Eleven boats are assembling in Alicante, Spain this week in final preparation for the start of The Ocean Race 2022-23.

And the activity on shore is ramping up as well, with Alicante’s Ocean Live Park opening this coming Saturday 7 January.

This is the 14th edition of the iconic around-the-world, fully crewed offshore race and will be the first to feature the high-tech, foiling, nearly flying IMOCA boats.

Organisers have also now conformed that the VO65 fleet, having previously competed in two around the world events, will not be joining their IMOCA counterparts on the full globe-spanning route and instead will be solely compete for the inaugural VO65 Sprint Cup, which features three stages of racing that match the first, sixth and seventh legs of the larger race.

For the five IMOCA crews putting the final touches together in preparation for the race start, this is a key week, leading into the In Port Race this coming Sunday 8 January before the Grand Depart for Leg One of The Ocean Race — Alicante to Cabo Verde — on 15 January.

The line-up on the start line features five strong IMOCA teams:

• 11th Hour Racing Team (USA); skipper Charlie Enright
• Team Malizia (GER); skipper Boris Herrmann
• Team Holcim-PRB (SUI); skipper Kevin Escoffier
• GUYOT environnement-Team Europe (FRA/GER); skipper Benjamin Dutreux
• Biotherm Racing (FRA); skipper Paul Meilhat

Putting the finishing touches on the Team Holcim-PRB IMOCA in Alicante | Credit: Carlota Alonso/The Ocean Race

It’s an especially busy time for the four IMOCA teams who competed in November’s Route du Rhum event. Following a delivery back to the Mediterranean in December, each of these boats have been going through a refit and upgrades to prepare for fully crewed racing, and then must undergo a measurement process.

“It has been a huge amount of work for our team,” said Holcim-PRB skipper Kevin Escoffier. “Helpfully we have people with a bit of experience with The Ocean Race, which makes it easier to get organised on the sport and technical side. I’m very proud of where we are in such a short time.

“We are looking forward to getting in the water again today and getting out sailing again. These boats are incredible and I’m looking forward to learning how far we can push the boats with a full crew. There are five great teams, five great boats and plenty of very good sailors in the fleet, so we know it will be important to start well and the learning curve will be very important to get a good result when we come to the finish in Genova.”

For 11th Hour Racing Team, the final build-up to the start has been planned well in advance, with the team arriving in Alicante just in time to ring in the New Year and now looking to put the finishing touches on preparations.

“Our team has already been through the extensive measurement process, so this last stage is a formality,” said sailor Jack Bouttell after arriving in Alicante. “The boat is sorted, the team is sorted, and we couldn't have done anything more to be ready for the start.

“In every project I have ever worked on, the magnitude doesn’t hit you until you’re in the starting port. That’s always the point when you realise what an amazing opportunity lies ahead. I think I’m in this transitional phase right now where I am excited and apprehensive, the stress of the start hasn’t quite crept up on me yet.”

Four of the IMOCA teams are now based at the marina off Ocean Live Park in Alicante with GUYOT environnement-Team Europe expected to arrive on Friday, having been given dispensation from race management to continue their boat preparations in Barcelona into this week.

11th Hour Racing Team is one of the five IMOCAs that will race around the world from 15 January | Credit: Carlota Alonso/The Ocean Race

The VO65 fleet competing in The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint is now six deep with the last-minute addition of the Austrian/Italian entry last week:

• Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team (POR); skipper António Fontes
• WindWhisper Racing Team (POL); skipper Pablo Arrarte
• Team JAJO (NED); skipper Jelmer van Beek
• Ambersail 2 (LIT); skipper Rokas Milevičius
• Viva México (MEX); skipper Erik Brockmann
• Austrian Ocean Racing - Team Genova (AUT/ITA); Gerwin Jansen

Five of the VO65s are now based in Alicante, with the Austrian/Genova team due to arrive on Tuesday following a delivery down from Genoa and Viva México moving into the port later on Monday.

The Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team was first to arrive last week, followed by WindWhisper, Team JAJO, and Ambersail 2 on Monday morning.

“It’s nice to be back and to arrive here in Alicante to see the event flourishing with a high number of entries in the race,” said Rokas Milevičius, the skipper of Ambersail 2. “This is the most exciting time for us. We’ve put in a lot of effort over the past months to finally get the Lithuanian flag on the start line.

“We’re looking at the other boats on the dock here, trying to see who has the upper hand. For us, we have a young, enthusiastic team. It’s sailing, anything can happen and I’m really looking forward to the start.”

Alicante’s Ocean Live Park will open on Saturday 7 January ahead of the In Port Race for both fleets scheduled for Sunday 8 January. The VO65 In Port Race will be first at 1400 CET followed by the IMOCA In Port Race at 1600 CET.

All of the racing from Alicante can be seen live on Warner Bros Discovery platforms, including Eurosport, as well as via theoceanrace.com. Full details for worldwide viewing options will be released later this week.

Five teams have now been confirmed for The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup, the new trophy announced earlier this month.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the cup will be awarded to the team which accumulates the best score across three different legs of the race.

The five-boat fleet of identical 65-foot high-performance ocean racing yachts — raced by a mixed gender 10-person crew which must include three female and three under-30 sailors — will join the five-boat IMOCA fleet in the opening leg from Alicante, Spain to Mindelo in the Cabo Verde archipelago, as well as Leg 6 from the Danish city Aarhus to The Hague in the Netherlands via a flyby in Germany’s Kiel.Sailing.City, and the around-the-world race’s final seventh leg from The Hague to Genoa, Italy for the grand finale.

They will also take part in their own four-heat in-port race series with inshore races held during the stopovers in Alicante, Cabo Verde, The Hague and Genoa.

This week, Ambersail 2 became the latest VO65 team to announce their place on the starting line for the new challenge. The Lithuanian-flagged team — which previously competed in The Ocean Race Europe last year — will be led on the water by skipper Rokas Milevičius.

Determined: Viva México skipper Erik Brockmann | Credit: Jen Edney/Viva México

And the Olympian is assembling a team of strong local talent including experienced helmsman and tactician Saulius Pajarskas, younger generation sailors Domantas Juškevičius and Deimantė Jarmalavičiūtė, as well as Jonas Drąsutavičius and Polish sailor Viktoras Pascalis who recently joined the team.

Viva México also returns to competitive action after the inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Europe.

The team’s skipper Erik Brockmann — an accomplished Mexican yachtsman and past world champion skipper who also led the team in The Ocean Race Europe — says their taking part in the new sprint event is another significant step towards a Mexican crew racing around the world in The Ocean Race for the first time since his countryman Ramón Carlín won the first ever edition in 1973-74 aboard Sayula II.

Veteran Spanish sailor Pablo Arrarte will lead the Polish yacht WindWhisper, whose entry was also announced this week just says after the confirmation of Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team’s return for its third consecutive entry in The Ocean Race — this time with a fully Portuguese crew, racing the boat used by Dongfeng Race Team to win the 2017-18 edition and Mirpuri Foundation to clinch The Ocean Race Europe.

The team will be led by António Fontes who competed as a sailor in the 2017-18 edition of the Race and now graduates from boat captain to skipper for the three stages of The Ocean Race VO 65 Sprint.

Rounding out the Sprint Cup field is Team JAJO, which will be bolstered by the addition of legendary Dutch around-the-world racer Bouwe Bekking as watch captain.

The Biotherm IMOCA competing in last month’s Route du Rhum | Credit: Vincent Olivaud/#RDR2022

Meanwhile, the five IMOCA teams set to race around the world full-crewed for the first time in the 2022-23 edition of The Ocean Race starting in January from Alicante, Spain recently arrived in three separate ports around the Mediterranean ahead of the Alicante assembly deadline.

Four of the five — Kevin Escoffier’s Holcim – PRB (SUI), Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm Racing (FRA), Boris Herrmann’s Team Malizia (GER) and GUYOT environnement – Team Europe (FRA), co-skippered by Benjamin Dutreux and Robert Stanjek — arrived in Mediterranean waters after sailing fully crewed across the Atlantic from Guadeloupe following the finish of the solo Route du Rhum race that started in St Malo, France.

All the teams that took part in the Route du Rhum will undergo a refit period and measurement ahead of The Ocean Race rules-mandated assembly deadline of Monday 2 January, by which time all the teams must arrive in Alicante.

American entry 11th Hour Racing Team, skippered by Charlie Enright, last week docked in the nearby port of Valencia after a short passage from the team’s base in Concarneau, France via some training off the coast of Portugal. They plan to shift to Alicante after Christmas.

The first leg of the 2022-23 edition of The Ocean Race starts on 15 January 2023, just 25 days from now.

A new trophy has been announced for the VO65 one-design class in The Ocean Race 2022-23, which sets sail from Alicante in Spain next month.

Along with five confirmed IMOCA teams racing around the world, up to five VO65 teams will be on the starting line with an option to compete for the new VO65 Sprint Cup.

The new trophy has been specially created for VO65 teams and will be awarded to the team which accumulates the best score across three different legs of the race: Alicante to Cabo Verde; Aarhus in Denmark to The Hague; and The Hague to Genoa, Italy.

VO65 teams participating for The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup will compete in the in-port races scheduled in those cities as well as the three stages of offshore racing from point to point.

“This new trophy will enable a new generation of sailors, along with some familiar faces, to gain some valuable experience in The Ocean Race,” said Phil Lawrence, race director of The Ocean Race.

“This format provides an opportunity to compete in The Ocean Race environment, with racing from host city to host city along with in-port competitions. The participating VO65 teams will get significant offshore racing exposure.”

The first racing for The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup is the in-port race in Alicante on 8 January 2023, followed by the first offshore stage in the event from Alicante to Cabo Verde starting on 15 January.

“We are very happy that we will compete in the in-port race and then take the leg one start in Alicante on 15 January. We’re looking forward to racing three incredible Legs against some top-level competition. It promises to be an incredible battle,” said Jelmer van Beek, a 27-year-old Dutch sailor from The Hague who has been named skipper and will lead the young Team JAJO.

“For me personally it is an amazing challenge to be the skipper of Team JAJO,” he added. “I think I am one of the youngest skippers to take a start in the race. It’s a huge responsibility and above all a challenge. But one that I am ready for and really looking forward to, especially with this team.”

At sail during the Genoa coastal race in The Ocean Race Europe | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

The Dutch boat had a refit at Royal Huisman last summer and is almost race ready, with finishing touches being applied in Barcelona before the team assembles for training next Tuesday 6 December.

“It’s been such a big learning experience working on this boat to get it ready for racing,” said Mateusz Gwóźdź from the Polish team. He is once again expected to be the youngest sailor in the race, at just 17 years old, and having previously competed in The Ocean Race Europe. “I can’t wait to get the boat in the water and do more training before we head for Alicante.”

The Polish team has been preparing its new VO65 (previously AkzoNobel) from a base in Valencia, Spain and is planning to make a full team and crew announcement shortly.

Working its way back into The Ocean Race is Team Viva México, who are aiming for a Mexican comeback of sorts after the historic win of Sayula II in the first edition of the race in 1973. No Mexican-flagged team has participated in the race since then.

“In 2019 we set ourselves a goal to bring Mexico back into what we consider the greatest race around the world,” said skipper Erik Brockmann, who led the team in The Ocean Race Europe.

“Many things have changed in the past three years that we did not anticipate then, but being on the start line to race for The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup is an exciting step towards bringing Mexico back into Race and a way of paying tribute to the historic win we achieved 50 years ago.”

More information about the VO65 teams racing for The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup will be made available shortly, race organisers say.

Meanwhile, the IMOCA fleet is set to lead the action in The Ocean Race with five teams - 11th Hour Racing Team, Team Malizia, GUYOT environnement-Team Europe, Biotherm Racing and Holcim PRB - featuring many of the top names in offshore sailing, racing around the world.

The IMOCA fleet will assemble in Alicante, Spain from 2 January 2023 ahead of their in-port race on 8 January. Leg One of The Ocean Race begins on 15 January.

The full race route and schedule have been announced for The Ocean Race Europe next month.

Some of the best sailors of the world will race in stages from Lorient in France to Genoa in Italy in two classes: the one-design VO65 and IMOCA.

They will set off from Lorient on Saturday 29 May, with stops in Cascais, Portugal (coastal race on Saturday 5 June and leg start on Sunday 6 June) and Alicante, Spain (leg start Sunday 13 June) before the finish in Genoa with a coastal race on Saturday 19 June.

Each of the offshore legs will last around three to four days and will be scored equally, with bonus points available to the top three finishers in the two single-day coastal races.

The full race route and schedule have been announced for The Ocean Race Europe

The VO65 and IMOCA fleets will be competing in separate divisions for their own The Ocean Race Europe trophy.

Seven teams are expected in the VO65 class, including entries from Austria (Austrian Ocean Race Project), Lithuania (AmberSail2), Mexico (Viva Mexico), the Netherlands, Poland (Sailing Team Poland) and Portugal (Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team).

There will be at least five entries in the IMOCA fleet, representing France (Bureau Vallée, CORUM L´ Épargne and LinkedOut), Germany (Offshore Team Germany) and the USA (11th Hour Racing Team, with a possibility of up to two more teams still to confirm participation.

All the teams are seeing this event as the first stop on the road to the 2022-23 edition of The Ocean Race, which will mark the 50th anniversary of the round-the-world challenge.

Prior to the race start in Lorient, four of the northern European-based VO65 teams will be sailing in The Ocean Race Europe Prologue, with stops in Klaipeda, Lithuania; Gdynia, Poland; and Stockholm, Sweden.

In addition to the on-the-water action, The Ocean Race Europe will support a robust sustainability programme, including education initiatives, on-board science data collection and social and environmental policy roundtable events aimed at driving solutions towards ocean health and reducing the impact of climate change on the ocean.

Teams will be encouraged to fully participate through The Ocean Race Guardians Award for best sustainable practice.

And several teams will carry scientific equipment on board to capture measurements of microplastics in the water and data about the impact of climate change on the seas — vital information about the impact that humans are making on the ocean.

Fitting of the microplastic data equipment on the AkzoNobel boat in Auckland on 3 March 2018 Credit: Jesus Renedo/Volvo AB

Mairéad O’Donovan, The Ocean Race’s Science Programme lead said: “We know how important the ocean is, not just to the sport we love, but in regulating the climate and providing us with food, jobs and the oxygen we breathe. We also know that human impacts are seriously degrading the ocean.

“By capturing data about the state of our seas, through this unique collaboration between sailors and ocean research organisations, we are able to contribute to increased understanding of ocean health.

“It’s a privilege to be able to provide data of value to the scientific community and it’s vital that governments act on the scientific evidence to protect and restore our ocean and all that depends on it.”

Race organisers will have a strict Covid-19 protocol in place, including testing and small group ‘bubbles’ that limit interaction between sailing teams and outsiders.

VO65 Team Brunel has broken the ARC Course Record sailing from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to Rodney Bay, Saint Lucia in an elapse time of 8d 7h 39m 30s. This is the third consecutive year that the Course Record has been beaten; a year ago, Mike Slade's super-maxi Farr 100 Leopard by Finland took over two days off the previous record set by Caro, a Knierim 65 in 2013. 'Near-perfect' conditions for this year's crossing have seen Team Brunel propelled towards Saint Lucia and into the ARC history books for breaking the record on the rally's 30th edition.

The 15 strong crew on the round the world racing yacht consists of 5 professional sailors and 10 experienced amateurs who were chasing a bucket list adventure and they have not been disappointed! From the day ARC 2015 set sail from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Team Brunel has sprinted to the sun-soaked shores of Saint Lucia, with an average VMG of 13.5kts since the start and top wave surfing speeds of double that at times. Persistent north easterly winds due to the well-established Azores High have allowed them to zig-zag the rhumb line route for much of their crossing. Interestingly, the total distance covered on their transatlantic route is greater than the two previous record holders at 3342NM.

But their ARC experience has not been without drama and on Sunday, On Board Reporter Koen Lockefeer announced a potentially disastrous mainsail tear had occurred during a routine gybe. After a night reefed down, it was all hands on deck for a race ready repair the following morning, "Johnny and Tomas started to organize the ripped sail part, climbing up the end of the swinging boom. They tied the top and bottom end of the sail together with lashes between the sail battens as if the ripped middle part had never been there. All hands on deck again to hoist the sail to max height, about as high as 1.5 reef and carefully sheet in the main again. To everyone's joy the boat started speeding off again ... As the old sailor's wisdom states: before you can win a race you first have to finish it. The broken mainsail and subsequent repair were a very close escape from not finishing at all."

Team Brunel were welcomed to Saint Lucia at 16:24 local time (20:24 UTC) and greeted by representatives from the Saint Lucia Tourist Board and IGY Rodney Bay Marina. The crew were presented with champagne and welcome basket of island gifts to celebrate their arrival.

Celebrations are likely to continue for much of the evening around Rodney Bay. Team Brunel's nearest ARC rivals, Durlindana 3 (ITA) are still some way off reaching their berth in the Marina, and are currently expected to arrive around 20:00 local time on Thursday 3rd December. In the ARC Multihull division, trimaran La Caravelle (FRA) has consistently led the fleet and is expected to arrive on the 5th December if conditions hold. Boats in the Cruising Division will enjoy life at sea for a while longer; over the coming days many will celebrate their own milestones reaching half-way and are enjoying calmer conditions after a breezy departure from Las Palmas just over a week ago.

However the Team Brunel crew will no doubt be embraced by their fellow arrivals from the ARC+ fleet. Departing from their stopover in Mindelo, Cape Verdes five days earlier than the ARC fleet left Las Palmas, and with a shorter distance to sail to Rodney Bay, 18 of the 59 ARC+ boats have made land fall so far.