Utilizing Offshore Racing Yachts as Ships of Opportunity: Advancing a 100% Science-Dedicated IMOCA Fleet for the 2028 Vendée Globe

In response to the urgency of climate change, the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and the year of the sea 2025, researchers and sailors are stepping up their initiatives and partnerships.
For over 10 years the IMOCA Class, IOC-UNESCO and their operational and scientific partners have been working closely to develop opportunities for the scientific community, by leveraging the offshore racing community, to collect vital oceanographic and meteorological data whilst at sea. The data collection is carried out by the IMOCA Class sailors, who have deployed over 80 scientific instruments in just under four years.

The unique adventure that combines sailing and science, has also captivated races such as The Ocean Race, a crewed round the world ocean race. In 2023, The entire Race's fleet was equipped with advanced scientific instruments, collecting over four million data points on ocean parameters like temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and CO₂ across 32,000 miles. The program also deployed surface drifters, conducted marine plastic and eDNA sampling, trace element analysis, and phytoplankton imaging. These vessels provided critical data from remote, under-sampled areas, improving ocean monitoring and climate change predictions.
The Vendée Globe, a solo race around the world often considered the ultimate challenge, has committed to the scientific community through a partnership with the IOC-UNESCO launched in 2024, thereby fostering the engagement of skippers in support of science.
Specifically, out of the 40 boats/skippers at the start of the 2024 Vendée Globe, 25 are carrying measurement instruments, transforming the race into a true 'floating scientific station' around the globe. These instruments will collect valuable met-ocean data, particularly in under-sampled regions such as the Southern Ocean. This mission represents a unique collaboration between the Vendée Globe and the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS).
Offshore sailing races offer a unique opportunity to gather critical ocean data while engaging a broad audience in understanding the importance of ocean observations. This initiative highlights the role of such data in unraveling the complexities of the ocean, advancing climate and ocean science, enhancing weather forecasting, and contributing to international political and scientific efforts to address global environmental challenges.

This major and remarkable achievement, which paves the way for a new way of doing science and collaborating with civil society, is the fruit of international collaboration that has been underway for over a decade.

In 2028, aligning with the Vendée Globe’s environmental commitments to UNESCO, ocean observations will become a mandatory requirement for all sailors as part of the race rules starting from the 2028 edition.