One year out from the start of The Ocean Race 2027, the headline news for New Zealand sailors and fans is stark: the fleet will sail directly to Auckland on the longest opening leg in the race's 53-year history.
Departing Alicante, Spain on 17 January 2027, crews will cover 14,000 nautical miles, heading south down the Atlantic, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, crossing the Southern Ocean and pushing up into the Pacific. It is an unprecedented way to open a race that already stakes a strong claim as the toughest team challenge in sport.
Race Chairman Richard Brisius framed it plainly: "The opening leg to Auckland is a statement of intent: this is offshore racing at its most extreme and most thrilling."
The sailors themselves are relishing it. "This is an amazing way to start The Ocean Race: with an epic leg that takes us halfway around the world from Alicante to Auckland," said Team Malizia skipper Boris Herrmann. "For sailors, this is what we love, spending time at sea, racing against top competition and taking on big challenges. This is where you learn about yourself and your teammates and forge bonds that last a lifetime."
DMG MORI Sailing Team skipper Kojiro Shiraishi pointed to the sheer variety packed into a single passage. "The route is really appealing, with the crossing of the Equator and entry into the Southern Oceans, all in a single leg, with a full crew. It will be very challenging and also very dynamic."
Auckland will be hosting the race for the 12th time, and the stopover carries its usual weight of history. Mike Sanderson, who has raced the event four times and is the last Kiwi to skipper a winning team, with ABN AMRO in the 2004-05 edition, is already looking forward to it. "I'm super-excited The Ocean Race is returning to Auckland and we will have an opportunity to see the best offshore sailors and teams up close again," he said. "Racing into New Zealand was always a highlight of the event for us as sailors as we knew we were coming to a place with a deep connection to the sport."
Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston noted that "after the epic Alicante to Auckland leg, crews and fans can expect a warm Kiwi welcome and an unforgettable stopover," while Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown said there is "no better place for the fleet to arrive after this mammoth opening leg."
Paul Meilhat, who raced in the 2023 edition and went on to win The Ocean Race Europe 2025 as skipper of Biotherm, spoke to why legs of this scale matter. "These 'XXL' legs are part of the DNA of the IMOCA class and The Ocean Race, with long periods at sea that create compelling and unpredictable scenarios. It is literally the other side of the world from Europe, and I can't wait to get there."
Rosalin Kuiper, who skippered Team Holcim PRB at The Ocean Race Europe 2025 and raced around the world with Team Malizia in 2023, was equally direct. "There is no racing quite like The Ocean Race. We're competing with and against the top sailors in the world on the best boats in the world, in the most challenging conditions imaginable."
From Auckland the route continues to Itajaí in Brazil, with subsequent stopovers in the USA and Europe to be confirmed, before the fleet transits the Suez Canal and finishes at AMAALA on the Red Sea, a new destination for the race finale.
All teams must include at least one female sailor at all times. The OnboardLive system, which made its debut at The Ocean Race Europe, will give fans greater real-time access than before, and teams will continue collecting scientific data on ocean conditions, microplastics, and climate change as part of the Racing for the Ocean programme.
Before the 2027 start, attention turns to The Ocean Race Atlantic, running from New York to Europe this northern summer.
