New IMOCA GLOBE SERIES was launched in Monaco this weekend. Flew there to celebrate the occasion and see boats participating the first Monaco Globe Series, Mediterranean race.

My Ariel II stayed in Finland for PR and local Suursaari Race that will take place next weekend.

Read the official release of the IMOCA GLOBE SERIES

Read about the race in Monaco 

Boats arriving to the Monaco Yacht Club after Friday’s prologue.

Vierailin lyhyesti Monacossa, missä lanseerattiin uusi IMOCA GLOBE SERIES -kausi. Tähän IMOCAn maailmanmestaruuskalenteriin kuuluu kaksi suurempaa kisaa joka vuosi. Riittävä osallistuminen on myös Vendée Globeen pääsyn edellytys. 

Monacon upouusi Välimeri-kilpailu jäi Ariel II:lta nyt väliin. PR:ää tehdään ja kumppaneita haetaan nyt Suomessa ja ensi viikonloppuna on harjoittelun kannalta hyvä Suursaari Race. 

Monaco Globe Series participating skippers in a row.

Two major races scheduled each year

The 18 sailors competing in the Monaco Globe Series, a brand new 1300-mile race around the Mediterranean, will be launching the new IMOCA GLOBE SERIES world championship. Two events sailed solo or double-handed will be counted each year until the 2020-2021 Vendée Globe. On the 2018 calendar, there is the new event in Monaco, then the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe. The 2019 season will start with a first race in the spring, which will be announced shortly, then the Transat Jacques Vabre in November. Finally, in 2020, the skippers will compete in The Transat and then the New York-Vendée transatlantic race before lining up for the Vendée Globe at the end of which we will discover the name of the IMOCA world champion for the 2018-2021 period. The IMOCA GLOBE SERIES rankings will be based on a points system with races each given a certain weighting. (Source: IMOCA)

HUGO BOSS skipper Alex Thomson flew to Monaco from Canada where his boat is for PR now.

Monsieurs from the IMOCA organisation; Managing Director Guillaume Evrard and  Chief Measurer René Boulaire.

Qualifying races for the Vendée Globe

The events in the IMOCA GLOBE SERIES are presented in the Notice of Race for the Vendée Globe as qualifiers and as a method of selection for the 2020 edition. In practice this means that qualified sailors who clock up the most miles in the races included in this championship will earn their entry ticket for the non-stop solo round the world race. (Source: IMOCA)

Nice view from the dinner terrace.

Better promotion of the events and making them more attractive

This new championship aims to create a link between a set of attractive races in order to encourage sailors to race more often. As Antoine Mermod, President of the IMOCA class explains, “For us, it is important to extract more value from the calendar around our headline event, the Vendée Globe. That should help the skippers and their partners get a better return on their investment, while guaranteeing very high quality races for the sportsmen, media and the general public.” (Source: IMOCA)