September 2026 is shaping up to be a landmark moment in offshore racing. A brand-new transatlantic event will send a fleet of IMOCA 60s from New York across the Atlantic to Lorient, France, and the campaign is already generating considerable interest among some of the sport's most accomplished ocean sailors.
The Ocean Race Atlantic, a point-to-point crewed passage race, was formally unveiled at the Maison des Skippers in Lorient, where teams, skippers, and city officials gathered for the inauguration. The fleet leaves New York on 1 September 2026, with arrivals expected in Lorient around 9 September 2025. Johan Salén, Director of The Ocean Race, set the tone at the announcement. "We're looking ahead to a fantastic start in New York and then an incredible arrival in one of the meccas of ocean racing, here in Lorient," he said.
What makes this race genuinely distinctive on the offshore calendar is not simply the course but the crew rules baked into its regulations. Every competing boat must carry four race crew members, split equally between women and men, two of each, along with an on board reporter. Rather than treating gender balance as an afterthought, the 50/50 requirement places parity at the heart of the sporting format, building on the push for equality that has characterised recent editions of The Ocean Race.
The format has drawn enthusiastic responses from competitors already confirmed in the fleet. Swiss sailor Justine Mettraux, who will race with Germany's Team Malizia, described the structure approvingly. "It's a completely mixed crew race, which is really positive and I'm glad to be able to take part," she said. Francesca Clapcich, who will skipper Team Francesca Clapcich powered by 11th Hour Racing from the USA, was equally enthusiastic. "It's a format I love, the 50-50 crew, female/male, as a way to really increase the opportunities for female sailors in our sport," she said.
The entry list already reaches across Europe, the United States, Japan, and Switzerland, bringing together seasoned offshore campaigners alongside crews encountering this particular format for the first time. Team Malizia will carry the German flag, with Mettraux among its crew, while Clapcich leads the American entry. Japan's DMG Mori will be skippered by Kojiro Shiraishi, a veteran of extensive solo IMOCA campaigns who has built a new boat specifically for this race. Oliver Heer heads Oliver Heer Ocean Racing from Switzerland, and French sailor Paul Meilhat, winner of The Ocean Race Europe 2024, has a team currently in preparation.
Flying the New Zealand flag in the fleet is Conrad Colman, who will skipper MSIG Europe. Colman has spent several years based in Lorient, completing two solo round-the-world campaigns along the way, and he views the Ocean Race Atlantic as the opening of a new chapter for New Zealand's involvement in the IMOCA class. "I originally came to Lorient so I could have an opportunity to race around the world solo, and I've now done two of those successfully," he said. "This marks the start of something new for us, an opportunity to get more New Zealand sailors in the IMOCA space."
Lorient is widely regarded as the spiritual home of French offshore sailing, with naval architects, technical teams, and ocean racing programmes embedded in the city for decades. Mayor Fabrice Loher made clear that hosting the finish was a matter of civic pride. "For us, it was a source of pride and an obvious choice to host this great event," he said. "It is a wonderful gift for the people of Lorient, a chance to bring the public to meet the modern heroes who cross the oceans." An Ocean Live Park is planned for the city, featuring youth sailing activities and ocean literacy programming timed to coincide with the fleet's arrival.
The race will also carry The Ocean Race's established Racing for the Ocean sustainability programme. As crews make their way across the Atlantic, they will collect ocean science data contributing to ongoing research into the health of that ocean. Inclusion initiatives and youth engagement activities will run in parallel in Lorient as the boats arrive to finish.
