The Ocean Race 2027: We're In!

Director of The Ocean Race, Mirko Groeschner, officially welcomes Ollie.

The Ocean Race 2027 is no longer an ambition. It's part of the plan.

It's confirmed: Embrace The Challenge will compete in The Ocean Race 2027.

For Ollie, it is the fulfilment of a childhood dream. For the campaign, it is a major milestone on the road to the Vendée Globe 2028. And for the team, it helps shape the race calendar for the next year as preparations gather momentum on and off the water.

With The Ocean Race Atlantic coming later this year, the focus turns to building the team, unlocking the full potential of the boat and preparing for one of the toughest and most prestigious team sporting events on the planet.

The Race That Started It All

Long before he sailed around the world alone, Ollie was a huge fan of ocean racing.

"Competing in The Ocean Race has always been a dream. As a kid, I followed the Whitbread and later the Volvo Ocean Race obsessively. I bought every sailing magazine I could find and imagined what it would be like to race around the world as part of a team. To now be leading my own campaign into this race is incredibly special." - Ollie

Covering more than 60,000 kilometres, in five stages, crossing four oceans, The Ocean Race combines endurance, teamwork, leadership and high-performance competition in some of the most remote and hostile waters on Earth.

Now, after becoming the first Swiss-German sailor ever to finish the Vendée Globe race, Ollie is preparing to take on a challenge he has dreamed about for most of his life.

Representing Switzerland Once Again

While Switzerland has a rich history in offshore sailing, Swiss skippers in The Ocean Race are rare.

Ollie will become the first Swiss skipper to lead a campaign in the race for decades, following in the wake of legendary Swiss sailor Pierre Fehlmann, who competed in multiple Whitbread campaigns during the 1980s.

"There is a huge sense of pride in representing Switzerland on this stage," says Ollie. "Pierre Fehlmann inspired generations of Swiss sailors and helped put Swiss offshore sailing on the map. To have the opportunity to continue that story means a great deal to me."

From Solo Sailor to Team Leader

The Vendée Globe is a test of individual resilience and self-reliance, with skippers spending months alone at sea. The Ocean Race is a very different challenge built around teamwork, leadership and collective performance.

Crews race at maximum intensity around the clock, managing some of the fastest offshore racing yachts ever built while enduring extreme weather, sleep deprivation and relentless competition.

"The Vendée Globe taught me a lot about resilience and self-reliance, but The Ocean Race is about bringing people together and performing as one team," explains Ollie. "Success depends on trust, communication and getting the very best from everyone on board. That's what excites me most."

The Road to 2027

Before the race begins in Alicante in January 2027, the team will compete in The Ocean Race Atlantic later this year. The event will provide a valuable opportunity to refine performance, test the boat and begin shaping the crew for the round-the-world challenge.

"One important element will be deciding who sails with us in 2027," says Ollie. "The Ocean Race Atlantic will help us identify the right people and build the chemistry needed to perform under pressure."

The team's new foiling IMOCA yacht, Embrace The Challenge, arrives with strong credentials. Previously raced by Swiss-French skipper Justine Mettraux, the boat delivered one of the standout performances of the 2024-25 Vendée Globe, proving both its speed and reliability around the world.

Even so, the team will line up against some of the biggest names and best-funded campaigns in the sport.

“We'll be one of the younger campaigns in the fleet and our boat won't be the newest, but we've shown before that determination, preparation and teamwork can close the gap,” he said. “We're building a hungry, international team that wants to prove what is possible.”

In some ways, the campaign's story remains unchanged: a determined team taking on bigger, better-resourced competitors, backing preparation, resilience and teamwork over sheer spending power.

"There will be obstacles. There always are when you aim high," says Ollie. "But that's exactly why we exist. We embrace the challenge, and together we'll take on one of the greatest adventures in sport."