Top sailors ready to take on Atlantic challenge

The Ocean Race Atlantic fleet will depart New York City on Tuesday afternoon with the top offshore sailors in the world lining up for the new challenge.

© Vincent Curutchet / The Ocean Race Atlantic

The inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Atlantic will see six teams of two men and two women, plus an onboard reporter, racing from New York to Lorient, France.

The fleet will depart the Brooklyn Bridge Marina starting at 1100 local time on Tuesday, 1st September ahead of a ceremonial start in New York Harbor at 1200 EDT / 1600 UTC / 1800 CEST. The departure show will be broadcast live on theoceanrace.com and select international broadcasters.

NEW START TIME

The 3000 nautical mile race to Lorient will start at 0600 local time (1000 UTC / 1200 CEST) on Wednesday 2nd September from a virtual start line 145 miles offshore, in order to reduce the risk of encounters with marine mammals and megafauna that frequent the coastal areas.

The forecast for the first hours of racing on Wednesday morning is encouraging, with 12-15 knot northeasterlies expected to fill in following lighter wind conditions on the route from New York Harbor to the offshore start area. There will be a short YouTube show for the race start on The Ocean Race website and YouTube Channel on Wednesday 2nd September.

NEW BOATS, FAST RACING

On Monday, the six skippers spoke to the international media ahead of Tuesday’s departure from New York, and all said they were looking forward to getting on the race course.

“Since we started this project two years ago we have put so much energy into it, and now it's time to see how the boat is sailing and what we can achieve,” said Kojiro Shiraishi, a long-time IMOCA skipper taking on his first event in The Ocean Race, and competing in a brand new boat for DMG MORI. “There are many things we don't know yet about the new boat. So this race is a very big challenge for us to test her and test ourselves. We will do our best to race well and learn what we can and grow as a team.”

“It is very exciting for us to be racing a new boat that we are working up,” said Boris Herrmann, the skipper of Team Malizia, who will also be racing a new boat for the first time. “It will be a great question mark, and we don't know how we will perform against these competitors and especially DMG with their new boat. So that should be super exciting to see.”

“I'm excited to be against these sailors and teams and particularly the two new boats because we don’t know if they are fast, or really fast, or really, really fast!!” said Paul Meilhat of United by the Ocean, and the winner skipper and boat from last summer’s The Ocean Race Europe. “I think it will be a big challenge and a fun race with all these fast boats.”

“From when we start until we finish we want to push the boat,” said Francesca Clapcich, the skipper of 11th Hour Racing. “When the conditions are good it’s awesome to be able to push the boat really hard and be able to do it with a crew that is really well prepared… It’s incredible actually. We're pretty happy because it seems that our boat has a lot of reliability. So we feel that we can definitely push it all the time. I don't have so many gears - I'm happy to just go, you know, one gear. Full ahead! And in the end we will see at the finish line.”

“We have a very different boat (older, non-foiling) and the least experienced team. And that puts a lot more responsibility on me because I have a lot fewer opportunities to sort of check in with an experienced sailor and ask for a second opinion,” noted Conrad Colman, the skipper of MSIG Europe. "That comes with its own responsibilities, but also comes with its own opportunities and joy frankly, because it's really exciting to come and have new sailors on board and to see the sparkle in their eye when they see the boat surf down the wave for the first time and feel the acceleration… It's incredibly special. And, my hope is that we are building something for the future to participate in the race around the world in January. So I'm excited by the passion that my team has, and we're looking forward to sharing that with everybody as we go.”

“We’ve had a great time here in the US and New York. I love it,” confirmed Oliver Heer, the skipper of Embrace the Challenge. “But it’s time to go sailing and with a rather sporty forecast we can't wait to get out there!”

The forecast is for a quick opening to the transatlantic passage and the 24-hour record (641 nautical miles) might be within reach during the first days of the race. 

© Vincent Curutchet / The Ocean Race Atlantic

THANK YOU NEW YORK

The Ocean Race Atlantic has been set up at Brooklyn Bridge Marina since Wednesday evening and with the support of Impact Partner 11th Hour Racing, the sailors and event have engaged the community with numerous sailing and ocean health activities including an ‘At the Helm’ event focussed on Sport and Leadership with top leaders from sport and industry.

There has been Try Sailing with Brooklyn Bridge Sail, as well as a collaboration with the Women's Sports Foundation on an event for young women focused on marine weather, ocean science and sailing, as well as pop-up displays and activities from the American Littoral Society and Gotham Whale and model boat racing with Rocking the Boat at Sail Central Park.

HOW TO FOLLOW AND ENGAGE WITH THE OCEAN RACE ATLANTIC

The Ocean Race Atlantic will have unprecedented access for fans. The official race tracker, with Predict Wind, will feature live boat data as well as live video streams from the boats.

The departure show from New York is scheduled to start at 1200 EDT / 1600 UTC / 1800 CEST on Tuesday 1st September.and will be streaming on theoceanrace.com, YouTube, and via international broadcasters, including DAZN, which will feature all of the programming from The Ocean Race Atlantic on its international platforms.

Once racing starts, the 30-minute OnBoard Live daily show will feature live connections to the fleet every day at 1100 EDT / 1500 UTC / 1700 CEST. This daily programme begins on 2nd September and will also be streaming on theoceanrace.com, YouTube, and via international broadcasters, including DAZN.

The Official Game, with Virtual Regatta, is available here and gives an opportunity for armchair sailors to test their tactical wits against the best in the world. Tom Gauthier, Deputy General Manager, Virtual Regatta describes the challenge: "Every one of us has watched a leg of The Ocean Race in the past and thought we would have gone the other way. Now, you can prove it! The same course as the fleet, the same weather files, the same tactical calls to make, but from a phone and for free. We leave New York with the race fleet. After that it is up to you. The Atlantic ocean, your own weather routing and one question - north or south? - as you try to beat the IMOCA fleet to Lorient."

Sailors competing in The Ocean Race Atlantic will collect rare climate data from weakening Gulf Stream

Elite racing teams to collect more than 800,000 ocean

measurements from one of the world's most important and

vulnerable climate systems

Installation of scientific instruments aboard an IMOCA

© Jean-Louis Carli / The Ocean Race

Six of the world's fastest offshore racing yachts will become ocean research vessels this September as they compete in the inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Atlantic. 

Teams will gather thousands of measurements from the Gulf Stream, one of the planet’s most
important and increasingly vulnerable systems.
Departing from New York City on 1st September, the IMOCA fleet will follow the Gulf Stream as the teams race approximately 3,000 nautical miles to Lorient, France.
Supported by Impact Partner 11th Hour Racing, each boat has been equipped with science equipment that allows the collection of critical scientific data while the teams are racing, including sea surface
temperature, salinity and dissolved carbon dioxide. 

They will also collect water samples for microplastics analysis. 

The data will help scientists better understand changes taking place in a region that
plays a vital role in regulating the Earth's climate.

In recent years, scientists have warned that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), the vast ocean circulation system that includes the Gulf Stream, is at its weakest point in over 1,000
years. 

As the climate warms, higher ocean temperatures and increased freshwater from melting ice are believed to be weakening the circulation, hindering the ability of the Atlantic to redistribute heat across the planet’s hemispheres. 

Changes in Atlantic ocean circulation have been linked to the 2015 heatwave in Europe and
could be contributing to current heatwaves. 

Scientists are concerned the Gulf Stream could be approaching a tipping point with far-reaching
consequences for weather patterns, sea levels and ecosystems around the world.
Gathering data about the state of this critical system can be challenging and costly using traditional research vessels alone, with scientists largely dependent on satellites and floats, which both have
limitations. 

The collection of data during the trans-Atlantic race by multiple vessels, at speed, is therefore highly valuable.
Toste Tanhua, senior scientist at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel said: “The fleet of racing yachts in The Ocean Race Atlantic offers a unique opportunity to contribute valuable data
that complements the limited data scientists are able to collect themselves. 

The ongoing collaboration between science organisations and The Ocean Race has proven valuable to fill some of the large gaps in the vast, and under-measured, ocean. 

Scientists cannot gather as much data as we need by ourselves, but with The Ocean Race sailors, we are working together to understand what is one of the most important ocean systems. 

This data will increase our understanding of the global climate system, and its engine in the
North Atlantic. 

As the heart of the global ocean circulation, where salty waters cool down and sink to large depths, locking away excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, understanding how this process is changing is of utter importance.” 

Each of the foiling IMOCAs has been fitted out with pioneering scientific instruments that capture a range of data. 

DMG MORI Sailing Team and MSIG Europe will carry Microplastic Sampling Units, while The Ocean Race Essential Ocean Parameter (EOP) Unit will be installed on four boats: Team Malizia, Team Francesca Clapcich Powered by 11th Hour Racing, United by the Ocean and
Embrace the Challenge. 

The EOP is an automated scientific instrument that uses multiple sensors to continuously measure sea
surface temperature, salinity, dissolved carbon dioxide, dissolved oxygen and atmospheric pressure. 

A single unit will collect around 21,600 measurements a day over the 10 days at sea during the race, with the data transmitted to science partners including GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Ifremer and CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), to help fill critical gaps
in ocean observations and climate research.
Four of the teams also deployed drifter buoys along the Gulf Stream on their journey over to New York City ahead of the race start. 

These buoys will send data, via satellite, that supports climate research and helps scientists better understand how ocean circulation is changing.
Stefan Raimund, Senior Science Advisor at The Ocean Race said:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/4/?ik=ef08e98aeb&view=pt&searc…g-f:1875029701082939137&simpl=msg-f:1875029701082939137&mb=1
Página 5 de 8
Gmail - Sailors competing in The Ocean Race Atlantic will collect rare climate data from weakening Gulf Stream
02/09/26, 10:38
"The Ocean Race has been contributing to advancing ocean science for over 25 years. Today, our science programme is the most comprehensive environmental data collection initiative undertaken by any sporting event and we’re proud to be helping researchers build a better understanding of our changing ocean and climate."
The Gulf Stream offers the fastest route northeast across the Atlantic for the teams, while the weather systems generated by the powerful current help create the strong winds needed for a rapid crossing.
The Ocean Race Atlantic 2026 is a high-speed, fully-crewed transatlantic race for the foiling IMOCA class, debuting in September 2026 as the first point-to-point race in The Ocean Race’s 53-year
history. 

The Ocean Race Atlantic is being held with support from Impact Partner, 11th Hour Racing. 

The event is powered by a shared mission to advance ocean science and literacy, demonstrate sustainable event excellence, and champion equity and inclusion through the first-ever mandatory 50-50 gender-balanced crew.

The Ocean Race Atlantic