The Ocean Race is a crewed round-the-world stage race of great difficulty. Find the news and investigations of Tip & Shaft on the subject.
Six mixed crews will set off on Tuesday 1 September from New York for the inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Atlantic to Lorient. From organisation to sporting stakes, Sailorz takes a closer look at this new race in the Imoca Globe Series.
As the first Swiss German to finish the Vendée Globe in the 2024–2025 edition (29th), Oliver Heer has set out on a second campaign with greater ambitions and a more competitive boat, Justine Mettraux’s former Teamwork-Team Snef (a 2018 VPLP design). Last week, he presented his Embrace The Challenge project and announced his participation in The Ocean Race, giving Sailorz the opportunity to speak with him.
The DMG Mori Sailing Team announced this week the arrival of Sam Davies and Nicolas Lunven alongside Kojiro Shiraishi, with The Ocean Race Atlantic next summer and The Ocean Race in January 2027 in their sights. This is an opportunity for Sailorz to learn more about the Japanese Imoca project.
The seven crews competing in The Ocean Race Europe completed the third leg on Friday (see our photo of the week), which started on Tuesday in Cartagena and finished in Nice, which is hosting Imoca boats for the first time in over fifteen years. Tip & Shaft reveals the behind-the-scenes story of a last-minute stopover.
The Ocean Race organizers announced on October 25 that the 2027 edition of the crewed round-the-world race would finish in Amaala, Saudi Arabia. An opportunity for Tip & Shaft to talk to the event’s director, Johan Salén.
On Thursday the Holcim group announced that they have chosen Nicolas Lunven to replace Kevin Escoffier at the helm of the Imoca Holcim-PRB for the 2024 Vendée Globe. The Dutch sailor Rosalin Kuiper will then succeed him for The Ocean Race Europe 2025. Tip & Shaft explains how this decision was made.
The 2023 edition of The Ocean Race finished in Genova with victory for the US team 11th Hour Racing Team ahead of Holcim-PRB and Team Malizia. Tip & Shaft now examines the event with some proper experts with an insider’s view.
In Brest on Wednesday Bertrand Quéguiner and Elodie Bonafous formalized the launch of Horizon 29 Offshore Racing team which is aiming for the Vendée Globe 2028 with a new Verdier design which expected to launch in January 2025. Tip & Shaft tells you more.
Last weekend out of the blue Kevin Escoffier announced that he was stepping down as skipper of Holcim-PRB for the final weeks of The Ocean Race following an “alleged incident” with a woman from his team in Newport before the start of the fifth stage. Since then the French Sailing Federation has taken up the case, Tip & Shaft took stock of this sensitive matter.
Finishing up with Team Malizia’s victory ahead of Team Holcim-PRB, the third leg of The Ocean Race was full of twists and turns, a giant stage – the longest ever-lasting more than 35 days. Meteo ace Christian Dumard, Imoca skippers Charlie Dalin and Thomas Ruyant, designers Quentin Lucet (VPLP Design) and Hervé Penfornis (Guillaume Verdier), Antoine Mermod, president of Imoca, as well as The Ocean Race director Johan Salén, speak to Tip and Shaft to give us their first assessment.
After leaving Cape Town on February 26 bound for Itajai, the third leg of The Ocean Race is the longest in the history of the race (12,750 miles). The current leader is Holcim PRB. As they approach the Tasmanian gate, Tip & Shaft plays back the first bit of the leg with Christian Dumard, weather specialist for the race, Yann Eliès, who raced the second leg on Malizia-Seaxplorer and Hubert Lemonnier the sports and operations manager for Imoca.
Between the “Clarisse Crémer affair” and The Ocean Race, Imoca is top of the news agendas at the moment and so a good time for for Tip & Shaft to speak with the president of the class, Antoine Mermod.
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