After the finish of the 2025 RORC Transatlantic Race, overall winner Christian Zugel admitted the 8.5-day race was the longest time he’d been offshore… and he loved it. “It was amazing sailing …the whole race was such an incredible experience… you realize how big the Atlantic is.”

The appreciation of being away from society noise is a common refrain, which sailmaker Wally Cross wrote about in the report, How Offshore Racing Improves the Soul, as if his brain was “filtering out any unnecessary information, and living simply became such a joy.”

While personal hygiene suffers offshore, mental health gets a boost. In a new review article from the University of Georgia, researchers found that employees who psychologically disengaged from work on their vacations saw the most improvement in their well-being.

“The theme of the paper is that vacations create longer-lasting benefits than previously thought,” said Ryan Grant, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in psychology in UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

“Job demands and job stress are on the rise. If you’re not at work but you’re thinking about work on vacation, you might as well be at the office,” Grant said. “Vacations are one of the few opportunities we get to fully just disconnect from work.” – Full report