By: Hassan Zubair
The World Ocean race was last conducted in 2002 when Keil Sailing City in Germany was on the top stage of international sailing .Now after 21 years of absence, the ocean race has returned with Keil Sailing city still on the top. According to numerous sources the race in 2002 was legendary when ‘illbruck’ Team crossed the finish line in June 2002. This week The Ocean race has been confirmed for Kiel Fly-By for 9th June 2023 as the fleet races between Aarhus, Denmark and The Hague in the Netherlands. According to the Mayor of Keil they have never lost contact with the organizers of the race and is very happy that the event has returned to give meaningful voice to the Oceanic sports. This time there are no restrictions regarding the applicants .Anyone can take part in this challenging endeavor. However this challenging race will be ,definitely a test for the greatest who ever took part in the World of Ocean Racing.
“Seeing Germany back on the map of The Ocean Race fills us with great pride. Sailing through the narrowness of Friedrichsort into the Kiel Fjord and presenting international offshore sailing in this setting is another great motivation for us as a German team to finally be back at The Ocean Race,” said Offshore Team Germany team manager Jens Kuphal.
The start date for the ocean race 2023 has been decided and confirmed by the team managers and the board IMOCA and VO65 fleets scheduled to burst from the starting blocks on Sunday 15th January 2023 from Alicante on Spain’s Mediterranean coast. The race activity has already been in motion throughout 2022 for the team’s campaigning towards prologue racing. In January the teams will be facing great challenges and toughest tests –over 31000 nautical miles (57000 km) around the planet.
The teams will be racing for two weeks to a finish line in ‘Cabo Verde’. It will be the very first time that the first stop will be in the African island. From there the second phase will begin which will lead to cape town, south Africa .After that the most challenging run will began 13000 nautical miles in the ocean towards southern ocean and past the three great southern capes (Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn) before a finish in Itajai, Brazil.
The third phase will then go on to Newport , Phode Island in the USA ;Aarhus ,Denmark ; The hague in the Netherlands, and on to the grand finale finish in the Mediterranean in Genova ,Italy in the summer of 2023. Stopover dates for the stages of the race mentioned earlier will be revealed and confirmed before the end of this year.
This race will truly be a remarkable and legendary sport in history. A race in the ocean around the World is intriguing enough to listen .One can only imagine the excitement the teams must be facing who are participating in this challenging endeavor.