Berlin students embark on RORC Transatlantic Race to Antigua

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Sailing - 2026 RORC Transatlantic Race - Arrecife, Lanzarote, Spain - January 10, 2026 Crew members prepare Walross 4 for the RORC transatlantic race from Lanzarote to Antigua starting on Sunday REUTERS/Ossian Shine

ARRECIFE, Lanzarote, Jan 10 - For some of offshore sailing’s royalty setting off on the RORC Transatlantic Race from Lanzarote to Antigua on Sunday, the race is a chance to break records or burnish already glittering reputations.

For other competitors, it is the realisation of a lifelong dream.

For Matthias Kahnt, the 39-year-old skipper of Walross 4, it is an opportunity to share his love of sailing with a crew of students — and to pass on lessons from a transatlantic crossing that will stay with them for life.

Kahnt is leading a novice crew drawn from Berlin’s Akademischer Segler-Verein, a German sailing club focused on connecting students with offshore sailing. While Olympians, America’s Cup veterans and world champions across the fleet are scrutinising tiny marginal gains, Kahnt is drilling the fundamentals.

“We have done a lot of provisioning… I think it’s the biggest challenge for the young crew, to calculate how much water do we need for the crossing to have some spare water as well,” he said.

The crew will sail the race using a classic two-watch system.

“Two watch captains and each watch has four people and they’re just changing during the day time every six hours and during the night every four hours,” Kahnt said.

The race forms part