The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) has approved a formidable two-boat team for the 2027 Admiral’s Cup, bringing together two long-standing RORC members with one clear objective.

James Neville’s Botin 52 Ino Veritas and Karl Kwok’s Botin 41 Beau Ideal will race under the RORC Burgee as a single, fully integrated team when the Admiral’s Cup returns to the Solent in July 2027.

Both owners have been RORC members for more than 30 years and both competed separately in the 2025 revival of the Admiral’s Cup. Neville raced Ino Noir for the RORC, while Kwok’s Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club team finished runner-up.

For Neville, RORC Commodore from 2021-2023, the Admiral’s Cup has particular significance. He was instrumental in its revival in 2025 after a 22-year hiatus. Two years on, Neville returns with a new campaign centred on the Botin 52 Ino Veritas and a significantly expanded programme of preparation.

“We came into the last Admiral’s Cup underprepared,” admitted Neville. “We were very excited about it, but we didn't fully realise the scale of the challenge we were taking on.

This time we have taken the team to another level and we are doing a lot more practice. We are looking at being in the Solent for three months before the event, so we have plenty of time to build up and prepare.

“I love the mix of inshore and offshore in the Admiral’s Cup. It is a proper challenge because there is a lot of racing in a couple of weeks and you have to perform across very different types of racing in a short period of time. We also know that the competition will be preparing to exactly the same standard.”

Neville is clear that the two campaigns will operate not simply as separate boats carrying the same burgee. “It is an equal partnership,” said Neville. “The important word is team. We are a team with two boats and two crews, and we are very proud to be representing the Royal Ocean Racing Club.”

Beau Ideal - unfinished business
Karl Kwok’s association with the Royal Ocean Racing Club stretches back more than 30 years. Kwok joined the Club in the 1990s and recalls that from a Hong Kong perspective, the RORC represented ‘the epitome of racing clubs’.

Kwok’s return to the Admiral’s Cup is driven in part by what he describes as “unfinished business” after his team challenged strongly in 2025 before ultimately finishing runner-up to the Yacht Club de Monaco team who is widely tipped to defend their title in 2027.

“At the bottom of my heart we felt we could have done better last year,” said Kwok. “We were leading going into the offshore, but unfortunately things didn't work out. At the same time, we believe the next Admiral’s Cup is going to be even stronger, so we have to think outside the box.”

The Botin 41 Beau Ideal was new for the 2025 Admiral’s Cup. Since then the programme has continued its development, including extensive racing and training in Australia.

“Last year was quite late to tune the boat,” explained Kwok. “Every yacht has its own characteristics and you have to sail it to find those out; you cannot just read it from a manual. This time we have a much longer preparation period for Beau Ideal.”

For Kwok, however, the decisive factor is not simply making Beau Ideal faster. Winning the Admiral’s Cup requires both yachts to perform. “The most challenging part of the Admiral’s Cup is that you have to have a two-boat team,” said Kwok. “However well we do, that alone will not make the team successful.

“In James (Neville) I have found somebody who shares that passion about sailing the perfect race and running the perfect boat. We can focus on doing the very best job with our own yacht and then bring that effort together as a team.”

Ino Veritas - leaving no stone unturned
Ino Veritas tactician Dean Barker believes the level of competition in 2027 will move significantly beyond that seen at the relaunch in 2025.

Barker, an America’s Cup winner who also competed in the Admiral’s Cup in 1997 and 1999 as well as the 2025 regatta with the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron team, sees the ability of the two RORC boats to work together as a major strength.

“The 2025 event was amazing and it was great to see the Admiral’s Cup reignited,” said Barker. “The number of entrants demonstrated there was a huge appetite for it, but already we are seeing that the standard of competition in 2027 is going to go up another level.

“The challenge of the Admiral’s Cup is unique. You have the inshore racing and the offshore races, which are incredibly challenging events in themselves, so putting the whole competition together is really hard.

“The key is having two boats with the same philosophy. What Karl’s team is doing and what James is committed to with Ino Veritas is to leave no stone unturned in trying to be successful. Having that alignment is crucial. If we collaborate, work together and share ideas and information, it will make us an even stronger partnership.”

Barker rates the Admiral’s Cup amongst the toughest prizes in the sport. “I did the Admiral’s Cup when it was still a three-boat team event. It was difficult to win then, but I actually think it is even more difficult to win now. You are relying on two very strong teams performing across a range of conditions and formats. It is probably one of the toughest events in monohull racing to win.”
One team, two boats
Beau Ideal project manager Gavin Brady believes the partnership will allow both programmes to concentrate their resources while sharing the extensive knowledge within each team.

Brady and Barker have raced against each other since their youth and their careers have repeatedly crossed through top-level match racing and the America’s Cup. That long relationship is already developing into a technical collaboration between the two Admiral’s Cup campaigns.

“Finding the right fit is really important,” said Brady. “James runs his programme in a very similar way to ours and Dean and I have raced against each other since we were kids. Now we can focus all our resources, time and energy on getting our own boat right, knowing James, Dean and their team are doing exactly the same thing.

“There is a lot we can help them with from our experience with 52-footers, and Dean has knowledge and experience that can help us with the 41. We are planning on working very closely on the development of both boats. This isn't just two owners saying, ‘let's team up’. There is a lot more to it than that.”

The developing partnership was already evident during recent racing in the Solent, where the two crews competed hard against each other at North Sails Cowes Week while discussions about forming the RORC Team gathered momentum.

“We were having a good old ding-dong on the racecourse,” smiled Brady. “At the same time you are thinking they're getting stronger, we're getting stronger - and they're our teammate. It very quickly had a good feel to it. I am really excited about it. I feel revived by it because I know we can do a good job.”

With two experienced owners, two highly developed Botin designs and a wealth of international sailing talent within both programmes, the RORC Team will now begin an intensive build-up towards the 2027 Admiral’s Cup.