Magnitude Gap
JACKKNIFE clears the Transatlantic allowance board by 34 sec/nm.
JACKKNIFE (J-125, Johnstone R, AEROCORE) led the 2026 comparative-allowance field at −185.97 sec/nm vs the ORC median — 34 sec/nm clear of NEOJIVARO (Neo-430 Roma, Ceccarelli YD, AEROSTREAM) at −151.91 in second. Stimmy (Sunfast 3300, KEELRUN) followed at −69.88 sec/nm in third, a further 82 sec/nm back — the top two ran away from the rest of the comparative board entirely after 3,000 nm of crossing. The allowance metric and the scored result are different surfaces, and FleetEdge does not conflate them — but at this running they point the same way: JACKKNIFE also took 3rd in its published IRC division standing, the only boat to lead the allowance board and hold a top-three scored finish at once. The sample is small (5 of 10 boats reach FleetEdge’s comparative-data threshold across the crossing) but the magnitude is unambiguous.
- 1st: JACKKNIFE · −185.97 sec/nm · AEROCORE
- 2nd: NEOJIVARO · −151.91 sec/nm · 34.1 sec/nm gap
- 3rd: Stimmy · −69.88 sec/nm · 82.0 sec/nm behind 2nd
Cross-Family Contrast
BECOOL leads both VMG boards and trails the allowance field.
BECOOL (Swan 128, Frers G, AEROFORCE) tops both Transatlantic 2026 VMG dimensions at once — Upwind VMG at 12 kt at 8.12 kn (1.69 kn clear of LINNEA AURORA), and Downwind VMG at 12 kt at 9.20 kn (1.17 kn clear of the same boat) — yet sits last of the five comparative-allowance entries at +26.78 sec/nm, the only positive figure on the board. Negative is faster than the rating expects, so a positive allowance means the corrected-time table read the Swan 128 as slower than its rating asked across the week. The families are measuring different things: the polars describe what the platform can do at a fixed 12-knot reference, and the allowance describes what the boat and crew actually returned over 3,000 nm of trade-wind sailing under a rating built for it. BECOOL finished 16th in its published IRC division standing. On a superyacht platform that gap is the story — length and rig power set a high reference bar, and a week at sea is a long time to hold it.
- BECOOL Upwind VMG-12kt: 8.12 kn · fleet-leading (1.69 kn clear)
- BECOOL Downwind VMG-12kt: 9.20 kn · fleet-leading (1.17 kn clear)
- BECOOL Comparative Time: +26.78 sec/nm · 5th of 5 on the allowance board
Nationality Cluster
Three GBR top-five places, across three IRC divisions.
GBR-flagged fleet boats took 2nd, 3rd, and 5th in three separate published IRC division standings at the 2026 Transatlantic — INO NOIR (Ker-46) 2nd in IRC One, JACKKNIFE (J-125) 3rd in IRC Two, and RAVEN (Comfortina 32) 5th in IRC Zero. No fleet boat took a division win, but the British group owns the chasing places — and it does so from three very different platforms in three different rating bands. The concentration is national, not structural — three differently sized, differently drawn boats from the same flag converting a 3,000 nm trade-wind crossing into top-five corrected-time finishes, from the 14 m Ker-46 to the 9.5 m Comfortina 32. In a start line that is a group worth naming, with the usual small-sample caveat attached.
- 2nd, IRC One: INO NOIR · GBR · Ker-46
- 3rd, IRC Two: JACKKNIFE · GBR · J-125
- 5th, IRC Zero: RAVEN · GBR · Comfortina 32
Composition Shift
A different leader on the start line.
The current fleet baseline is AEROSTREAM-led — 53.8% of the 13 classified boats, a clear majority, with AEROCORE and AEROFORCE level behind it at 15.4% each — but the 2026 start line, read at the FleetEdge view published nearest the race, hands the lead to a different group. At that view, 5 of the 10 starters carry an archetype assignment — a smaller classified group than the full fleet, so the contrast is directional rather than a one-to-one shift — and AEROFORCE leads with 2 of the 5 classified hulls (40%), while single AEROCORE, AEROSTREAM, and KEELRUN hulls hold 20% each. AEROFORCE — the large, level-sailing platform with neutral righting reserve — holds 15.4% of the current fleet baseline yet took two of the five classified places on the race-adjacent view of the start line, while the fleet’s leading upwind-power group held just one. At five classified hulls one boat is a fifth of the picture, so this is a difference of view and population, not a measured migration. Only INO NOIR and ROCK'N'ROLL appear in both editions of the analytic record; the biennial schedule keeps the fleet small, and the next edition runs in 2028.
- Fleet baseline (13 boats, current): AEROSTREAM 53.8% · AEROCORE 15.4% · AEROFORCE 15.4% · LEANFORCE and HEFTLINE 7.7% each
- 2026 start line, race-adjacent view (5 of 10 starters classified): AEROFORCE 40% · AEROCORE, AEROSTREAM, and KEELRUN 20% each
- Editions populated: 2025 (5) · 2026 (10) · both editions: INO NOIR + ROCK'N'ROLL