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12 April 2024


2024 Prelude
Race Start: Saturday 20 April 2024 at 0000 UTC
(1000 AEST Melbourne time).

Sailonline.org is pleased to once again team up with the organising authority of the Melbourne Osaka Cup Double-Handed Yacht Race 2025 to introduce a 2024 'Prelude' of the real race. With Sailonline's almost real time weather downloads from NOAA, this is intended to give prospective entrants in the real race next year a great opportunity to test their weather navigation skills. The 'Prelude' is timed to run at a similar time of the year as the real race so weather patterns may be similar.

The Melbourne to Osaka Yacht Race is a 5,500 nautical mile 2 handed yacht race - one of the longest two handed yacht races in the world and the only one running from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere. It encounters multiple weather systems and seasons as it crosses the Pacific ocean. The course takes the competitors into Bass Strait, up the east coast of Australia into the southeast tradewinds then through the ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone – the Pacific Ocean Doldrums) on the equator. It then heads into the northeast tradewinds to the finish in the port of Osaka.

The race, first held in 1987 to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the opening of the Port of Osaka, is held approx. every four years to celebrate the City of Melbourne and the City of Osaka sister city relationship.

The 2025 event coincides with major events in both Melbourne and Osaka. 2025 will be the centenary of the visit of the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet to Melbourne in 1925 and it is anticipated that a substantial fleet will return to acknowledge the continuing close ties between Australia and the USA. The fleet may be in Port Phillip at the time of the Melbourne Osaka Cup start, so you never know who or what vessel may turn up to be the start boat. Also in 2025, the eyes of the world will be on Osaka as Melbourne’s sister city hosts World Expo 2025. The Expo 2025 site will be on Yumashima Island in Osaka Bay adjacent to the Osaka Hokko Yacht Club and the finish line will be nearby,

The Melbourne Osaka Double Handed Yacht Race Ltd, is the Organising Authority for the event, with the co-operation of the:

Ocean Racing Club of Victoria – on-water race management

Sandringham Yacht Club – host Club in Melbourne

Osaka Hokko Yacht Club – host Club in Osaka.

For the virtual M2O Prelude, Sailonline will be using the polar of a Beneteau First 40 yacht, a popular design sailed in waters all over the world. This virtual design has been chosen as it is representative of the majority of the yachts entered so far.

The Sailonline race opens for registration and practice on Saturday, 13 April 2024 at 0000 UTC (1000 AEST) to enable everyone, especially newcomers, to learn the ropes in time for the start.

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Races

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Current Races:

Newport Bermuda Race 2026


The 636-mile Newport Bermuda Race is one of the oldest regularly scheduled ocean races, and with the Fastnet and the Sydney Hobart Race, it is one of the three great classic races of the yachting world. First raced in 1906, now in its 54th biennial, the Race can again also be participated in online. In real life, the race is open to entry in four different division – Double-Handed, St. David's Lighthouse, Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, and Finisterre Division – which in the past we have also offered online. This year, however, our online race will be all-in one-design in silky swift Club Swan 50 yachts, so that your results can count towards SOL’s SUPerBUDdy title, whilst hopefully still giving you a chance of overall line honours against the fastest yachts of the real-life Gibbs Hill Division, especially if you can find some forecast winds that don’t quite work out that way on the real water!
Race #2038
INFOby brainaid.de
Club Swan 50 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: SUPBUD - SYC
Race starts: Jun 19th 17:05 Registration Open!
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Shetland Race 2026 - Leg 1


Get ready to tackle the North Sea as we sail from Norway’s stunning outer Korsfjorden to the rugged Shetland Isles! Welcome to an exciting new chapter for this classic 190-nautical-mile ocean route, bringing our global community together for a true test of strategy and seamanship.

This year, the race is a proud stop in Sailonline's 2026 Super Buddy Championship, which features our real-life racing partnerships over the calendar year. We are stepping aboard the Linjett 33, a sturdy Swedish cruiser-racer designed by Mats Gustavsson and built by Rosättra Båtvarv. Seasoned veteran or eager newcomer, prepare for intense competition.

Plot your course and see you at the start line!
Race #2039
INFO by brainaid.de
Linjett 33 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: SHE - RED - SUPBUD - SYC
Race starts: Jun 17th 11:00 Registration will open soon
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Bluefin Tuna - Mexico Gulf to North Sea 2026

Join us and follow the Bluefin Tuna, as they migrate from their spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico to their feeding grounds in the North Sea off the coast of Norway. This 4300 nm race is part of our Ocean Championship and the final race of OCQ2 2026, and also the second leg of our Migration series. We will be sailing in our Gunboat 90. Race #2035
INFO by brainaid.de
Gunboat 90 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: OCQ2 - MIG - OCCH - SYC
Race starts: Jun 08th 11:00 Registration Open!
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Thessaloniki to Port Said 2026

Welcome back to the Eastern Mediterranean for the fifth race of our Magical Mediterranean Series. Only marginally less unlikely to be ever raced in real life during SOL’s lifetime than our previous race from Tobruk to Iskenderun, this 710nm race takes us from Greece’s ancient northern port of Thessaloniki through the Aegean island maze, south east into the Levantine Sea to a finish in modern Port Said, in splendid Swan 65s!
Race #1977
INFO by brainaid.de
Swan 65 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: MED - SYC
RACE CLOSE: Wednesday,
June 17 at 2300 UTC.
Race starts: Jun 06th 15:00 Registration Closed

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