Meeting of the IMOCA class board of directors at FNOB. Photo: Mireia Perelló

On 12 and 13 June Barcelona hosted the meeting of the management board of the IMOCA class worldwide, a meeting that for the first time takes place outside Paris and in which the organization of the Barcelona World Race 2018 / 19 entered fully into the agenda of the IMOCA. Directives, organizers and navigators stressed that the new format of the race - with a stop in Sídney - has an added sports value that complements the calendar and promotes the internationalization of the class.

Antoine Mermod, president of the IMOCA, brought together at the headquarters of the FNOB (Fundació Naveració Oceanica Barcelona) the members of the council who have been accompanied by prominent class personalities and representatives of the most important races of the calendar: Hervé Favre, Event Director of OC Sport, organizers of the Ruta del Ron and the Transat; Gildas Gautier, Director General of the Transat Jacques Vabre; Laura Le Goff, Director General of the Vendée Globe; and Xosé-Carlos Fernández, Director General of the Barcelona's World Organization, On the part of OSM, Stewart Hosford and Marion Cardon attended.

The main purpose of the working days was to take stock of the success of the past Vendée Globe, to review the calendar and the rules of the class, and to prepare the next major challenge of the World Championship: the Barcelona World Race 2018 / 19, the return to the world two that will have its way out on January 12, 2019.

Antoine Mermod was very pleased with the intense meetings held and to work together for the success of the Championship and the Barcelona World Race: "We have worked to prepare the next Barcelona World Race. We do so with a very positive energy and with great confidence that we will achieve a race of success, like the exceptional Vendée Globe we have lived."

For its part, Xosé-Carlos Fernández, Director General of the FNOB, stressed the importance of the IMOCA holding its board of directors in Barcelona and of the full integration of the FNOB and the city in the development of the class: "We share all the objectives and this is great news. It is a lot that unites us and very little that differentiates us. After the success of the extraordinary Vendée Globe, we started the account behind the Barcelona World Race with the satisfaction of being active members of a World Championship with which we all feel identified and perfectly represented."

At the close of the council, David Escudé, Commissioner of Sports of the Barcelona Association and President of the FNOB, thanked the members of the IMOCA for having held his council in the city, which has been constituted as one of the capitals of the ocean sail following the success of the three editions of the Barcelona World Race: "It is a pride that you have decided to come to our city. For us, those of us who had the dream that Barcelona and the IMOCA class would be at hand, it is very important that you are here preparing what I believe will be the best edition of the Barcelona World Race. What anyone would have thought years ago was a crazy fantasy is now a reality."

A format that adds value

The new format of the Barcelona World Race has been one of the central themes of the meetings. The return to the Barcelona world will have two stages, Barcelona - Sydney and Sydney - Barcelona, with a final classification that will be made with the sum of the times of both. The Australian city will thus be a compulsory stop, where the teams will be able to repair and redevelop the ships and replace the co- pattern if desired. "We have spoken a lot with the skippers - Mermod said - and overall the scale in Sydney is considered very positive and adds a sports value to the race. It is also the fact that there are two stages and that we can eventually change one of the patterns."

Conrad Colman, member of the IMOCA Board of Directors and regatist who has sailed the last Barcelona World Race and Vendée Globe, shares the opinion of the class president: "The new format is fantastic, it is good to capture new audience and can attract many regatists. In the calendar, the two races around the world are very well complemented, and today we have worked to ensure that both of them benefit fully. Of course, I hope to be on the way out on 12 January 2019."

The complementarity between the two world turns of the class is also a value shared by Laura Le Goff, general director of the Vendée Globe, who celebrated the joint work between the organizers of the championship races: "There is a natural approach between the organization of the Barcelona World Race and that of the Vendée Globe, and there is a common will to harmonize things and move forward together. We believe that the new format, with a stop in Sydney, will facilitate the internationalization of the class, which benefits us all. On the other hand, sportively, the two turns of the world complement very well."

On the Fundació Naveració Oceanica Barcelona (FNOB)

The Fundació Naveració Oceanica Barcelona (FNOB) is a public institution created in 2005 with the aim of developing, in the territory and through the ocean sailing, projects of value around its four strategic axes: Sport, Training, Science and Enterprise / Industry, with the involvement and collaboration of the university, institutional and business fabric of Barcelona.

The entity - formed by the Barcelona Association, Fira de Barcelona, Port de Barcelona and the Cambra de Comerç de Barcelon- has organized several ocean races, including the Barcelona World Race, a tour of the world to two that, with three editions behind its back, the first in 2007, has become one of the pillars, with the Vendée Globe, of the IMOCA OCEAN MASTERS World Championship. It has also organized the New York-Barcelona record, the Vuelta a Vela in IMOCA and the Warm'Up Europe.