After a change of ownership and something of a hiatus, the Ocean Race is due to start in 2022. But before that the first edition of the Ocean Race Europe will begin in May 2021Alicante stopover. Start. Photo by Ainhoa Sanchez\/Volvo Ocean Race. 22 October, 2017.On Saturday 29 May, the Ocean Race Europe will set off for the first time ever and will see 12 teams in two classes racing on a multi-stage course from the North Atlantic coast of Europe into the Mediterranean Sea.
\nThe Ocean Race is the pinnacle of crewed round the world races. Photo: Ainhoa Sanchez\/VOR
\nWhat is Ocean Race Europe?
\nThe Ocean Race Europe is a new event created by the organisers of The Ocean Race \u2013 the round the world event 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\u2019s premier ocean races and is set to take place in 2022\/23. But before the next edition of the round the world 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.
\nNow under new management, The Ocean Race is scheduled to always 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.
\nWhat is the route for Ocean Race Europe?
\nLeg 1: Lorient, France \u2013 Cascais, Portugal
\nLeg 2: Cascais, Portugal \u2013 Alicante Spain
\nLeg 3: Alicante Spain \u2013 Genova, Italy
\nTwo coastal races in Cascais and Genoa offer bonus points to the top three finishers.
\nAll the offshore legs will be scored equally using the high points scoring system where the winners in each class receive points equal to the number of entries, second place receive points equal to the number of entries minus one, and so on down the rankings.
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The coastal races offer bonus points for the top three finishers in each class, with the winner awarded three points, second place earns two points and the third place finisher collecting a single point.
\nThe final overall rankings will be determined based on the overall points totals for the teams, with the winner being the team with the highest points total. Ties are broken in favour of the team with the better result in the last Offshore Leg or Coastal race sailed.
\nWhat boats are used for Ocean Race Europe?
\nTwo classes will compete in the Ocean Race Europe with the racing split across the two fleets of very different designs of boat.
\nTurn The Tide On Plastic VO65 took part in the last Volvo Ocean Race. The VO65 will be used for the Ocean Race Europe
\nVO65
\nDesigned and built for the Volvo Ocean Race, the VO65 has been used in the last two editions of the crewed round the world race. The VO65 are a fleet of pure one design boats, meaning each boat is identical, making gains more a matter of crew performance over and above technical developments.
\nHaving been around the world twice, the 65ft racing yachts are extremely well proven and known to be near-bulletproof (if exceptionally wet) in extreme ocean conditions. Many previous teams have invested serious training time and data crunching resources into extracting the best outright performance from them, hence there is a great deal of technical knowledge within the fleet on how to select and set up the correct sail plan (from a range of options), as well as the optimum keel angles (they have a canting keel), and heel angles for maximising the VO65\u2019s performance across a broad wind range.
\nIMOCA60s, like Charal, have recently allowed semi-lifting foils and have long been sailed short-handed. How will the fare in fully crewed racing? Photo: Gauthier LEBEC \/ Charal Sailing Team
\nIMOCA60
\nThe Ocean Race Europe and The Ocean Race mark a significant change for the IMOCA fleet. The boats are\u00a0best known as the class of the Vend\u00e9e Globe, the single-handed around the world race.
\nThe IMOCA60 is a development class, meaning each boat is different and there can be significant differences in terms of performance from boat to boat.\u00a0There are some one-design components such as the keel and mast, but broadly the design is unrestricted within the dimensions of the class rule.
\nThe IMOCA60 class is owned and managed by a consortium of owners and interested parties, which make up The International Monohull Open Class Association (hence IMOCA). Unlike the Ocean Race, which has traditionally been very international, the IMOCA class is dominated by French skippers, with some internationals including English, German and Spanish sailors.
\nThe Ocean Race Europe will be significant because it will be the first major test of the IMOCA 60s in a new \u2018fully crewed\u2019 format. The class has historically been designed to be sailed by one or two crew members, with the key race for the fleet being the single-handed non stop round the world race, the Vend\u00e9e Globe, as well as other single and double-handed transatlantic races.
\nThe requirements for a fully crewed race (there will be five crew on each IMOCA60 for the Ocean Race Europe) are very different to shorthanded sailing. Firstly the IMOCA60s have mostly been designed to be sailed by one or two people, so cockpit layouts, winches, pedestals etc. have all been designed for the ergonomics of shorthanded sailing \u2013 as has much of the rest of the boat, including the limited interior space down below.
\nPerhaps even more important will be the strength of the boats themselves. The VO65 was built with fully crewed racing in mind (where teams are aiming to push the boat 100% of its performance envelope 100% of the time) and were made suitably robust for this purpose. As one-designs they could also be designed with some degree of latency in their robustness \u2013 it doesn\u2019t matter if the design is slightly heavier, if all the boats are equally heavy.
\nThe IMOCA60, by contrast, is designed to be sailed to 100% of its performance over short periods of time, but with a solo skipper is unlikely to spend more than 70-80% of its time operating at performance.\u00a0As an open design, IMOCA60s are typically built as light as possible within the confines of the class rule. How the IMOCA60s will stand up to the punishing demands of a fully-crewed multistage race may be interesting to watch.
\nWhat teams are in Ocean Race Europe?
\nVO65 class:
\nAmberSail (LTU)
\nAustrian Ocean Race Project (AUT)
\nMirpuri Foundation Racing Team (POR)
\nSailing Poland (POL)
\nViva Mexico (MEX)
\nTeam Childhood 1 (SWE \/ NED)
\nAkzoNobel Ocean Racing (NED)
\nIMOCA class:
\n11th Hour Racing Team (USA)
\nCORUM L\u2019Epargne (FRA)
\nLinkedOut (FRA)
\nOffshore Team Germany (GER)
\nBureau Vall\u00e9e (FRA)
\nHow to follow the Ocean Race Europe
\nWe will be covering the key events of the Ocean Race Europe here on yachtingworld.com.
\nThe Ocean Race Europe itself will be running tracking thoughout all legs via their website at: www.theoceanrace.com.
\nThere will also be regular videos from onboard the boats as they compete via the Ocean Race Youtube channel where you will also be able to watch action from the leg starts and coastal racing too.<\/p>\n
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After a change of ownership and something of a hiatus, the Ocean Race is due to start in 2022. But before that the first edition of the Ocean Race Europe will begin in May 2021Alicante stopover. Start. Photo by Ainhoa … <\/p>\n