Racing Record
2026
SEASON
3
L'Aventura 2026
3rd · Leg 2
Double-handed with Oakley Marsh. 18-boat fleet. Vendée to Portugal and back. The team's first podium, 7th overall.
First Podium
29
La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec
29th Overall
57th edition. Three legs from Perros-Guìrec, solo. Legs: 27th, 25th, 28th. Tested digiSail in a race for the first time on leg 1, recovering from last place.
Figaro Rookie
24
Championnat Élite de France
24th Overall
Overall rankings across the full 2026 Figaro circuit season.
Full Season
"Steady progression through the season, from Figaro rookie to first circuit podium at L'Aventura, building pace and boat knowledge with every race." — 2026 Season Report
La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec 2026 · Route
"First podium. First Solitaire. A big season for Team digiLab."
Season Complete
2026
SEASON
2026 delivered. Coached through the winter by the Lorient Grand Large training team, including strategy and Meteo training by Sam Davies (four-time Vendée Globe finisher), Joss qualified for and completed his first Solitaire du Figaro Paprec, the toughest solo offshore race in the world, finishing 29th overall. The season closed at L'Aventura in September with a 3rd place on leg 2: his first podium on the professional Figaro circuit.
The Target Race
"This is the hardest race — not to win, just to do. For me, the Figaro is harder than the Vendée Globe."
— Michel Desjoyeaux, two-time Vendée Globe winner
2026 RACE CALENDAR
MARCH 2026 ✓
Solo Guy Cotten
First solo race ever. 30th of 36 and 7th of 11 rookies. Concarneau. Solitaire qualifier.
Solo Debut
MARCH–APRIL 2026 ✓
Spi Ouest France BPI
Crewed team event. La Trinité-sur-Mer. 11th of 17.
APRIL 2026 ✓
Trophée Laura Vergne
7th of 12. La Trinité-sur-Mer. Solitaire qualifier alongside Solo Guy Cotten.
Solitaire Qualified
APRIL 2026 ✓
BPGO 770 MN
Double-handed with Cole Brauer, the first American woman to sail solo non-stop around the world (479K Instagram followers). Retired after a foil exit line failure from Concarneau.
w/ Cole Brauer
MAY–JUNE 2026 ✓
★ La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec
57th edition, three solo legs from Perros-Guirec. Legs: 27th, 25th, 28th. 29th overall on elapsed time. Tested digiSail in real race conditions on leg 1, recovering from last place.
29th Overall
JUNE–JULY 2026 ✓
Tour Voile
RORC Griffin Project Youth Team. 10 young sailors, 30 races over a month. From back of fleet to consistently mid-pack, including 6th in the Plérin–Camaret stage. Co-coached with Oakley Marsh and meteorologist Ella Boxall.
Youth Development
AUG–SEPT 2026 ✓
L'Aventura · First Podium
Double-handed with Oakley Marsh. 18-boat fleet. Vendée to Portugal and back. Leg 1: 13th. Leg 2: 3rd, the team's first podium. 7th overall. Championnat de France Élite.
First Podium
The Machine
THE
BOAT
Cap Horn #40 is a Figaro Bénéteau 3, the one-design class at the heart of French professional solo offshore racing. Every boat is identical; the difference is entirely down to the sailor and the strategy.
digiSail · AI & Technology
RACING WITH
AI
In partnership with digiLab, a UK AI and machine learning company, Next Step Racing developed digiSail through the 2026 season. It's a decision-support system integrating weather routing, boat performance models, tidal data, and uncertainty-aware AI to sharpen race decisions in real time.
Co-designed with meteorologist Ella Boxall. From shore, Ella ran live routings throughout the season, tracked the fleet, and flagged critical decision moments. Key 2026 findings included quantifying the performance cost of adverse tidal currents, using barometric pressure as a proxy for sea state, and planning sail usage ahead of key race transitions. The boat tagline, "When Uncertainty Matters", connects offshore racing strategy directly to digiLab's core AI proposition.
digiLab Analysis · 2026 Season
WHAT THE
DATA SAYS
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The Campaign So Far
Three races into the 2026 season (the Solo Guy Cotten, the Trophée Laura Vergne and the Trophée BPGO), digiLab have been building and refining the data models that shaped my Solitaire campaign. The first two qualified me for the Solitaire du Figaro Paprec. The BPGO ended in a retirement, but the routing data from that race still fed back into the model.
Figure 1 · Sail Usage, Three Very Different Races
Sail usage as a percentage of race duration varied enormously across the three races. The Atlantic loop (BPGO) was much more tactically demanding than the earlier inshore races, and the Solitaire's three back-to-back legs were expected to resemble it closely. The BPGO values are based on routing projections, since I retired from that race. Ella Boxall (Niskus Performance Ltd) used this analysis to plan routing predictions and sleep scheduling for each Solitaire leg.
Figure 2 · What Actually Defined Each Race
Model weightings show which environmental variables shaped performance in each race. The model separates variables that are generally important from those that decided a specific race. Depth, mean sea level pressure, and current each had different levels of influence depending on the course and conditions. Tide effects shifted significantly between inshore and offshore legs.
Figure 3 · Atmospheric Pressure as a Proxy for Sea State
Lower atmospheric pressure signals active weather, meaning rougher seas and a performance penalty that wind forecasts alone miss. This chart shows the effect of atmospheric pressure on predicted upwind boat speed at different true wind speeds. It became one of the most practically useful outputs of the model: a weather routing tool that accounts for sea state, not just wind.
Figures 4, 5 & 6 · The Current Problem
Even small adverse currents cost more speed than equivalent favourable currents gain. That means routing should actively prioritise avoiding adverse current, not just seeking the favourable. At stronger following currents, downwind performance can actually drop as apparent wind is reduced and sail choices optimised for the previous wind angle become less effective.
0.5 kt current
1.5 kt current
2.5 kt current
What This Means for the Solitaire
The combined picture from all three analyses shaped the tactical approach for the Solitaire: prioritise current avoidance over current seeking; use atmospheric pressure as a live sea-state proxy; plan sail usage around the Atlantic-loop profile rather than the earlier inshore races; and lean on Ella's routing calls at the key decision moments on each leg.
All figures produced by Ella Boxall, Niskus Performance Ltd, using digiLab's models. Campaign supported by digiLab, Mustang Survival, and Lorient Grand Large. Read the full article on digilab.ai →
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