The Ocean Race
Caroline Blatter 02 Jun 2021 France / Spain / Portugal / Italy / Mediterranean / Regattas & Cruising Rallies / Yacht / Boat Shows
12 of the best Sailing Teams in the world have started a NEW Race around Europe!
The Ocean Race Europe started on Saturday 29th May from Lorient in France, a 2000 nm course taking teams from Lorient in France, to Genova in Italy, with Leg Stops in Cascais, Portugal and Alicante, Spain, with a Coastal race on 19th June from Genova.
5 Teams are racing in the high performance foiling IMOCA Class, and 7 Teams in the one design VO65 Class – producing some close compelling racing!
The Ocean Race Europe is run by the organisers of The Ocean Race – a gruelling multi-stage around the world race which takes place every four years.
The first around-the-world race was contested in 1973 and over the 13 editions of the event, The Ocean Race has become the pinnacle of professional fully crewed ocean racing.
This year’s inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Europe leads off a ten-year calendar of racing activity that includes confirmed editions of the around-the-world race taking place on a four-year cycle beginning in 2022-23.
We are proud to have our Mallorca based SSG Research Author Annie Lush racing as part of Offshore Team Germany. Safe sailing & fair winds Annie, as you foil your way into the MED!
This is a Race with a PURPOSE - The Ocean Race wants to be a catalyst for change and use their global platform to inspire all those they can reach to take action.
They are holding Ocean Race Summits series, hosting Innovation Workshops, inspiring schoolchildren in a curriculum based Learning Programme, working with each Host City to ensure that every element of the race village is sustainably produced; from being free of single-use plastic to the seafood served on site, and inspiring the millions of people who visit the events to help protect the ocean.
They are collecting and contributing vital scientific data to aid understanding of global Ocean health.
A Race for the Ocean: A healthy ocean is fundamental to life on Earth. It’s our life support system, producing over half of the planet's oxygen and providing food for billions of people.
The Ocean Race is also part of Relay4Nature – a race for the Ocean. Peter Thomson, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to the Ocean conceived the idea of Relay4Nature: using a specially designed ‘baton’ for nature and the spirit of teamwork, this ‘baton’ will be passed between sailing teams in The Ocean Race Europe, in May and June 2021, providing a voice for the ocean at key initiatives during the event.
The baton and its collected messages of urgency will be presented at COP26 in Glasgow, scheduled to take place in November 2021. The baton will then join the next edition of The Ocean Race and will be carried by participating teams as they race around the world, via ten stopover cities.
The Ocean Race teams will call for world leaders to unite for effective, comprehensive and collaborative global ocean governance, placing nature, human and ocean rights at the centre of policy and action.
We wish them fair winds and safe sailing!
