The inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Europe, scheduled to start late in the spring of 2021, will bring international top-flight, competitive ocean racing to up to five European cities.
And organisers add that the event will engage with European citizens to enhance the ambitious green transition and showcase the power of digital transformation.
The Ocean Race Europe will see crew members from all over the world racing in foiling IMOCA 60s and one-design VO65s racing from the North Atlantic coast of Europe into the Mediterranean Sea, on a race course of up to five legs, each to be scored equally. There will be winners and prizes in each class.
“The Ocean Race Europe, provisionally scheduled to run over the month of June, fits well in the racing calendar in 2021 and provides our teams with competitive, meaningful racing next year, adding continuity to their racing programmes,” said Johan Salén, managing director of The Ocean Race.
“As a new event, it has been important that we have support from teams and sailors for this project to get off the ground, and the feedback to date has been extremely positive.”
On shore, there will be public activities within each host city, along with team promotional and hospitality events. The Ocean Race Europe will put the health of the sailors, teams and public as a top priority and respect all COVID-19 regulations in each city visited.
The work started by the award-winning sustainability programme of the 2017-18 Race continues as part of The Ocean Race Europe and beyond. The Racing with Purpose programme includes advocacy, science, learning and sustainable event excellence.
Ocean health and climate change are inextricably linked. The Ocean Race Europe will be advocating for climate action, telling the story of climate change through a blue lens.
As part of the UNFCCC’s Sports for Climate Action framework, The Ocean Race joins forces with the sports sector in the global race towards net zero emissions by 2030.
‘This event has been inspired by, and will demonstrate, the values and spirit of European co-operation and identity’
And the plan for The Ocean Race is not to just reach net zero emissions, but be truly restorative and be climate positive, its organisers say.
“As sailors, we instinctively know that protecting and restoring a resource as central to life as the ocean is essential to our collective future,” said Richard Brisius, race chairman of The Ocean Race.
“With our sailors, teams, cities and stakeholders, we will continue our efforts to promote a healthy and abundant ocean, and The Ocean Race Europe fits into this strategy.
“This event has been inspired by, and will demonstrate, the values and spirit of European co-operation and identity,” he added. “The Ocean Race Europe, passing through several member countries, will in itself be a showcase of open borders, the European Green Deal and the power of digital transformation, as well as the European mindset of working positively and proactively across national borders to address common challenges.”
The inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Europe in 2021 leads off a 10-year calendar of racing activity that includes confirmed editions of the iconic, fully-crewed, around the world event — The Ocean Race — every four years, beginning in 2022-23.
On a call with registered teams last Wednesday 7 October, The Ocean Race organisers updated teams about progress around The Ocean Race Europe, and informed the 60-plus attendees about an amendment to the Notice of Race that will be issued for The Ocean Race.
It will include a change to the crew configuration for the IMOCA 60s, which reduces the number of crew on board by one, to four crew members (with at least one woman) or five crew members (with at least four women). In both scenarios, each team must additionally have a dedicated on-board reporter.
This comes as a positive response to a request from the IMOCA Class Association, and follows consultation with their membership.
“The goal is to make it easier for existing boats and sailors, who are already active in the IMOCA fleet, to compete in The Ocean Race,” said Antoine Mermod, president of the IMOCA Class Association. “A common feedback was to reduce the number of crew and we are pleased to see this change.”
