IMOCA GLOBE SERIES

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. 

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

The second cycle of the Championship opened in May 2021 with The Ocean Race Europe, a new and innovative event for the IMOCA, as for the first time the 60-footers raced with a mixed crew.

In addition, for the first time, the two historic round-the-world races are combined in the same program. The Ocean Race, a crewed event, joins the IMOCA GLOBE SERIES which has 18 races in four years and 13 countries visited.

The IMOCA GLOBE SERIES is now implementing the "Overall Leader" system. Therefore, each leader will put the flag back into play at the beginning of each race and, at the end of the last race of the season, the IMOCA CHAMPION of the year (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) will be crowned. After the last Transat Jacques Vabre and a brilliant double-handed season, Charlie Dalin and Paul Meilhat have been crowned IMOCA CHAMPIONS 2021.

The year 2022 was an intense single-handed season. After an opening event in May in the Guyader Bermuda 1000 Race, the skippers tackled the North face of the Atlantic, with the Arctic Vendée. The IMOCAs sailed for the first time in Icelandic waters, what an adventure! The second part of the season was then very challenging with the Azimuth Challenge and the famous Route du Rhum. After a memorable battle between Saint-Malo and Guadeloupe, Thomas Ruyant won his first major solo race. Winner of three of the four races of the season, Charlie Dalin is crowned IMOCA Grand Champion 2022.

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 (Le Havre-Martinique), double-handed, coefficient 5

2022
8 May : Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race (Brest-Brest), solo, coefficient 2
12 June : Vendée Arctique (Les Sables d'Olonne), solo, coefficient 4
September : Défi Azimut-Lorient Agglomération (Lorient), solo, coefficient 1
November : Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe (Saint Malo-Pointe-à-Pitre), solo, coefficient 5

2023
January-July: The Ocean Race, crew, coefficient 10
May: Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race, double-handed, coefficient 1
August: Rolex Fastnet Race (Cowes-Cherbourg), double-handed, coefficient 2
September: Défi Azimut-Lorient Agglomération (Lorient), double-handed, coefficient 1
October: Transat Jacques Vabre-Normandie (Le Havre-Martinique), double-handed, coefficient 5
November-december: Retour à La Base (Martinique-Lorient), solo race back to Lorient, coefficient 4

2024-Beginning of 2025
May: The Transat CIC (départ Brest), 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 (Les Sables d'Olonne, solo, coefficient 10

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.

The IMOCA GLOBE SERIES 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.

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

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