A new measurement system
by John Curnow, Sail-World.com AUS Editor 29 Dec 2025 16:00 GMT
Racing on board © Titlespace Yeah Baby
What if you could create something that measured for real? You wouldn't need acronyms like IMS, IRC, ORCi, UMS, AMS, MOCRA, ORR, OMR, or PHRF. No hull factors deployed. No age allowances required. No weighing involved. No recut of sails. No extra time waiting for a new certificate. The rating can be determined by anyone. Seriously.
Utopian? Quite likely. A minefield of challenges? Most certainly.
So, what if you looked at it in another way? Now that could really help. You'd need to be open-minded. You'd need to say, yes, before you jumped on any other train of thought. We are going to try and bend light.
Got there? Cool. Then imagine a 628nm Sydney to Hobart race measured not just by any correction of time, but rather distance multiplied by time, not divided by it. What if the time you were offering was priceless, literally? What if you were talking about something that involved a linear acceleration of 1 to 7? Impressive, hey.
Homeward Bound (a few yachties will have said that a few times in the 2025 Hobart)
Well, Titlespace Yeah Baby have found something way simpler than anything Alan Turing ever worked on. Your title sponsor took your 628 nautical miles, and converted it into 4,396 nights of shelter for vulnerable children. That's one whole week for each of the 628 children each nautical mile relates to. Yes. Priceless.
Talk about racing with a purpose. Measure that any which way you want, and it always says, winner.
Identical twins, Louis and Marc Ryckmans, are the Owners of Titlespace Yeah Baby, they're long-time offshore racers with 13 and 12 previous Hobarts, respectively, and also finished on the podium in their division. They used to have the Wellbourn 50 of the same name, then went after an Akilaria RC2, which was penned by the late Marc Lombard. And it was not just any 40-footer, but the Class 40 that was called Sidewinder when Rob Gough and John Saul won Line Honours (read obliterated) in the inaugural Double-Handed division of the 2021 Hobart.
What they thought of was to take the parallel of normalising the performance of a supermaxi and a 40-footer in the same race, based on how efficiently does each platform convert wind, sea state, and time into distance sailed, thereby answering just the one question. No matter the weather. No matter the polars, there is an outcome, and it is not based on the value of the boat, nor the cost of the campaign.
The Homeward Bound initiative grabs that core logic with both hands. One nautical mile goes to seven nights per child. Simple. The intent is not symbolic. Just like corrected time, the outcome is only meaningful because it can be verified.
Show me the money
The sponsor, Titlespace, delivers the mile-based commitment through B1G1 (Business for Good), a global giving platform built around micro-impacts. B1G1 applies a comparable normalisation process to social impact. The shelters already exist. Buildings are standing, staff are employed, and baseline funding is secured. What is measured is not the total cost of running a shelter, but the marginal cost of extending that system: one additional child, one additional night. Each unit is pre-priced, tracked, and independently validated. There's your TCC. In some business parlance, this is referred to as heavy money. i.e. goes straight through to the bottom, where it can do the most good.
Homeward Bound has been designed as an amplifier, based on the visibility of the Hobart to draw attention to Blue Dragon Children's Foundation's work and to invite the wider sailing community to engage. Their aim is to achieve an additional $20,000 in public donations for Blue Dragon. These funds will support the foundation's broader, long-term programs beyond shelter alone.
Titlespace (who are Conveyancers BTW) see the race as a platform rather than a spotlight. Measured delivery ensures accountability. Amplification extends reach. A clear tool for comparison, and one that can be trusted. You'd have to think that's a perfect fit for a bunch of Lawyers. Executive Director of Titlespace, Daniella Muzitano, says, "Titlespace exists to guide people into their new homes. Being part of this race lets us extend that idea to children who don't have that safety right now."
"If we can help give them a more secure place to sleep, that's a purpose worth putting our name behind."
And they are already walking the walk. The firm already integrates measured giving into its everyday operations through B1G1, linking business activity to defined social outcomes. For Homeward Bound, that same framework was applied to the race itself. Naturally, due diligence mattered. B1G1's projects are vetted before inclusion, with funds tied to specific deliverables rather than pooled donations. This structure ensures that each nautical mile pledged translates directly into shelter nights delivered, closing the loop between intention and outcome.
VPP meets HELP
Blue Dragon Children's Foundation works on the ground in Vietnam with children experiencing homelessness, trafficking, and extreme vulnerability. Shelter is not the end goal, but it is the critical foundation on which everything else is built.
Michael Brosowski AM, Founder, Blue Dragon Children's Foundation said, "We're truly grateful to Titlespace for using their involvement in the Sydney to Hobart to shed light on the struggles of the vulnerable children and youth Blue Dragon Children's Foundation assists."
"Titlespace's Homeward Bound campaign provides an opportunity to make an immeasurable impact for children who've had a tough start in life. Many of the kids Blue Dragon meets on the streets have left school to travel alone to the city in hopes of finding work to help their families overcome hardship."
"When we meet a homeless child, our first priority is bringing them to safety. Once they're safe, we work to reunite them with their families, and the long journey to turn their lives around and keep them safe in the long run begins."
Back to the Brothers and the Boat
Given Titlespace Yeah Baby's pedigree, you'd have to wonder if Louis and Marc Ryckmans are eyeing off Double-Handed at some point. The response was, "Whether a fully two-handed campaign sits in their future remains open. For now, the focus is on sailing the Hobart well, executing cleanly, and getting through the course safely." (Job well done BTW).
They won Div1 in this year's Sydney Gold Coast with the boat that they selected because of a strong offshore pedigree and a reputation for robustness and balance. It's a boat conceived for hard miles and disciplined sailing, which aligns closely with how they approach offshore racing. They won the 2024 race overall.
Louis Ryckmans added, "We chose a Class 40 because our previous boat (the Welbourn 50) required a minimum of 10-14 crew and it got increasingly difficult (and expensive) to organise crew. The Class 40 was purpose built to be sailed shorthanded (by 1 or 2 crew) and that appealed to Marc and me. Most importantly, Class 40s are purpose built to sail around the world, so they are very strong boats. Reaching and running they are also super quick. Yes, the boat ticked all the boxes! Our Class 40 (an Akilaria RC2, so a newer model) won the inaugural double-handed round the world as Jasmine Flyer in 2010."
"The Hobart always tests preparation, patience, and judgement. You approach it knowing things will break, conditions will change, and you'll need to adapt. Linking the miles we sail to something that helps others gives the campaign an added sense of purpose, but the fundamentals of the race never change."
Marc Ryckmans said, "Our priority is to sail the boat well and get through the course safely. Everything else sits alongside that."
"At the same time, it's motivating to know that what we're doing offshore is connected to something that has a real impact beyond the race itself."
Should you want to be part of a new measurement system that goes way past acronyms and just pure numbers then please go here to add your support.
Thank you for being a crucial element of Sail-World.com
John Curnow
Sail-World.com AUS Editor