The core four—two doublehanded Red Ruby teams—all representing the PNW!

All good things must end eventually, and so it is with our beloved Red Ruby racing project aboard our shared Jeanneau SunFast 3300. For my boat partners Chris and Justin Wolfe (who 48° North readers have heard from many times in this column over the last few years), and for me and those I’ve had the privilege to sail with on Red Ruby—this has been an immensely satisfying adventure on many levels. It has been quite a ride at times, with unexpected twists, successes, and also humbling moments.

The sea is benevolent yet powerful, especially in Brittany and the English Channel. We have all been tested. But we had some victories as well—winning the ORC Doublehanded Worlds (Class B) and the IRC Doublehanded Europeans, in addition to Middle Sea and Fastnet race exploits. Here are some of our takeaways from two years of intense doublehanded ocean racing.

A married couple can kick ass at this. Chris and Justin’s incredible partnership allowed them to sail at a very high level while showing steady improvement. In a brutally tough Rolex Fastnet Race, they persevered and thrived, despite injury and big seas, finishing seventh out of 106 doublehanders, with Chris earning accolades as the top finishing woman skipper. Then, they won the Middle Sea Race in ORC and Doublehanded. Not many examples of a married couple doing that… in any sport!

It’s all about the partners. I was fortunate to have an amazing cast of doublehanded partners in this project. Alyosha Strum-Palerm was a critical part of Red Ruby’s success. And Peter Isler, Will Harris, Olivier Diouris, Justin Wolfe, and Carl Buchan all raced with me. I learned so much from each of them, and we shared some great and intense times together.

Racing in another part of the world is difficult yet satisfying. It turns out that our discipline on Red Ruby—doublehanded offshore sailboat racing—is not regularly practiced here in the Pacific Northwest. But it is quite popular in France and England, with large fleets of nearly identical boats. Running a program from afar takes some effort. The journey is the reward of course, and the experiences we had made it all worthwhile.

We made some amazing friends along the way. From Malta to Cowes, we have gotten to know some really great people from other countries. We also saw beautiful sights, from St. Malo to Barcelona, and our appreciation of the world and its waterways only grew.

Chris and Justin crush the start of an epic Fastnet Race on Red Ruby.

Two sailing teams is better than one. By sharing one boat between two sailing teams, we attended a lot more races than you could as one team. And by sharing our debriefs after each event, both teams could improve more rapidly. Collaborating in this way also made us feel like we were part of something larger. To make this arrangement work, you obviously need the right partners, and in this case our goals were well matched and we had a previous history of working together. It takes some extreme trust and mutual respect to make it work optimally.

Effective planning and continuous learning wins. The Wolfes set an excellent example of upskilling themselves and preparing all aspects of the program between events. I learned a lot about this from them!

So after two years of great ocean racing, it is with heavy hearts that the Red Ruby team says goodbye to this chapter. We have been gratified and humbled by our followers’ interest in the project. It feels really great to have folks back home in the Pacific Northwest support us and care about what we were doing. We have enjoyed passing along some of our tales and lessons along the way.

Be on the lookout for future racing projects from us all. Chris and Justin are having fun with their new boat, the Riptide 35 Ripple. And I can usually find some trouble to get into, so you may hear from us again in these pages.

After four days at sea, Jonathan and Will Harris take a podium finish in the La Drheam-Cup.