The Ocean Race is a fully crewed round the world race originally known as the Whitbread Round the World Race, then the Volvo Ocean Race.
The crewed around the world race with stopovers has always been one of yachting’s premier ocean races and, after several delays this latest edition is set to start on 15 January 2023.
The race organisers are also running a new event designed to showcase top-flight, fully-crewed, competitive offshore racing based around northern Europe: the Ocean Race Europe.
The Ocean Race is scheduled to run every four years, with the Ocean Race Europe also planned to take place every four years, essentially allowing competition between the teams to take place every two years in one form or another.
It’s unusual for IMOCA 60s to race with more than two crew onboard.
What boats compete in The Ocean Race?
For the first time ever IMOCA 60s will be taking part in a fully crewed round the world race this year, with several teams set to take part.
The IMOCA 60 class has long been at the forefront of ocean racing and is used for the solo non-stop round the world epic, the Vendée Globe as well as a number of other premiere short handed ocean events such as the Route du Rhum and Transat Jaques Vabre.
However, the IMOCA 60s have always been designed and built with single and double handed racing in mind, so teams competing will have had to make significant changes to their semi-foiling 60 footers to make them capable of sailing with a full crew.
The IMOCAs are sailed by a complement of five crew, including an onboard reporter (OBR) that takes no part in the sailing. Each IMOCA 60 team has to include at least one female sailor.
VO65s no longer go for a third lap of the planet. Photo: Robin Christol
What is The Ocean Race Sprint Cup?
Initially the intention was for two fleets to take part in The Ocean Race proper with the second fleet consisting on the one design VO65 boats used in the last edition of the Volvo Ocean Race.
However, plans have since changed and while the IMOCA 60s will complete a full lap of the planet, including seven legs to finish in Genoa, Italy, the VO65s will sail just the first and last two legs in what the organisers have called The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup.
A new trophy will be awarded to the VO65 team which accumulates the best score across three legs of the race; Alicante, Spain, to Cape Verde; Aarhus, Denmark, to The Hague, the Netherlands; and The Hague to the overall finish in Genoa, Italy.
What is The Ocean Race course?
The course for The Ocean Race has a new first stopover mid-Atlantic at the Cape Verdes, before an extra long Southern Ocean leg of 12,750 miles from Cape Town, South Africa, to Itajai, Brazil. This new stage passes south of all three Great Capes and is expected to take 34 days.
After this mammoth Southern Ocean leg, the fleet then moves onto a series of much shorter legs. From Brazil they head to Newport, USA. They then cross the Atlantic to Aarhus, DEN. After that a very short hop from Aarhus to The Hague, NED fore a race from The Hague back to Genova, ITA.
The Ocean Race: Was the latest edition a success?
- September 4, 2023
In the sweltering heat of midsummer in the Ligurian Sea, temperatures and tensions were steadily rising on board 11th Hour Racing. Simon ‘Si Fi’ Fisher restlessly tidied lines in the…
11th Hour Racing declared winners of The Ocean Race after redress
- June 29, 2023
Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Team has won The Ocean Race after a jury awarded them redress of 4 points in the final leg of the round the world race,…
The Ocean Race overall win down to jury decision after huge collision
- June 19, 2023
The overall winner of The Ocean Race is likely to be decided in the protest room after a huge collision between 11th Hour Racing and Guyot-environnement – Team Europeshortly after…
Pro sailors on their Southern Ocean experience
- June 1, 2023
“I’m so happy not to be alone,” an emotional Boris Herrmann said standing at the base of his 29m/95ft mast, a foot-long gash ripped into the carbon above his head…
640.9 miles in 24hrs: Holcim-PRB smashes monohull record
- May 26, 2023
Kevin Escoffier’s IMOCAHolcim-PRB,competing in the The Ocean Race, has annihilated the 24-hour monohull sailing record by covering an incredible 640.9 miles on the fifth leg from Newport to Aarhus. This…
GUYOT environnement – Team Europe dismasted in The Ocean Race
- May 9, 2023
Early this morning, Tuesday 9 May 2023, organisers of The Ocean Race have reported that GUYOT environnement – Team Europe has dismasted as the fleet race towards the finish of…
Crew changes aplenty as teams prepare for The Ocean Race leg 4
- April 21, 2023
Crew rotation is proving to be a big feature in this edition of The Ocean Race and once again the crews are being mixed up on all boats as the…
Team Malizia wins longest ever Ocean Race leg
- April 2, 2023
Boris Herrmann‘s Team Malizia has won Leg 3 of The Ocean Race from Cape Town to Itajai, the longest ever ocean stage in the crewed around the world race. Herrmann,…
The Ocean Race: is racing under autopilot ‘cheating’?
- March 13, 2023
That’s not racing. It’s cheating. If you’re going to use the autopilot to sail around the world you might as well simply control the boat by remote control from home.”…
Fastest IMOCA record: 595 miles in 24 hours for The Ocean Race leaders
- March 12, 2023
Kevin Escoffier’s Holcim-PRB, the dominant leader of The Ocean Race, has set a new 24-hour IMOCA record by covering a breath-taking 595.26 nautical miles (1102 kms) over Saturday 11-Sunday 12…
‘Demolition Derby’ begins in Leg 3 of The Ocean Race
- March 2, 2023
Leg 3 of The Ocean Race was always expected to be an punishing test for the five IMOCAs and their crews, but it’s been a particularlytough start for the teams…
Wild start to leg 3 of The Ocean Race
- February 27, 2023
It was an extraordinary ‘stop-go’ type of start to Leg 3 of The Ocean Race in Table Bay as the five-boat IMOCA 60 fleet set out on their 12,750 nautical…
How to follow The Ocean Race Leg 3 (and why you should)
- February 24, 2023
This weekend five crewed IMOCA 60s will take to the startline for the third leg of The Ocean Race, on a month-long epic which is likely to be the toughest…
Holcim – PRB win nail biting leg 2 in The Ocean Race
- February 13, 2023
Skipper Kevin Escoffier and his Team Holcim – PRB have won Leg 2 of The Ocean Race from Cabo Verde to Cape Town after a tense battle through the final…
The Ocean Race: 11th Hour Racing into the lead
- February 6, 2023
After an extended doldrums crossing and a larger than usual St Helena high forcing the fleet way to the west of the Atlantic The Ocean Race fleet are finally back…
All about the doldrums or Inter Tropical Convergence Zone
- January 31, 2023
Doldrums’: a state of stagnation or depression, or an equatorial region of the Atlantic Ocean with calms, sudden storms, and light unpredictable winds. Or so my dictionary puts it. For…
The Ocean Race: Leg underway in very light winds
- January 26, 2023
The second leg of The Ocean Race from Cabo Verde to Cape Town started on Wednesday 25 January, with the 5 fully-crewed IMOCA 60s fighting it out in very light…
The Ocean Race: All set for leg two
- January 25, 2023
With the first leg of the much-delayed The Ocean Race now concluded, teams are readying themselves to set off on the second leg of of the race, which starts today,…
The Ocean Race: Holcim-PRB win Leg One
- January 23, 2023
French skipper Kevin Escoffier led his Swiss-flagged Team Holcim-PRB to victory in leg one of The Ocean Race in the early hours of the morning on Saturday 21 January 2023.…
Baptism of fire for The Ocean Race crews as fleet starts from Alicante
- January 15, 2023
The Ocean Race start, the latest iteration of the crewed multi-stage around the world race, set off today from Alicante, Spain. But the 11 crews – five IMOCA teams, six…
