The 14th edition of The Ocean Race starts today - both on the water and on your screen of choice!
Annie Lush, crew member of Guyot Environnement - Team Europe, recently joked that she might not have to get out of her pyjamas for a week. Such is the dry, indoors environment of racing on board an IMOCA. The problem is, Annie and others might be suffering from sea sickness as the foiling 60-footer bounces off a wave at high speed.
Would you like to join Annie and others on their round-the-world adventure? Well you can, and you won't have to get out of your pyjamas, and you won't even be seasick.
In the time-honoured tradition of The Ocean Race, you can take part in an eSailing version of the contest, thanks to a partnership between the race and Virtual Regatta Games.
There are two versions of the race, offshore and inshore:
The Ocean E-Race: Virtual Regatta Offshore
- played in legs in parallel to the real race
Stopover E-Cup: Virtual Regatta Inshore
- played for four days during Stopovers
- name adapts to the stopover: After the successful Alicante E-Cup at the beginning of the week, next Cabo Verde E-Cup will be played.
For the first time ever the IMOCA race teams competing in The Ocean Race are also participating in the virtual competition. They have recruited their own E-Sport teams who will represent them in Virtual Regatta. So you can put your skills directly against the best offshore sailors in the (real) world. How will they fare on a virtual ocean? We'll find out...
The Ocean Race E-Sport: E-Sport Crew of each team
- Up to 5 team members per team: 1 player for the E-Cup, 4 players for the E-Race
- They race against each other in an internal ranking, and are also shown in the general ranking
The teams have put serious effort into the recruiting to have successful gamers representing them in this virtual race. Multiple players have recently been in Alicante to compete in the eSailing World Championship 2022 finals.
Do you fancy your chances of going up against the best in the eWorld of sailing? The Ocean Race partner Helly Hansen provides great prizes for the leg winners.