A brand new ocean race. The first one ever. On September 2, 2026, a fleet of IMOCA 60 foiling monohulls will leave Brooklyn Bridge Marina, sail past the Statue of Liberty, and point their bows east toward 3,700 nautical miles of Atlantic Ocean. The finish line is in Barcelona. Between departure and arrival: open ocean, the Azores High, the possibility of September hurricanes, and the narrow funnel of the Strait of Gibraltar where two continents squeeze the sea into a choke point of fierce tidal currents.
The Ocean Race Atlantic is the organization’s first standalone transatlantic event, designed as both a significant race in its own right and a dress rehearsal for the full around-the-world Ocean Race that starts from Alicante on January 17, 2027. For the teams, this is the last major test before committing to a circumnavigation.
The start from New York at 12:00 EDT (UTC-4) is perfectly timed for American fans: a lunchtime send-off with the Manhattan skyline as backdrop. London sees 17:00 BST, an after-work viewing slot. Paris and Barcelona, where the finish line waits, both get 18:00 CEST, an evening start that lets European fans follow the fleet’s departure over dinner. Sydney faces 02:00 AEST overnight, but the finish in Barcelona will arrive at European-friendly hours. The fastest boats are expected to cross in 10 to 14 days depending on weather.
The IMOCA 60 class has been transformed by foiling technology. These 60-foot monohulls now sustain speeds above 25 knots in reaching conditions, with peaks approaching 40 knots when surfing down Atlantic swells. The boats carry crews of four, with a mandatory 50/50 gender split: at least two women and two men on every boat. This is the first major offshore race to enforce equal crewing, and it changes the competitive dynamics in ways the sport is still discovering.
A September Atlantic crossing is a navigational puzzle wrapped in a weather forecast. The Azores High typically sits between Bermuda and the Azores, creating a dome of light winds that crews must route around. Tropical storm season is active, and low-pressure systems moving off the US coast demand constant weather analysis. Do you go north, where the wind is stronger but the seas are bigger? Or south through the high, adding miles but potentially finding steadier pressure? These decisions play out over days, in real time, on boats moving at the speed of a car on a highway.
The Strait of Gibraltar is the final exam. Two continents funnel wind and current into a passage where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic. Tidal flows run hard, the wind either roars through or dies entirely, and the commercial shipping traffic is relentless. Threading the strait after ten days at sea, tired and salt-crusted, is the kind of challenge that separates good sailors from great ones.
Charlie Dalin, the 2024-25 Vendee Globe winner who sailed solo around the world in a record 64 days, 19 hours, and 22 minutes, is expected among the competitors. His IMOCA 60 MACIF Sante Prevoyance is one of the fastest boats in the class. But this is a crewed race, not a solo one, and the dynamics shift when four people share the decisions and the sleep deprivation.
New York to Barcelona. Liberty to the Mediterranean. The inaugural edition of a race that connects two of the world’s great sailing cities across an ocean that has been testing sailors for centuries.