An interview with Chris Arscott and Adrian Gray about the Royal Western Yacht Club's WorldStar 2026

WORLDSTAR © RWYC

The past decade or so has seen an impressive and refreshing uptick in the number of round-the-worth races. These range from singlehanded and doublehanded endeavors to fully crewed efforts, including "retro races", the latter of which attempt to recreate the challenges of racing before the advent of satellite navigation, modern yacht design, and contemporary materials (and comforts). Most recently, the Royal Western Yacht Club, in Plymouth, England, announced its WorldStar 2026 circumnavigation race, which is set to begin unfurling on Plymouth Sound on September 26, 2026.

WorldStar 2026 is open to solo sailors or doublehanded teams that are racing aboard yachts ranging in size from 35 to 60 feet, LOA. Go-fast boats like Open 60s are allowed, so long as they were built prior to 2007, as are cruising yachts, Class 40s, and both IRC- and non-IRC-rated rides.

In all cases, the yacht's skipper must have completed a 2,000-mile nonstop passage any time after January 1, 2023.

According to the event's NOR, the course is straightforward: singlehanded entrants and doublehanded teams exit Plymouth Sound and head south down the Atlantic Ocean before turning west, leaving the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin, and Cape Horn to port, before turning north and finishing back on Plymouth Sound.

While racers are not allowed material contact with other boats, skippers can stop and outside help can be arranged to effect repairs (skippers must notify the race's organizing authority before resuming racing), and all medical help is allowed.

I checked in with Chris Arscott and Adrian Gray, who serve as the Royal Western Yacht Club's commodore and race director of the RWYC's WorldStar 2026 and as the RWYC's vice commodore (respectively), to learn more about this exciting round-the-world race.

What was the RWYC's inspiration (and/or impetus) for creating the WorldStar 2026 race?

The yachting world has moved on considerably since the Royal Western held the first singlehanded transatlantic race (OSTAR) in 1960, and we find we are now in a position to offer events such as this since circumnavigations of this type have become more achievable.

We have been working on our offering recently with new events such as the Fastnet500 and the Round Iceland Race. Each length of race acts as a qualifier to the next category. Put this with the existing races such as the Wolf Rock Race, the RB&I and the OSTAR / TWOSTAR, and we have a four-year cycle of coastal and offshore races, culminating with the WorldStar [2026].

The past few years have seen the advent of several new round-the-world races. What makes the WorldStar 2026 unique amongst the current round-the-world offerings?

The World Star is the only round-the-world yacht race offered by a yacht club that caters for the Corinthian sailor. It also allows the sailors the use of modern-day navigational equipment already available to them. Add to this the opportunity to enter in their own boat (provided it is within ORC Cat 0) and we have a winning formula, which is different to other options out there for all these combined reasons.

What is worth noting is that this event will not be run as a commercial enterprise. We are a highly experienced and recognized yacht club [that's run] almost entirely by volunteers, which makes [WorldStar 2026] far more affordable to those wishing to enter.

Our ethos is to not only help everyone get their campaign to the start line but also to the finish.

I realize that this is the first time that the WorldStar race has been run, but what kind of culture is the RWYC hoping to foster amongst participating teams? Also, who are your target co-skippers? Corinthian sailors? Burgeoning pro sailors.

We are trying to attract a wide range of sailors, from the adventurer aiming to tick it off their bucket list to the aspiring professional. We see this as a training ground for much bigger, more commercial races, as well as a way to conquer a dream with the added safety net of the RWYC watching over them.

We want to bring oceanic racing into the City of Plymouth, Britian's Ocean City. We will be reaching out to schools to get involved by adopting a boat. In turn, the skippers will be encouraged to interact with the schools and share their stories, [and] even show them around their boats when they arrive two weeks before the start.

We want this to be a truly immersive event for all sorts of local people.

Will WorldStar 2026 employ ice gates or waypoints that limit how far south teams can sail in the Southern Ocean?

Absolutely! We will be using ice gates, which will be defined closer to the event in the sailing instructions. Part of the setup of the race will be to include a number of entrants to sit on a steering group so that we offer what the sailors want as much as possible. [This is] something [that] we feel is lacking elsewhere within this type of race.

What was the reason for limiting the minimum LOA requirement to 35-feet? Doesn't this exclude newer but reasonably affordable boats like Sunfast 3300s and J/99s that have proven themselves capable steeds on challenging courses like the Sydney Hobart?

The reason for limiting the minimum LOA requirement to 35-feet was to reduce the duration of the race but in exceptional circumstances we may consider slightly smaller boats on a case-by-case basis.

There is clearly a big difference between races such as the Sydney Hobart and the Southern Ocean circumnavigations. [In the bigger races,] sailors are several days away from help, conditions are inherently far more challenging, not to mention the time it takes to complete the race. At six-to-eight months, [WorldStar 2026] is roughly the equivalent of almost 50 Sydney Hobarts back-to-back.

What was the reason for restricting Open 60s to boats that were built before 2007? Wouldn't you capture many of the same advantages, while possibly keeping the door open to more entries, if all non-foiling Open 60s were allowed to enter?

Boats built before 2007 cannot now race in IMOCA class events, so we are offering an event that they can compete in. It is with the blessing of IMOCA, a class which sits at the pinnacle in terms of oceanic raceboat development.

This naturally creates a pool of boats that still have value to our sport, so we would rather work with these organizations and help support [them].

What was the reason for restricting the race to monohulls? Multihulls have been excluded form this event because, in our experience, they can be less reliable than monohulls.

Multihulls have been excluded from this event because, in our experience, they can be less reliable than monohulls. We feel that monohulls are more suitable for this event and less likely to encounter gear failure.

I've not seen too many NORs that start by listing the race's Environmental Code. What was the RWYC's reasoning in publishing this as the first point in the NOR? Also, aside from this eight-point code, Can you please tell us about any efforts that the RWYC will make to try to lower the WorldStar 2026's environmental footprint or otherwise green-up this offshore event?

We think it's vital to minimize the carbon footprint of these long oceanic events and we will be doing more work with competitors later to reinforce the importance of this. Some things [that] we have implemented are a single spectator and start committee boat. This [vessel is] capable of holding around 150-180 passengers, which in turn means less boats but adds to the atmosphere.

We never use plastic hull or boom stickers, we have made multiple water makers a stipulation so we can reduce the use of plastic bottles, and of course no stop overs means no travelling to restart anywhere.

Is there anything else about WorldStar 2026 that you'd like to add or tell us about, for the record?

This challenge is a dream event for Britain's Ocean City.

Unlike other similar races, this event will not be run as a commercial enterprise, making it much more accessible to all sailors with an interest in entering. It is a first: A world race ran by a Corinthian club for the interest of sailors, by sailors.

We want to foster that feeling of achievement and satisfaction in taking part and finishing the biggest challenge there is on the water!