IMOCA GLOBE SERIES

© Jean-Louis Carli / Alea

The IMOCA Globe Series is the result of a shared desire among skippers and race organisers to create a stronger link between the different events.

The Championship is made up of the most prestigious solo, double-handed and crewed races. Championship races are also qualitative for the Vendée Globe by allow skippers to accumulate miles in order to be able to join the list of skippers at the start of the famous solo, non-stop, non-assisted round the world race. 

At the end of this program, the title of IMOCA World Champion is awarded to the sailor who has totaled the most points over the period. Officially launched in June 2018, the first cycle of the championship ended at the end of the Vendée Globe 2020-21 and Boris Herrmann was crowned IMOCA World Champion thanks to a campaign led with remarkable consistency by Team Malizia. 

IMOCA GLOBE SERIES
2021-2025

The second cycle of the Championship will open with The Ocean Race Europe, a new and innovative races for the IMOCA Class, as for the first time the 60-footers will be sailed by crews, which, moreover, will be mixed. 

For the first time, the two historic circumnavigations of the globe will be brought together in a single programme. This is of course The Ocean Race, a crewed event, which joins the Championship for the next 4 years and will feature no less than 18 races and 14 countries will be visited.

2021
29 May-19 June : The Ocean Race Europe (Lorient-Cascaïs-Alicante-Genoa), crew, coefficient 3
8 August : Rolex Fastnet Race (Cowes-Cherbourg), double-handed, coefficient 2
15-19 September : Défi Azimut-Lorient Agglomération (Lorient), double-handed, coefficient 1
8 November : Transat Jacques Vabre-Normandie-Le Havre (Le Havre-Martinique), double-handed, coefficient 5

2022
5 May : Grand Prix Guyader
8 May : Bermudes 1000 race, solo, coefficient 2
12 June : Vendée-Arctique-Les Sables d’Olonne, solo, coefficient 4
September : Défi Azimut-Lorient Agglomération (Lorient), solo, coefficient 2
Autumn-winter: The Ocean Race, crew, coefficient 4 (4 legs, 1 coefficient per leg)
November : Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe, solo, coefficient 6

2023
January-July: The Ocean Race, crew, coefficient 7 (7 legs, 1 coefficient per leg)
May: Bermudes 1000 Race, solo, coefficient 2
August: Rolex Fastnet Race, double-handed, coefficient 2
September: Défi Azimut-Lorient Agglomération (Lorient), double-handed, coefficient 1
October: Transat Jacques Vabre-Normandie-Le Havre, double-handed, coefficient 5
November-december: Retour à La Base, solo race back to Lorient

2024-Beginning of 2025
May: The Transat CIC, solo, coefficient 4
June: New York-Vendée-Les Sables d’Olonne, solo, coefficient 4
September: Défi Azimut-Lorient Agglomération (Lorient), solo, coefficient 1
November-february: Vendée Globe, solo, coefficient 10

Note that this second cycle of championship opens with a major change concerning the counting of points. The objective of this new rule is to allow newcomers to climb quickly in the ranking. 

Each skipper scores a certain number of points according to their ranking and the number of participants and a coefficient peculiar to each event.

For example: if 10 boats take the start of a race with a coefficient 4, the first scores 10 x 4 = 40 points, the 2nd scores 9 x 4 = 36 points, etc.

This counting principle does not change, but the points scored will be degressive from one season of participation to another. 
N (year) = 100
N-1 = 80%
N-2 = 50%
N-3 = 30% 

Example: If a team has 100 points at the end of the year 2021, they will only have 80 points at the beginning of 2022. However, if a team joins the circuit in 2022, their points scored in 2022 will still be worth 100% of their value and will only start to decrease in 2023. 

The IMOCA Globe Series Championship is now implementing the "Overall Leader" system. Therefore, each leader will put the flag back into play at the start of each race and the Champion of the season (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) will be known at the end of the last race of the year. The IMOCA Globe Series World Champion will be crowned at the end of the 2024-2025 Vendée Globe. 

To access the IMOCA Globe Series ranking and all the events, click here
To access the replay race tracker of the championship events, click here

 

DOWNLOAD THE IMOCA GLOBE SERIES 2021-25 PREVIEW 

The Ocean Race

© The Ocean Race

Since 2018 and for the first time in the history of our sport, a lasting link has been established between the Vendée Globe and The Ocean Race (ex-Volvo Ocean Race) enabling a rapprochement between the planet’s two major offshore races.

At the centre of this revolution, IMOCA monohulls will now be able to participate in the greatest singlehanded event, the Vendée Globe, as well as the longest and most extreme crewed marine marathon, The Ocean Race.

The next running of this crewed round the world race with stopovers is scheduled to set sail in October 2022 from Alicante in Spain. The racecourse was revealed in March 2020. Once again, the boats will cross three oceans, round the three major capes and make a stopover on five continents. 

Indeed, following on from Alicante, the crews will make a stopover in Cape Verde, Cape Town in South Africa, Itajai in Brazil, Newport on America’s eastern seaboard, AArhus in Denmark and The Hague in Holland, before finishing in the Mediterranean off the port of Genova in Italy.

Race Schedule

To be confirmed - Prologue Race(s): September to December 2022
Alicante, Spain - Leg 1 start: 15 January 2023
Cabo Verde - ETA: 22 January; Leg 2 start: 25 January
Cape Town, South Africa - ETA: 9 February; Leg 3 start: 26/27 February (TBC)
Itajaí, Brazil - ETA: 1 April; Leg 4 start: 23 April
Newport, RI, USA - ETA: 10 May; Leg 5 start: 21 May
Aarhus, Denmark - ETA: 30 May; Leg 6 start: 8 June
Kiel, Germany (Fly-By) - 9 June
The Hague, The Netherlands - ETA: 11 June; Leg 7 start: 15 June
Genova, Italy - The Grand Finale - ETA: 25 June, 2023; Final In-Port Race: 1 July, 2023

For the Class, its sailors and their partners, this agreement is an opportunity to build on its race programme, in solo and/or crewed format, thus favouring visibility across new markets, which had not necessarily been reached by IMOCA thus far.

It’s also heralds a natural rapprochement between two events with a rich historic heritage, whose protagonists have often been involved in the Vendée Globe and then the Whitbread, the latter becoming the Volvo Ocean Race and finally The Ocean Race, whether they are sailors, engineers, meteorologists, technicians, etc. Today, a real dynamic has been established between these two worlds, which are now one and the same.

For further information about the legendary crewed round the world race, click here

VENDÉE GLOBE

The Vendée Globe is the flagship race of the IMOCA Globe Series. From its first edition in 1989, the famous singlehanded race around the world has exceeded its status as a solitary sports event. This utterly unique human adventure has a very special place in the heart of the public, who every four years, follow the action in this epic race, which crowns the achievements of the top sailors. The 9th edition will set sail on 8 November 2020 from the iconic port of Les Sables d'Olonne in France’s Vendée department.

Thirty-four sailors will be on the start line on the big day aboard ever more innovative monohulls. Eight latest generation boats have been built for this edition and nineteen competitors will be equipped with foils. The fleet is also shaping up to be one of the most international to date with around a dozen nationalities, which may well set a precedent in terms of gender equality with some five female sailors preparing for this legendary encounter.

For further information about solo sailors’ Holy Grail, click here