The Yacht Racing Forum returns to Amsterdam on 20 and 21 November 2025, coinciding with the closing day of Metstrade and the following day.
The 15th edition will bring together members of the sailing and yacht-racing industry for discussions, networking, and business opportunities and partnerships.
Founded in 2008, the Yacht Racing Forum hosts two days of conferences, debates and meetings involving industry professionals from across the world. The 2024 event attracted 289 delegates representing 28 nationalities.
The 2025 edition will feature representatives from SailGP, Amaala Yacht Club, The Ocean Race, the IMOCA Class, and the Admirals’ Cup, along with suppliers including Spinlock, FT Technologies, MUSTO, Nuncas Marine, Beneteau and Gurit. The forum is set to provide a platform to examine current challenges, share developments and explore the sport’s commercial and technical future.
The full schedule for the 2025 Yacht Racing Forum is now live.
Bruno Dubois will open the conference on Thursday as keynote speaker. Dubois is known for his work in the America’s Cup, the Volvo Ocean Race and SailGP, and for his experience in management, strategy and team leadership.
“I believe the Yacht Racing Forum is the perfect place for people in our industry to share their view on what the world of sailing is and should be,” says Dubois. “It is often at the YRF that major initiatives are taken in terms of pathways and equities. The technical part of the forum is the place to learn about new developments and the best place to get close to the people behind the products. As an old salty sailor, I am going each time I can to the Yacht Racing Forum to get inspired and to understand what the world of tomorrow will be.”
This edition’s programme offers a diverse agenda. Day one features Shirley Robertson and a plenary module on sports governance and event management, including a panel: “What future for the sport of sailing?” and a presentation by David Graham, CEO of World Sailing. The design & technology symposium runs in the afternoon, covering topics such as composite materials for sustainability and performance, inclusive boat design, heel and upwash effects on wind calculation, and power sources including hydrogen, lithium batteries, LNG and ammonium.
Day two opens with a SailGP success story followed by team case studies, and later includes a session on bridging amateur and elite sailing, event management case studies, the Yacht Racing Image Award announcement, an Ocean Race Europe debrief, and lessons from Vendée Globe 2024-25 for the IMOCA Class. Russell Coutts will deliver the keynote address on Friday.
Amaala Yacht Club is the title partner of the 2025 event. Located on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast, the club will also host The Ocean Race in 2027. Its facilities will include 116 berths for yachts up to 140 metres, with the marina unveiled recently at the Monaco Yacht Show. Representatives of Amaala Yacht Club, including Rosanna Chopra, executive director at Red Sea Global, and Adrian Peet, general manager of Amaala Yacht Club, will attend to present the project and meet delegates.
1080 Media TV has joined as the official television production company for the 2025 forum. Founder and CEO Cliff Webb says: “Having attended the Yacht Racing Forum over very many years, indeed since it’s inaugural event, it has been very rewarding to see the growth and interest in this exciting meeting place for the racing industry.
Photo courtesy of WMRT / Ian Roman
“Always topical, attracting a broad range of senior executives, media and sailors, the forum generates debate and discussion around often difficult subjects, and is a proven ‘melting pot’ of ideas and opinions, and so we are delighted to become an official media partner to the forum, and to be working with Bernard and his team.”
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