The Ocean Race Atlantic on the live tracker
The official Race Tracker for The Ocean Race shows the current race standings. If the embedded external content does not appear here initially, you will need to enable the option to display external content.
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What the tracker shows
The Ocean Race Atlantic is a sprint of around 3,200 nautical miles from New York to Lorient. Six IMOCA teams will be competing, including Team Malizia with Boris Herrmann. The boats will be crewed by four-person crews, comprising two women and two men, plus one on-board reporter per boat. Although the fleet will set off from New York on 1 September 2026 with a parade and departure ceremony, the official start of the race will not take place until 2 September off the coast. The Key dates and background information to kick things off are here.
The tracker, developed in collaboration with PredictWind, brings together the information that is crucial to the race:
| Area | That’s what you can see | That’s what matters |
| Map | Boat symbols, course line, route and destination | The yacht furthest ahead geographically does not necessarily have to be in the lead |
| Rankings | Position and gap to the leader | What matters is the calculated route to the destination, not just the map |
| Telemetry | Speed, course over ground, true wind angle and distances | Always read the values in relation to the wind angle and heading |
| Weather | Forecasts and historical weather data as a map layer | Shows high-pressure areas, low-pressure areas, weather fronts and pressure differences |
| Route preview | Expected prices of the yachts | A computational model; not an official statement from the navigation service |
| Media | Clips and posts from on board | Add the information regarding the situation on board |
Read the rankings first, then look at the map
The quickest way to get started is via the leaderboard. It tells you which team is currently in the lead according to the organiser’s calculations and how big the gap is to the leader. This gap is a more accurate indicator than the visual impression given by the map.
On a transatlantic course, the boats are often far apart. A yacht to the north may appear significantly ‘further back’ on the screen and yet still be in the lead if its course offers a shorter route to the finish or one that is more favourable for the upcoming weather conditions. Conversely, a boat positioned far to the east may still be at an unfavourable angle to the next weather zone.
For day-to-day guidance, this order is therefore sufficient:
- Open the league table and view the gap to the top.
- Use the map to see which weather conditions explain the different courses.
- Compare the speed, course and wind angle of the leading boats.
- Only then should you read the route preview as a possible scenario.
Why the boats take different routes
The weather layer is the key to the tracker. It overlays wind fields and other forecast data onto the map. This makes it clear whether a team is banking on higher pressure, a better wind angle or a later wind shift.
Heading north or south is not automatically an attack or a mistake. Navigation often involves choosing between a shorter route with less wind and a longer detour into a faster wind track. For foiling IMOCA yachts, small differences in wind direction and sea state can have a major impact on the speed they can achieve.
However, the coloured weather zones represent a forecast, not a measurement taken at the top of the mast. To put this into context, it is worth comparing it with the reported boat data. If, according to Tracker Wind, a boat ought to be very fast but is in fact travelling significantly slower, this may be due to waves, manoeuvres, a sail change or a local variation. Also, the The starting position for Team Malizia and their rivals helps you make sense of your first few hours of racing.
Route preview: Useful, but not a glimpse into the future
The PredictWind route preview calculates a possible alternative route. It does this by combining current weather data, the boat’s polars and the routing model. It explains why a yacht might be losing ground, tacking or changing tack early.
But that is all it is: the line shown is not a tactic published by the team, nor is it a guarantee of how the rest of the race will unfold. Navigators work with additional information, constantly adjust their decisions and take into account factors that a public model cannot fully reflect. If the wind changes direction unexpectedly, even the most sensible route will shift.
The route preview is therefore particularly helpful in answering the question: ‘Where is this boat heading?’ As for the question ‘Where will it be tomorrow?’, it remains merely a well-founded snapshot of the current situation.
How to compare telemetry properly
Among other things, the tracker provides the boat’s speed, course over ground, true wind angle, distance to the leader, distance to the finish and distance travelled. Distances are given in nautical miles.
The most common mistake is to compare speeds directly. 25 knots on a broad reach can be excellent, whilst 25 knots close-hauled represent a completely different level of performance and strain. The figure only becomes meaningful when considered alongside the course and the true wind angle.
| Observation | Possible explanation |
| A boat is slower, but it wins | It takes the shorter or cheaper route |
| A boat is travelling very fast, but loses | It has taken too long a detour or is in an area of poorer weather |
| The track suddenly drops away | Manoeuvres, changing sails, adjusting to lighter winds or rougher seas |
| The course is changing significantly | A change in wind direction, a tactical decision or preparation for a change in the weather |
| A boat remains on the map | There may be delays in data transmission, but this does not necessarily mean that any damage has occurred |
Two views are more helpful than constantly refreshing the page
For a quick daily check, the rankings and the map showing weather conditions are all you need. If you want to go into more detail, you can also open the detailed view for a particular boat. There, you can compare its data directly with that of its competitors.
It is also useful to switch between two- and three-dimensional views. The 2D map makes it easier to compare courses and distances. The 3D view gives a better sense of how far apart the fleet is.
A comparison carried out at regular intervals is more meaningful than simply monitoring individual updates. Checking the same three waypoints in the morning and in the evening provides a clearer picture of how the race is progressing: Who is in the lead in terms of calculated distance? Who has the better position relative to the weather? And which boat has made up ground since the last check?
Using trackers, videos and race reports together
The tracker shows what’s happening on the water. The daily live broadcasts, videos from the on-board reporters and race reports explain why a team chooses a particular route or what conditions are like on board. The Ocean Race will broadcast a 30-minute live on-board programme every day from 2 to 8 September at 5 pm German time. This combination of data and reports provides a much more complete picture than the map alone.
According to the organisers, the boats are expected to arrive in Lorient on or around 8 or 9 September. Until then, the live tracker is the quickest way to get an overview. If you know how to read it properly, you can see not only the order of the boats, but also the tactical decisions behind it.
Which tracker view helps you most when following an offshore race: the leaderboard, the weather map, the route preview or the data for a single boat?
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital