IMOCA GLOBE SERIES

© ©Eloi Stichelbaut - polaRYSE / IMOCA

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. Officially launched in June 2018, the championship programme comprises eight of the most prestigious events, in double-handed and singlehanded format, spread over four seasons (2018-2021). At the end of this programme, the World IMOCA Champion title is awarded to the sailor who has racked up the greatest number of points over that period.



Also serving as a qualifier for the Vendée Globe 2020-21, the events that make up the championship enable the skippers to amass the precious miles required to integrate the list of skippers at the start of the famous singlehanded, non-stop, unassisted round the world race.

- Monaco Globe Series (1-8 June 2018): double-handed race, coefficient 2
- Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe (4 November 2018): singlehanded race, coefficient 4

- Bermudes 1000 Race (5 May 2019): double-handed, coefficient 2

- Rolex Fastnet Race (3 August 2019): double-handed, coefficient 1
- Transat Jacques-Vabre (27 October 2019): double-handed, coefficient 4

- The Transat CIC (10 May 2020): singlehanded, coefficient 4
 (postponed in 2024)
- Vendée-Arctique-Les Sables d'Olonne (4 July 2020): singlehanded, coefficient 4

- Vendée Globe (8 November 2020): singlehanded, 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.

To access the IMOCA Globe Series ranking and all the events, click here

To access the cartography and replay the championship races, 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

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, Shenzhen in southern China, Auckland in New Zealand, 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 Genoa in Italy.

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, notably in Africa, Asia and Oceania. 

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