| Age | 38 (12/23/87) |
|---|---|
| Top performance | 1st in the World Match Racing Championship in 2013 |
| Joined Imoca on | 2022 |
| Team | United by the Ocean |
| Base | Lorient (FRANCE) |
Born into a sailing family Portugal’s Mariana Lobato (35) began sailing at the age of eight and went on to race her first European Championship in the singlehanded under-16 Optimist class.
Having worked her way up through larger dinghy classes like the Snipe and 420, and into Olympic classes like the 470, 49erFX, and Nacra 17, Lobato specialised in match racing – a discipline in which – sailing with Rita Gonçalves and Diana Neves – she represented her country at the London 2012 Olympic Games before going on to win the women’s match racing world title in 2013.
Since then she has been a regular face on racing GC32 and M32 catamarans and on the larger Ocean Fifty trimaran regatta circuit.
A qualified paramedic, Lobato is taking on her first around-the-world edition of The Ocean Race in 2023 having been a member of the Portuguese Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team which was victorious in the VO65 class in the inaugural staging of The Ocean Race Europe in 2021. She joined Paul Meilhat on board Biotherm, and will become his co-skipper at the end of the round-the-world race, for the Défi Azimut and the Transat Jacques Vabre.
2021: The Ocean Race Europe / Mirpuri Racing Team - 1st
2013: Match Racing World Championship - 1st / Gold medal
2012: London Olympic Games - Representing Portugal in the Match Racing class
| Name | UNITED BY THE OCEAN |
|---|---|
| Sail number | FRA 2030 |
| Architect | Guillaume Verdier |
| Construction | 2022, Persico Marine |
| Length | 18,28 m |
| Beam | 5,4 m |
| Draught | 4,5 m |
| Weight | 8 tonnes |
| Mast height | 29 m |
| Mast type | Wing mast |
| Foils | Yes |
| Sail area max. | |
| Upwind | 260 m2 |
| Downwind | 600 m2 |
French skipper Paul Meilhat and Portuguese co-skipper Mariana Lobato have launched the IMOCA boat they will race in The Ocean Race Atlantic (2026) and The Ocean Race around the world (2027) today in Lorient, France.
•••The Ocean Race, the iconic fully-crewed offshore sailing race, is adding a thrilling new chapter in its storied history: a spectacular transatlantic leg departing from St. Pete-Clearwater, Florida, and arriving in Cascai…
•••Spectacular Coastal Race in Boka Bay marks the end of The Ocean Race Europe
•••
Mariano Lobato is back in IMOCA with Paul Meilhat for The Ocean Race Atlantic
