Karl Otto Book and Maren Magda Book have booked their place in the 2026 Offshore Double Handed World Championship final, winning a brutal repechage race off Marseille that offered just one place to the entire fleet of also-rans.
There was no second prize on offer here. The Norwegian pair aboard NOR01 crossed the finish at 09:37:20 after 124 nautical miles of racing, the longest course of the championship so far, narrowly holding off Richard Bretherton and Inka Lührs on IRL01. Hugo Ramon Froye and Gráinne Costigan's ESP01 finished close behind in third.
Crews sailed from Marseille towards Cap Croisette and the limestone cliffs of the Riou islands, turned downwind to the ODAS buoy, then pushed north-west to Baronnets off the Camargue coast before facing a 60-nautical-mile overnight beat home past Planier lighthouse and the Frioul Islands.
ESP01 led off the start line in a 10-12 knot south-easterly, with NOR01 and IRL01 in tow. The fleet's first real decision came at the passage between Cap Croisette and Île Maïre, a notoriously tight 70-metre gap with depths of only two to four metres and cliffs that funnel the wind into vicious gusts.
NOR01 tacked through first. ESP01 wasn't so lucky, swallowed by a wind shadow under the cliffs and slipping to third.
USA01 also threaded the gap, while CAN01 and JPN01 opted for the longer route around the outside of the island.
Around Grand Congloué Island, the eastern turning mark, NOR01 rounded first and nailed a clean A2 spinnaker hoist to open a gap on the fleet. ESP01 followed cleanly too, but NOR02 fumbled its kite briefly, handing third to USA01.
Then the race turned on its head. At the ODAS buoy the fleet split tactically, and those who gybed right into stronger pressure, USA01 and IRL01 among them, found a faster downwind angle. By nightfall at Baronnets, USA01 held a 1.5-nautical-mile lead over IRL01, with ESP01 third and NOR01 back in fourth.
It didn't last.
The long beat back to Marseille suited NOR01 far better than the run out had. The Norwegians clawed back through the fleet overnight, and by midnight the lead was swapping between IRL01 and NOR01, with ESP01 never far away. For long stretches, the top three were separated by barely a tenth of a nautical mile.
IRL01 threw everything at the final reach from Planier lighthouse, even unfurling the Code Zero in marginal conditions to try to find an extra edge in speed. It wasn't quite enough, and NOR01 held on to take the win.
That result secures NOR01 the final spot in the championship decider, joining AUS01, BEL01, FRA01, FRA02, GER01, GER02, NED01, SWE01, SWE02 and URU01.
It's a strong field. NED01's Simeon Tienpont brings three Volvo Ocean Race campaigns and two America's Cup wins to the table, while URU01's Federico Waksman won the 2023 Mini Transat. BEL01's Djemila Tassin holds the Class40 24-hour distance record set during the 2025/26 Globe40 round-the-world race, recognised by the World Sailing Speed Record Council, sailing alongside four-time Belgian Sailor of the Year Jonas Gerckens.
GER02's Lina Rixgens won her class in the Race to the Arctic, and SWE02's Lena Having and Eivind Bøymo-Malm finished third in the same event. GER01's Clara Witthinrich won her class in the Baltic 500, while FRA01's Thomas André is the reigning champion from 2025.
As for the Books, they finished fourth in last year's edition. Marseille has given them another crack at the podium, earned the hard way.
