The departure date of The Ocean Race 2022-23 is confirmed

Two fleets of boats will meet in Alicante, the Spanish headquarters of the regatta, during the 2022 Christmas holidays, before the start of the first stage of the round the world, which will take place in mid-January 2023.
The start date of the first leg of The Ocean Race 2022-23 is already confirmed, and the IMOCA and VO65 fleets will cross the start line of the first leg on Sunday, January 15, 2023 from Alicante.

There will be competitive activity throughout 2022, with the teams developing their campaigns on the way to the prologue regatta, as well as with The Ocean Race Legends and the sustainability and youth programs before congregating in Alicante at the end of the year.

Later, in January, with the start of the first stage, the fleets will immerse themselves in one of the greatest sailing challenges and the toughest team event in the world of sport: more than 31,000 nautical miles around the planet.

"This marks a change for The Ocean Race as we adapt to the challenges of this new world with a route that is more compact and exciting than ever before," said Johan Salén, Managing Director of The Ocean Race.

"We are pleased to have been able to work with our partners in Alicante, which has been the home of the regatta since 2009, to agree on a start date for the first leg that takes advantage of the Christmas and New Year holidays and also gives maximum opportunities for all parties involved in the week prior to departure,” Salén added.

The first leg of the regatta will see both fleets compete for almost a week until they reach Cape Verde. It will be the first time that The Ocean Race stops in this archipelago off the African Atlantic coast.

From there, the race will continue to Cape Town, South Africa, before beginning the longest and most challenging leg in the race's history: almost 13,000 nautical miles across the Southern Ocean passing through the three great capes (Cape of Good Hope , Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn) before ending in Itajaí (Brazil).

The regatta will later head to Newport (Rhode Island - United States); Aarhus (Denmark); The Hague (Netherlands) and will have its Grand Final in the Mediterranean in Genoa (Italy) in the summer of 2023.

The dates of the stopovers in the different stages of the fourteenth edition of the regatta will be confirmed before the end of the year.