No sooner has the Vendée Globe finished than the dates for the next big events are being finalised. The Ocean Race, the successor to the legendary Whitbread and Volvo Ocean Race, was actually due to start this year. However, this was postponed until next year due to coronavirus. However, its smaller offshoot, The Ocean Race Europe, is entering the final preparation phase and is also set to kick off the Imoca World Series.
The organisers have just announced the French town of Lorient as the starting port from which the race will set off for the Mediterranean on the last weekend in May. This is apparently intended to motivate the French teams based there. The destination is Genoa, with two ports of call in between, although these have not yet been named. However, Cascais is considered a certainty.
Six teams are expected to take part on VO65 racers, the boats from the last Volvo Ocean Race. Six to eight Imoca teams are said to be interested, including those of Louis Burton, Thomas Ruyant and also Alex Thomson.
Two German teams are also rumoured to be interested. Boris Herrmann's start depends on the sale of his boat and the necessary repairs, not least to the damaged starboard foil. Offshore Team Germany also has a boat and the necessary crew, with Robert Stanjek as skipper and Brit Annie Lush as one of a total of four crew members with whom the Imocas are to be sailed in this race. One of them has to be a woman.
However, like the entire race, the Germans' participation is subject to coronavirus restrictions. "We are making serious preparations, but are waiting to see what the pandemic situation is like," says team manager Jens Kuphal.
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
