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The start of The Ocean Race Atlantic 2026 will take place in two stages. The six IMOCA boats will set sail from New York on Tuesday, September 1, but the competitive race toward Lorient won?t begin until Wednesday, September 2, 2026. This format deliberately keeps the fleet away from coastal waters and presents the crews with an unusual initial leg before a transatlantic sprint, during which it remains difficult to gauge the relative standings of several boats.
A sporting start postponed 145 miles from New York
At noon local time on September 1, 2026, the IMOCAs will take part in a start sequence in New York Harbor. But the stopwatches won?t be running yet.
The actual starting line is located 145 miles offshore. The official start is scheduled for Wednesday, September 2, 2026, at 6:00 a.m. local time, which is 10:00 a.m. UTC and 12:00 p.m. in metropolitan France.
This decision is intended to minimize encounters with marine mammals and megafauna in coastal waters. It therefore clearly separates the public event held off the coast of New York from the start of the race.
For the sailors, this means, above all, that they will have to cover a significant distance before they even begin racing. The forecast calls for light winds during this trek out to sea. By the time the race starts, conditions are expected to change, with a northeasterly wind forecast at between 12 and 15 knots.
A short transatlantic flight that leaves little time to recover
New York and Lorient are separated by approximately 3,000 miles along the route announced by the organizers. For a modern IMOCA crewed by four sailors, this format resembles a sprint more than an ocean race, where the standings have several weeks to shift.
The start is therefore particularly important. The crew will need to quickly find the right balance between weather positioning and speed, keeping in mind that these monohulls can cover several hundred miles in 24 hours when conditions allow them to maintain high speeds.
The composition of the crews also changes the way the boats are operated. Each IMOCA carries four crew members?two women and two men?plus an onboard reporter. Unlike in solo or double-handed races, the crews always have more hands available for maneuvers, sail changes, adjustments, and steering.
This allows you to push the boat to different levels of intensity. But a short transatlantic crossing also requires careful management of the equipment. If a breakdown occurs in the first few hours, there is little time to get back on course.
Two brand-new IMOCAs are finally set to face the competition
The competition takes on a new dimension with the racing debuts of two new IMOCA boats. Boris Herrmann is racing for the new Team Malizia, while Kojiro Shiraishi is competing aboard the DMG MORI Global One.
The two projects do not follow exactly the same architectural approach. The DMG MORI Global One was designed by Guillaume Verdier and features, in particular, a pronounced longitudinal bulkhead beneath the hull. Above all, both boats enter the competition with little track record compared to their rivals.
For their crews, this crossing is therefore as much a race as it is their first real-world test.
Boris Herrmann acknowledges this element of uncertainty: "It's really exciting to race on a new boat that we're still fine-tuning."
Kojiro Shiraishi is in a similar situation. His team still needs to log more miles and understand how the new boat handles at different speeds.
And compared to them, crews with proven boats have an advantage that?s hard to quantify: they know their actual performance curves, their settings, and the mechanical limits of their IMOCAs.
An IMOCA with centerboards takes on the foilers
Within this fleet of six boats, MSIG Europe holds a special place. Conrad Colman is sailing an older IMOCA without foils.
On paper, the difference becomes noticeable when newer boats can utilize their hydrofoils at high speeds. But the North Atlantic is never simply a matter of comparing performance curves.
Sea conditions, weather changes, wind angles, and reliability can alter the balance of forces. A slower boat in certain conditions also retains a familiar design that is less dependent on the performance of its foils.
Conrad Colman also has another goal in mind. His crew is less experienced, and this race is intended to help build their team before the next round-the-world race.
The virtual starting line on September 2, 2026, will thus set the stage for a rather rare showdown: six IMOCAs, representing several generations of boats, and crews with varying levels of experience all setting out together across the North Atlantic. Before reaching Lorient, they?ll first have to make a clean getaway from New York.
