the J/105s, the regatta's largest fleet, and Peter Wagner's J/111 Skeleton Key was the victor in the ORC B division. After what could only be described as a disastrous opening day for the Japan Sailing Federation team competing in the 2025 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, the squad roared back into relevance with a fourth and a first to start Day 2 of the five-day biennial competition. A 14th in the third race of the day tempered the comeback, but the Japanese team was all smiles this evening as team principal Masuhiro Bamba (below, left with Rear Commodore Peter Cummiskey) walked up to accept the prize for winning Race 5. After two solid days of racing, with nine races completed and one day lost to light winds, Yann Guichard’s Sails of Change 8 emerged as the clear winner, securing the top spot on the leaderboard with a commanding nine-point margin. Eastern Yacht Club calls it the Reverse Rabbit. When Plan A—usually starting close to the pin—doesn’t go to, well, plan, the Reverse Rabbit is the exit strategy. It’s far from easy and success has to be measured against the alternative. But for Race 8 of the 2025 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, it was the only viable option for tactician Bill Lynn and his EYC teammates. They pulled it off, finished sixth in the race and won the day. Many were hoping to claim victory in the opening leg of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec, but the honours went to Alexis Loison, (Groupe R E E L), who took the win with a race time of 3 days, 18 hours, 55 minutes, and 26 seconds. Hugo Dhallenne, (Skipper Macif 2025), and Charlotte Yven, (Skipper Macif 2023), completed the podium. For the second time in his career, and after 19 participations, Normandy sailor Alexis Loison secures another victory, following his 2014 triumph in Plymouth.