The opening salvos will be fired in The Ocean Race 2022-23 on Sunday (8 January) with the start of the In-Port Race Series in Alicante.

As previously noted on Afloat.ie, there will be separate races for the two different classes of boat in the competition, the VO65s and IMOCAs, both of which can be viewed live in Ireland on Eurosport and discovery+.

Although The Ocean Race has always been very much about the thrill and skill of crossing open oceans, the In-Port Race Series has long been a popular and an integral part of the race’s DNA.

The 2022–23 edition features in-port races at seven of the course’s stopover cities around the world where local fans can get up close and personal to the teams as they battle it out around a short inshore course.

Although in-port races do not count towards a team’s overall points score, they do play an important part in the overall rankings as the In-Port Race Series standings are used to break any points ties that occur during the race around the world.

Typically staged close enough to shore that fans in the stopover city can enjoy the action from dry land, in-port races are often fast and furious affairs that test the sailors’ boat handling capabilities to the max.

If the weather conditions allow, each team carries three guests on board during in-port races. Although for safety reasons they are not allowed to participate in racing the boats, these lucky people get as close to the heart of the action as it is possible to be, and one supremely fortunate individual could be selected by the skipper to take the helm for the final leg of the course.

Bangor sailor Bill O’Hara represented Ireland in the Finn class at Los Angeles 1984 and Seoul 1988 before his distinguished career as a race officer

Winning the start is often the key to victory at the finish. Principal race officer Bill O’Hara has opted for a reaching start, which means the boats will be starting with the wind blowing from side-on, approximately 90 degrees.

“The IMOCAs are not designed for close-quarters manoeuvring, so the reaching start makes sense,” says O’Hara, a former Olympic competitor for Ireland. “Also, it gives the IMOCAs the best chance of popping up on their foils, which we have never seen before in the history of the race.”

O’Hara is planning a rectangular course, aiming for at least two laps with a target finish time of 45 minutes for the IMOCA fleet who start at 1600 CET.

“If we get a moderate breeze strength of, say, 10 knots, then I reckon the first leg will be a 1.5 nautical mile reach, downwind for 0.5nm, a 2nm reach along the bottom, upwind for 0.5nm, then 0.5nm back to the start/finish line.”

For the VO65s who start earlier at 1400 CET, O’Hara is planning more of a square-shaped course to allow more tactical manoeuvres on the race course, opportunities for race-winning tacks and gybes with boats that are more easily handled in close-quarters situations.

As of Saturday 7 January, the weather forecast looks good for Sunday’s racing, according to O’Hara: “The weather models point to breeze somewhere over 10 knots, with the breeze building during the afternoon and possibly gusting near 15 knots. It’s looking like we could be in for some good wind!”

This should be enough to see the IMOCAs pick up speed on the reaching legs and get fully foiling, hitting speeds in excess of 20 knots.

With manoeuvres difficult to execute on an ocean-going IMOCA, winning the start is going to be more critical than ever in this fleet. Judging your time-on-distance approach on a reach to the start is going to be difficult, and no one has got their time-on-distance down better than an expert in match racing.

GUYOT environnement is packed with Olympic levels of talent. Aside from co-skipper Robert Stanjek being a former Star World Champion, Annie Lush represented Great Britain at the London 2012 Games in women’s match racing, and the winning skipper from those Olympics was none other than fellow GUYOT teammate Tamara Echegoyen from Spain.

The In-Port Race course plotted for Alicante on Sunday afternoon | Credit: The Ocean Race

While Susann Beucke might be new to offshore racing, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist in the 49erFX skiff will provide useful close-quarters experience for the German sailor to bring to Kevin Escoffier’s crew aboard Team Holcim - PRB. 11th Hour Racing’s Francesca Clapcich also comes from a recent Olympic background, having twice represented Italy at the 2012 and 2016 Games, and will be on leeward lookout for the team during the In-Port Race, while skipper Charlie Enright keeps a weather eye on race and spectator traffic.

The small-boat experience on Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm comes from Damien Seguin, a double Paralympic Champion from France. Team Malizia skipper Boris Herrmann will be drawing on his former life as a 505 dinghy sailor to remind him of the close quarters manoeuvring that will be required during the pre-start of the In-Port Race.

Meanwhile, the VO65s will be champing at the bit to get off the start line in good shape. Expect some aggressive pre-start manoeuvring as they jockey for position.

Like the IMOCA crews, there is some world-class small-boat talent scattered throughout the VO65 fleet. Tokyo 2020 Laser Radial Olympian Magdalena Kwaśna is ready to do her bit for skipper Pablo Arrarte and Windwhisper Racing Team from Poland.

Former Laser Radial competitor Tania Elías Calles is a four-time Olympic representative from Mexico who joins skipper Erik Brockmann aboard Viva México. Brockmann himself is well used to close-quarters competition as a past J/70 keelboat world championship, as well as skippering Mexican teams in high-speed catamarans in the Extreme Sailing Series.

Ambersail 2 is skippered by Lithuanian Olympic representative from London 2012 Rokas Milevičius – who, when he raced aboard Team Brunel in 2014–15, became the first Lithuanian sailor to take part in The Ocean Race. Milevičius’ Olympic experience should stand him in good stead off the start line.

The Olympic experience runs deep through Antonio Fontes’ crew on Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team. Hugo Rocha has a 470 Olympic bronze medal, Diogo Cayolla is a three-time representative for Portugal, and Francisco Cruz has raced a windsurfer at the Games for Argentina.

Team JAJO from the Netherlands is full of youth and exuberance, although their not-so-secret weapon to bring some age and experience is Dutchman Bouwe Bekking, an eight-time veteran of The Ocean Race.

Gerwin Jansen’s team on Austrian Ocean Racing powered by Team Genova are young and the least experienced of all the crews. A clean start by Jansen, and letting the other teams make mistakes, would probably be a good strategy for their first In-Port Race as they look to build on their lack of racing miles.

Full crew lists (as of Saturday 7 January) for the IMOCA and VO65 fleets are attached below.

11th Hour Racing Team’s longtime sustainability manager Damian Foxall isn’t Ireland’s only connection to the IMOCA getting ready to foil around the world in The Ocean Race 2022-23 this month.

Cork sailor James O’Mahony, a veteran of two previous editions of The Ocean Race, is boat captain on the team that will sail with a crew of four — plus on-board reporter Amory Ross — under skipper Charlie Enright.

“This race has been a long time coming, but we feel ready,” Enright said at the close of 2022 about the race, which will see five IMOCAs included for the very first time alongside a fleet of VO65s taking part in a series of sprint races around the globe-spanning route.

The action begins this Sunday 8 January with the In Port Race in Alicante before the IMOCA and VO65 fleets depart for Mindelo, Cabo Verde on 15 January on the first leg.

Viewers in Ireland can catch Sunday’s action live on Eurosport and discovery+ with the VO65s scheduled to race from 1pm GMT and the IMOCAS from 2.30pm GMT.

The forthcoming edition of The Ocean Race, which sets sail from Alicante on 15 January, is set to feature the most ambitious and comprehensive science programme created by a sporting event.

Every boat participating in the gruelling six-month around-the-world race will carry specialist equipment onboard to measure a range of variables throughout the 60,000km route, which will be analysed by scientists from eight leading research organisations to further understanding about the state of the ocean.

Sailing through some of the most remote parts of the planet, seldom reached by scientific vessels, teams will have a unique opportunity to collect vital data where information is lacking on two of the biggest threats to the health of the seas: the impact of climate change and plastic pollution.

Launched during the 2017-18 edition of the race in collaboration with 11th Hour Racing — premier partner of The Ocean Race and founding partner of the Racing with Purpose sustainability programme — the innovative science programme will capture even more types of data in the forthcoming race, including for the first time levels of oxygen and trace elements in the water.

Data will also be delivered to science partners faster in this edition, transmitted via satellite and reaching the organisations, which includes World Meteorological Organisation, National Oceanography Centre, Max Planck Society, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in real time.

Stefan Raimund, science lead at The Ocean Race, said: “A healthy ocean isn’t just vital to the sport we love, it regulates the climate, provides food for billions of people and supplies half the planet’s oxygen. Its decline impacts the entire world. To halt it, we need to supply governments and organisations with scientific evidence and demand they act on it.

“We are in a unique position to contribute to this; data collected during our previous races has been included in crucial reports about the state of the planet that have informed and influenced decisions by governments. Knowing that we can make a difference in this way has inspired us to expand our science programme even further and collaborate with more of the world’s leading science organisations to support their vital research.”

The journey of the data captured in The Ocean Race science programme

In total, 15 types of environmental data will be collected during The Ocean Race 2022-23, including:

• Indicators of climate change: Two boats, 11th Hour Racing Team and Team Malizia, will carry OceanPacks, which take water samples to measure levels of carbon dioxide, oxygen, salinity and temperature, providing insights about the impact of climate change on the ocean. Trace elements, including iron, zinc, copper and manganese, will also be captured for the first time. These elements are vital for the growth of plankton, an essential organism as it is the first part of the food chain and the ocean’s biggest producers of oxygen.
• Plastic pollution: GUYOT environnement – Team Europe and Holcim – PRB will take regular water samples throughout the race to test for microplastics. As with the previous edition of the Race, the amount of microplastics will be measured throughout the route and, for the first time, samples will also be analysed to determine which plastic product the fragments originated from (for example, a bottle or carrier bag).
• Meteorological data: The entire fleet will use onboard weather sensors to measure wind speed, wind direction and air temperature. Some teams will also deploy drifter buoys in the Southern Ocean to capture these measurements on an ongoing basis, along with location data, which helps to grow understanding about how currents and the climate are changing. Meteorological data will help to improve weather forecasts and are particularly valuable for predicting extreme weather events, as well as revealing insights on longer-term climate trends.
• Ocean Biodiversity: Biotherm is collaborating with the Tara Ocean Foundation to trial an experimental research project to study ocean biodiversity during the Race. An onboard automated microscope will record images of marine phytoplankton on the ocean surface, which will be analysed to provide insights on phytoplankton diversity in the ocean, along with biodiversity, food webs and the carbon cycle.

All of the collected data is open-source and shared with The Ocean Race’s science partners: organisations across the world that are examining the impact of human activity on the ocean. It will feed into reports including those from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and databases such as the Surface Ocean Carbon Dioxide Atlas, which provides data for the Global Carbon Budget, a yearly assessment of carbon dioxide that informs targets and predictions for carbon reduction.

Véronique Garçon, senior scientist at CNRS said: “The Ocean Race’s science programme is vital for the science community and their work to support the UN Decade of Ocean Science. The data gathered by the boats from remote parts of the world, where information is scarce, is particularly valuable.

“Put simply, the more data we have, the more accurately we can understand the ocean’s capacity to cope with climate change and predict what will happen to the climate in future.”

The Ocean Race’s science programme, which is supported by 11th Hour Racing, Time to Act partner Ulysse Nardin and Official Plastic-Free Ocean partner Archwey, is being ramped up at a time when the impact of human activity on the ocean is becoming more widely understood.

Recent studies have highlighted how higher temperatures in the ocean are fuelling extreme weather events and sea levels are projected to rise at a faster rate than anticipated, while whales have been found to ingest millions of microplastics every day.

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 Ocean Race is driving support for the recognition of the ocean’s intrinsic rights with the goal of the adoption of a Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights by the UN General Assembly by 2030.

This was the main message at one of The Ocean Race events held at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm-El Sheikh, Egypt this month.

“The Ocean Race is here to deep dive into the concept of ocean rights, meet different perspectives and discuss how ocean rights can make it higher into the global political arena,” said Richard Brisius, race chairman of The Ocean Race at the event titled ‘Ocean Rights to boost Climate Action at International Negotiations’.

The Ocean Race is playing a key part at the conference as founder of the first-ever Ocean Pavilion as well as host of three events that gathered policy-makers, youth, scientists and representatives from member countries to accelerate the recognition of ocean rights.

The Ocean Race joined a group of the world’s leading ocean science and philanthropic organisations, led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, which came together as co-founders of the Ocean Pavilion, hosting over 60 sessions over the two-week conference period to highlight the crucial importance of the ocean to Earth’s climate and to efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change in the safest, most effective ways science can offer.

COP27 was also the location for the launch of The Ocean Rights Alliance, an innovative platform for companies and other stakeholders to get involved and contribute to the process through exploring ocean rights in corporate governance.

Xiye Bastida, climate justice activist and co-founder of Re-Earth Initiative, speaking at one of The Ocean Race events at COP27 | Credit: Cherie Bridges/The Ocean Race

“One of the great things about The Ocean Race is that it brings together so many different players around the ocean and can accelerate and catalyse action for ocean conservation,” said Lucy Hunt, senior advisor for learning and summits at The Ocean Race.

For his part, via a video message, Pier Luigi Sigismondi, F&B group president with the Dole Sunshine Company stressed the importance of “setting a new framework, a Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights, to help set the reference for good and proper ocean governance”.

The Ocean Race team also held a series of high-level bilateral meetings, including talks with Monaco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Isabelle Berro-Amadeï; and delegates from France, Ireland and the Pacific with a focus on joint promotion of ocean rights at the global level.

Speaking at one of The Ocean Race events, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, Peter Thomson described the action that is needed if we are to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees: “We have to take the sacrifices, get off this damn highway to hell that we are all so comfortably cruising at the moment. It is just not good enough. Think about what you are doing, think about what you are consuming, how you spend your money… Just take away all the names on a map of the world and you'll see: it's one ocean, and that’s really important when it comes to ecosystems and fixing up all the wrongs that we are doing and of course rising ceilings.”

Addressing the audience, Earth Law Center UN Representative and Focal Point Myra Jackson noted that we must include “the aeons of experience and knowledge that indigenous people hold and carry.”

Xiye Bastida, climate justice activist and co-Founder of Re-Earth Initiative said: “How do we bring the voices that have never been heard before, the voices of the ocean, the voices of the animals in the ocean?”

She added: “We have to learn how to communicate and how to listen to the communities by the water, because those stories of survival are the stories that are going to help us imagine a world where we are not dependent on a system of destruction. In my language, the word for ‘skin’ is the same as the name of ‘the outer layer of the Earth’: when you hurt the Earth, you hurt yourself.”

Richard Brisus, race chairman of The Ocean Race (right) passes the Nature’s Baton to US senator Sheldon Whitehouse at the Ocean Pavilion at COP27 | Credit: Cherie Bridges/The Ocean Race

For her part, Minna Epps, ocean lead at IUCN said: “We need to go beyond humans, and we really need to think about providing the same rights to the ocean.”

Another event on ‘Connecting Climate Action with Ocean Rights, Human Rights and Corporate Rights’ was held at the COP27 Climate Action Hub, with representatives from sustainable materials specialist Archwey, Dole Sunshine Company as well as UNFCCC Team Lead Joanna Post.

As part of participation at the Climate Conference, Relay4Nature, an initiative by The Ocean Race and UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, Peter Thomson, Nature’s Baton was passed to the Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse as well as Gina McCarthy, first White House National Climate Advisor. Connecting the world’s key environmental events, it champions the ocean and calls on leaders to take urgent action to protect nature.

Along the way, Nature’s Baton has collected messages from a diverse range of influential voices, including HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco; European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius; French president Emmauel Macron, US presidential envoy on climate John Kerry; co-chair of Friends of Ocean Action and former deputy prime minister of Sweden, Isabella Lövin; and WWF director general Marco Lambertini.

Through its Racing with Purpose programme, established in collaboration with Founding Partner 11th Hour Racing, The Ocean Race has been working for over 18 months to build support with decision-makers and governments across the world for a Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights, which would establish the ocean as a legal entity and put in place a global framework for protecting the seas.

Draft principles on ocean rights are being created through the “Genova Process”, which gathers experts in international law, diplomacy, ocean science and sport to drive the ambitious goal of giving the ocean a voice It gets its name from Genova, the city that will host The Ocean Race Grand Finale in the summer of 2023.

The race is also getting the public onboard through the One Blue Voice campaign, with a petition for a Declaration that will be presented to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2023.

The Ocean Race and Mission Blue, an NGO dedicated to exploring the ocean and driving its protection, are coming together to accelerate action to safeguard the seas.

At the heart of the new collaboration, they say, are two ambitious goals for a healthy ocean: establishing a Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights and protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030.

Through its Racing with Purpose programme, established in collaboration with Founding Partner 11th Hour Racing, The Ocean Race says it has been working for over 18 months to build support with decision-makers and governments across the world for a Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights, which would establish the ocean as a legal entity and put in place a global framework for protecting the seas.

The race is also encouraging the public to get onboard through the One Blue Voice campaign, with a petition for a declaration that will be presented to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2023.

As an ‘Impact Collaborator’ of The Ocean Race, Mission Blue says it will help to drive support for ocean rights and highlight how this could play a crucial role in protecting the seas.

The collaboration also aims to shine a spotlight on ‘Hope Spots’, vital parts of the ocean that have been scientifically identified as critical to the health of the marine environment.

Working with local communities to safeguard these special areas, Mission Blue says it is calling on leaders and policymakers to ensure they are properly protected and able to thrive.

Ahead of the start of The Ocean Race 2022-23, which sets sail from Alicante, Spain on 15 January, the collaborators will look at ways to champion the Hope Spots that the teams will be racing by along the 60,000km route.

Richard Brisius, race chairman at The Ocean Race said: “Less than 3% of the ocean is protected, which has led to our blue planet being ruthlessly exploited. Working with organisations that are also racing to protect the ocean is the best way of making waves and driving action.

“By uniting with Mission Blue we can help audiences discover the incredible world beneath the surface and give the ocean a stronger voice, which will ultimately help to safeguard it.”

Led by legendary oceanographer Dr Sylvia Earle, Mission Blue’s work to raise awareness and grow support for a worldwide network of marine protected areas encompassing 30% of the ocean by 2030 will be amplified by The Ocean Race through its Racing with Purpose sustainability programme.

Created in collaboration with 11th Hour Racing, the programme features a series of high-level summits, learning programmes to inspire children to protect the ocean and an onboard science programme in which valuable data about the state of the seas is collected by sailing teams as they race across the planet.

Deb Castellana, director of strategic alliances at Mission Blue said: “Witnessing the development of The Ocean Race over the past decades, it is inspiring to see how what was once purely a challenge of human determination and the latest sailing technologies has evolved into a program centred on making a real difference for our imperilled ocean.

“The message to support ocean health is absolutely integral to the race, and it will be impossible for anyone following to escape this critical and timely message. From youth programmes to global summits, to presenting the Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights at the United Nations, The Ocean Race will make its mark as not only a sailing race, but a race to save our ocean planet. Mission Blue is proud to partner with The Ocean Race. No Blue, No Green!”

The Italian port city of Genoa, host of The Grand Finale of the next edition of The Ocean Race, will see a distinguished line-up of race legends come together to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the race.

All boats and sailors who have previously competed in the race are invited to participate in the Legends festivities, organisers say.

The Legends regatta will be part of the host city activities during the finish to the 14th edition of The Ocean Race at the end of June 2023.

Born as the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973 and continuing as the Volvo Ocean Race from 2001 through 2018, The Ocean Race has become the reference fully crewed around-the-world race in the sport of sailing.

For the past 50 years, the race has been a proving ground for the best sailors, yacht designers and builders in the sport, creating five decades of icons and legends.

Over the coming year, The Ocean Race will celebrate its heritage by having race legends at stopover events, promoting historical content in race programming, through a capsule merchandise collection and a virtual legends race — all building towards the on-site Legends event in Genova.

“We are so excited to share the history of The Ocean Race here in Genova, as part of the Grand Finale celebrations this summer,” said race chairman Richard Brisius at the ‘Towards The Ocean Race’ event in Genoa this past Sunday (6 November).

“One of our race legends, the late Sir Peter Blake once said this race ‘gets in your blood and you can’t get rid of it’, and I think that is a perfect description of how the challenge of The Ocean Race takes hold of your imagination and doesn’t let go. This is the history we want to honour and celebrate during our 50th anniversary year in 2023.”

Enrique Carlin was watch captain on board his father Ramon’s boat, Sayula II, winner of the inaugural Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973-74. In a message, he said: “Over these past 50 years of The Ocean Race, things have changed a lot; boats and navigation, all of the technology behind the event. The only thing that has never changed is the enthusiasm and love of sailors to be there, sailing on the great ocean with the tempestuous winds and waves. I hope that all of you who have raced around the world can be there on our anniversary this year, at the end of June 2023, to celebrate achieving this wonderful dream of sailing around the world in the greatest competition of them all.”

The ‘Towards The Ocean Race’ event was hosted at the Porto Antico in Genoa on board the Amerigo Vespucci, a tall ship used by the Italian Navy for training purposes. The Amerigo Vespucci is also linked to The Ocean Race, having been on site for previous leg starts and during the recent stop of The Ocean Race Europe.

Among those in attendance were Captain Luigi Romagnoli; Rear Admiral Massimiliano Nannini, director of the Hydrographic Institute of the Navy; Rufino Selva Guerrero, deputy director in thematic projects for the Comunidad Valenciana Society; Laurent Rousseau, business manager of the Race Village of Alicante; Gianmarco Nicoletti, brand manager for Ulysse Nardin in Italy; Antonio Di Natale, marine biologist and consultant of the Genova Process; and the the Mayor of Genoa, Marco Bucci.

“The Ocean Race is an historic appointment for the city of Genova and a significant event for Italy in 2023,” said Mayor Bucci. “We are talking about a sporting event of great value and a worldwide following. The announcement of the Legends regatta is a further, very important step that enriches the Grand Finale program. These will be days of great excitement for our city that will have the eyes of the sailing world focused on us.

“We are ready to host tens of thousands of sailors and guests. It is an opportunity not to be missed and Genova will demonstrate its ambition as a city capable of attracting and hosting international events.”

The Legends event is among a suite of activities Genoa will activate as the official destination marketing partner of The Ocean Race, in addition to its role as host city of The Grand Finale, the finishing leg of 14th edition of The Ocean Race.

The Ocean Race is launching Generation Ocean, a new learning programme for secondary schools that encourages young people to join the race to protect “our incredible blue planet”.

The programme comprises engaging materials that aim to equip teachers and parents with all they need to help learners understand the crucial role the ocean plays in sustaining life on Earth, the threats that are jeopardising this vital system and the solutions that are needed to protect it.

Launched in English on Thursday 13 October, the materials will be available in eight further languages (Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Danish, Dutch, French, German and Mandarin) in the coming months.

Suitable for learners over 12 years old, the free resources can be used in school, for at-home learning or within the community.

The programme features a booklet with articles, stories, reflections and action points to be carried out in the classroom, and an educator’s guide with suggested activities and a step-by-step guide to inspire teachers to include age-appropriate ocean principles and concepts in their lessons.

Created in collaboration with 11th Hour Racing — founding partner of The Ocean Race’s Racing with Purpose sustainability programme — Generation Ocean provides an overview of key ocean themes, features examples and good practices from around the world, highlights links between ocean and climate and reflects on the need to recognise ocean rights.

The programme also offers ocean advocacy ideas and a comprehensive glossary of ocean-related concepts.

The Generation Ocean booklet contains engaging articles, stories, reflections and action points | The Ocean Race

Generation Ocean is part of The Ocean Race’s wider learning programme and can be used across subject areas to increase ocean literacy. Lesson activities also feature social and emotional learning (SEL) techniques to help encourage and empower young people to take positive action for the ocean.

Lucy Hunt, senior advisor for summits and learning at The Ocean Race said: “As The Ocean Race sailors race around the planet, they are seeing the devastating impact of pollution, climate change and industrial overfishing on the ocean. At the same time, the world is waking up to just how important the seas are for our survival, from regulating the climate to providing us with food, jobs and the air we breathe.

“It is time to act and listen to the ideas and opinions of young people talking about the ocean and their solutions. Youth need to be heard and empowered, and it all starts with ocean education.

“There has been a real disconnect from nature and how important it is in our lives. This programme shines a light on the ocean and how we can be part of the solution in honouring the work it does for us as a planet and how we can stand up for the ocean's rights.”

To mark the launch of Generation Ocean, The Ocean Race is offering four passionate students and their teacher the exciting opportunity to win a trip to Aarhus in Denmark when the round-the-world race sails into the city in May 2023.

To enter the competition, students need to create a short film about a project they have created to raise awareness of ocean rights within their community.

The prize includes flights, accommodation and meals, an opportunity for the team to present their project on stage, a chance to speak about it at The Ocean Race Summit Aarhus, participation at the Aarhus Youth Summit and learning experiences and time to explore Aarhus city and Ocean Live Park, The Ocean Race’s dedicated onsite event space. For more details on the competition, see HERE.