WorldStar 2026

WorldStar 2026 kicks off from the Royal Western Yacht Club on Saturday 26 September, starting at 12:00 BST. It's the club's first ever round-the-world race, and it's a big one: the course starts in Plymouth Sound National Marine Park, heads south down the Atlantic, rounds the three Great Capes — the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn — all to port, and then works its way back north to Plymouth Sound. With ice gates in place, the whole thing is expected to take six to eight months.

It's open to solo and double-handed boats between 35ft and 60ft, short-handed and non-stop under OSR Cat 0 regulations. The club pitches it at adventurers who want a circumnavigation in the boat they already own, without the extensive qualification process other events demand. Race ambassador Guy Waites calls it the ultimate short-handed, non-stop challenge via the three Great Capes.

There's a bit of history behind it too. The Royal Western Yacht Club is a Corinthian club — a non-commercial enterprise run almost entirely by volunteers, by sailors for sailors. WorldStar revives the ethos of the legendary OSTAR, the first single-handed transatlantic race the club staged back in 1960, and it sits alongside the OSTAR and TWOSTAR in the club's 3-STAR Challenge. Sailing legend Pip Hare has been announced as Patron of WorldStar 2026.

One of the entrants is Jazz Turner, a full-time wheelchair user with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, who's aiming to be the first female disabled sailor to complete the challenge. The race starts at 12:00 BST on 26 September from Plymouth Sound.