- From the Editorial Team | Regata News Agency
After the conclusion of The Ocean Race Atlantic in Lorient, France, a new countdown begins. The attention of sailors, teams and sailing fans now turns to January 2027, when the great round-the-world The Ocean Race will start from Alicante, Spain.
And once again, the race will write an important chapter in Brazil.
The fleet will cross the world’s oceans before reaching South America. Brazil has already welcomed the race on 11 occasions, and in 2027 Itajaí will once again become the country’s meeting point with the world of ocean racing. Before Santa Catarina, the race visited Rio de Janeiro six times and São Sebastião, on the São Paulo coast, once. Itajaí then became a permanent part of the story, joining the route in 2011-12 and preparing to host the race for the fifth consecutive edition in 2027.
The Itajaí stopover is scheduled for 31 March to 18 April 2027, following the long leg from Auckland, New Zealand, to Santa Catarina.
But there is another remarkable connection.
When The Ocean Race arrives in Santa Catarina, it reaches a state deeply connected to Brazilian sailing. This is the home of Torben Grael, one of the greatest names in the sport, an Olympic champion, world champion and winner of the Volvo Ocean Race in 2008-09 as skipper of Ericsson 4.
There is also a fascinating piece of history behind this connection.
In 1983, Torben and his brother Lars Grael won their first world title in the Snipe class in Porto, Portugal. The boat they sailed was built in Criciúma, at the Lindenberg shipyard, in the coal-mining region of southern Santa Catarina.
Long before Itajaí became one of the most important stopovers of the world’s great round-the-world race, Santa Catarina was already helping to write the history of Brazilian sailing.
That history also includes another sailor from the state: André Fonseca, known as Bochecha, who competed in three editions of the Volvo Ocean Race — 2005-06, 2008-09 and 2014-15.
This is the background as The Ocean Race returns to Santa Catarina.
A race that has already visited Rio de Janeiro, São Sebastião and Itajaí now returns to a state whose connection with the sea, sailing and the nautical economy has grown stronger over the decades.
In 2027, when the IMOCA boats appear on the horizon and arrive in Itajaí, it will be much more than another stopover.
It will be a meeting between the present of one of the world’s greatest sporting events and a history that Santa Catarina has been building for generations.
The Ocean Race 2027 is coming to Itajaí.
And once again, Santa Catarina will be at the heart of world ocean sailing.
Regata News — covering The Ocean Race 2027.
