Offshore Two-Handed Mixed World Championships: Two German crews in the final!

The third Two-Handed Mixed World Championship, following the inaugural event in Lorient in 2024 and the second edition in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, will once again be held in France. In the former Olympic venue of Marseille, the 17 challenger crews from 13 countries have gathered at the Cercle Nautique & Touristique du Lacydon (CNTL) in the Old Harbour of the Mediterranean metropolis. The event is co-organised by World Sailing and the Yacht Club de France.

Offshore Mixed Doubles World Championships: Rixgens to compete for the third time

The two qualifying races are already over. The good news: both German teams have qualified directly for the final featuring the top eleven. The final gets underway on 30 September at 11.00 am. The battle for the world championship title will be contested on Sun Fast 30OD keelboats, provided by Cap Regatta. A glance at the list of participants had already given it away even before the first races: the standard has risen yet further.

“The standard is very high and gets better every year,” noted Lina Rixgens (Seglerhaus am Wannsee sailing club), a two-time Mini-Transat finisher, who is competing in the Mixed Double-Handed Offshore World Championship for the third time. In 2024, she sailed to sixth place with Sverre Reincke (Schilksee Gymnastics and Sports Club, founded in 1947). In 2025, the couple – who were now married – competed as Team Rixgens Reincke Offshore Racing finished the World Cup in seventh place.

This year, Reincke had to pull out for work commitments. Lina Rixgens is competing in the World Championships alongside the Kiel-based offshore and IMOCA sailor Andreas Baden (Deutscher Regatta Segelclub). The newly formed duo finished their qualifying race with pinpoint precision: fifth place in their group was exactly what they needed to secure direct qualification for the final.

A spot-on finish after a false start for Rixgens/Baden

They got off to a winning start in the first half of the Offshore Mixed Double-Handed World Championships, despite committing a false start in their qualifying group and also having to make up for a penalty incurred at the start. “We really messed it up; we could have done better. Two boats pushed us up on the leeward side and it was a bit tight. We started again at the pin and were in last place at first,” said Lina Rixgens.

As the race – which had been drastically shortened to 64 nautical miles due to predominantly light winds and had a much more inshorethan offshore in character, they managed first a strong comeback and then successfully defended their crucial fifth place against the fiercely attacking Irish pair Richard Bretherton and Inka Luhrs, who crossed the finish line just a few minutes after the Germans. “We moved into cover relatively early; we were determined to secure fifth place. That was the main objective,” explained Andreas Baden.

Conditions were more reliable in the second qualifying group’s race during the second half than at the start. “We had a relatively steady nine to eleven knots then; it was better than forecast,” reported Lina Rixgens, whose crew crossed the finish line during the night from Saturday to Sunday.

Their rivals are experienced round-the-world sailors and a Mini Transat winner

The winners in Group Two were the joint favourites, the Belgians Jonas Gerckens and Djemila Tassin, who have only just sailed round the world together on the Globe40. Also through to the final were the French duo Thomas André and Julia Colombe, the Swedish pair Anna Drougge and Emil Forsgren, and the 2023 Mini Transat winner Federico Waksman, alongside his experienced co-skipper Irena Gracheva.

Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt (Greifswald Regatta Club) and Clara Witthenrich (Rostock Sailing Club “Citybootshafen”) are competing in a mixed double-handed World Championship for the first time. For them, the World Championships mark several firsts. Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt says: “This is the first time we’ve sailed on the Sun Fast 30OD boats provided. It’s our first time sailing in this area; we’ve never been to Marseille before. And, following the Baltic 500 (Ed.: which they won in the Dehler 30OD class), this is only our second regatta together.”

The duo got off to a flying start at the World Championships. In their qualifying group at the Offshore Two-Handed Mixed World Championships, Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt and Clara Witthinrich surprised even themselves by finishing second – and comfortably qualifying for the final. They were only pipped to the post by the French favourites, Christopher Pratt and Mailys Radulic.

Offshore Two-Handed Mixed World Championships: Pratt/Radulic are the favourites

Pratt lives in Marseille as a professional offshore sailor; he has sailed with many IMOCA greats and competed in leg four of the 2023 Ocean Race with Boris Herrmann’s Team Malizia. The Frenchman knows the Marseille waters inside out and has also been able to prepare intensively for the championship there on the World Championship boats. “Anyone who wants to win here will have to get past Chris,” Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt also realises.

His crew’s participation in the World Championships is thanks to a suggestion from Robert Jacobsen of the Technical and Offshore Racing Department at the German Sailing Association. “To be asked to do something like this is a great honour. And I also feel honoured to be able to sail against such incredible competition,” said Oliver Schmit-Rybandt in Marseille.

The experienced offshore instinct sailor and Clara Witthinrich, who only joined the Rostock Speedsailing team around two years ago, make an exciting crew. “Clara is the quickest learner I’ve ever come across,” says the 48-year-old sailor, paying tribute to his 24-year-old co-skipper.

Schmidt-Rybandt and Witthenrich: only their second regatta together

The Baltic 500, which they sailed together and won in the Dehler 30OD class, had marked their joint regatta debut. Schmidt-Rybandt explains: “Clara always knew everything: how full the battery was, how much water was in the tanks, who had slept when, which sail change was due – no matter what, it was impressive. Sure, I’m the one who understands the boat in my sleep, but Clara was the manager. She did that very well.”

Building on this promising start, Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt and Clara Witthinrich got off to a flying start together at the Offshore Mixed Double-Handed World Championships in Marseille. Just like Lina Rixgens and Andreas Baden in qualifying group two, the Rostock pair didn’t take their foot off the gas for a single minute in their opening race. Their qualifying race did, however, take a few hours longer.

At times, the Rostock crew were even ahead of Christopher Pratt and Mailys Radulic whilst sailing under spinnaker. Schmidt-Rybandt explains: “Pratt was right alongside us the whole time under spinnaker. We even managed to pull a bit ahead of him on the downwind leg. But when we were double-headed, he really flew towards the mark.” Two-thirds of the way through the race, a well-timed gybe allowed the Rostock team to make up a few more places.

Through a combination of luck and skill, into the final of the Offshore Mixed Doubles World Championships

Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt and Clara Witthinrich described their successful start to the World Championships – in what were difficult conditions, particularly in the first half of the race, during which they later also faced 25-knot winds and top speeds of up to 17 knots – as a combination of luck and good decision-making. Just how much these two factors will count in the top eleven final will become clear from Wednesday (start: 11.00). Until then, the World Championship repechage will take place, in which only the winners can still qualify for the final.

Alongside Pratt/Radulic and Schmidt-Rybandt/Witthinrich, the Australians Annie Stevenson/Peter Winter, the former round-the-world sailor Simeon Tienpont/Christine Walter (Netherlands), the Swedes Lena Having and Eivind Bøymo-Malm have all qualified directly for the final of the Mixed Double-Handed World Championship.

Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt and Clara Witthinrich’s expectations remain modest ahead of the final, which features eleven teams. He says: “We weren’t expecting anything beforehand. A single-digit finish would be good.” She says: “Single-digit and perhaps just off the podium. That would be like a victory for us.” The final will also see the two German crews face each other for the first time. Lina Rixgens said of her team’s hopes: “We’d like to sail into the top six and hope we don’t have pursuers breathing down our necks for another eight hours.”