Pip Hare has launched Pip Hare Ocean Racing Services, a new consultancy arm of her racing team. Drawing on years of high-performance offshore experience, the service offers commercial support to businesses and campaigns—everything from logistics and technical project management to communications and crisis handling. “We realised we could use our hard-won skills to help others, while also building towards our ultimate objective,” Hare explains.
That ultimate objective is still very much in sight: racing solo around the world again. But after the dramatic dismasting of her IMOCA 60 in the Southern Ocean during the 2024–25 Vendée Globe, Hare has been forced to rethink the journey back.
The incident ended her race barely halfway in, and began a long, drawn-out period of waiting—first in Australia, then in limbo as the damaged boat made its way back to Europe by ship. The delays derailed plans to return to competition mid-2025. Hopes of racing in the Fastnet, for example, had to be shelved. The sudden loss of momentum was matched by the emotional toll of being forced to pause something so central to her life and identity.
Solo sailors thrive on control. They are planners, executors, problem-solvers—especially in the unforgiving world of IMOCA racing. Having that stripped away is a brutal experience. “It wasn’t just about the boat,” Hare has said. “It was about dealing with the sense of loss, of purpose, of direction.”
But Hare has never been one to sit still. Alongside launching the consultancy, she’s taken on a leadership role with Canada Ocean Racing, skippered by Scott Shawyer. Hare is managing the team’s sailing programme and will be competing in The Ocean Race Europe starting August 2025. The crew will race aboard the former 11th Hour Racing Team IMOCA—a fast, fully foiling boat that finished third in the last Vendée Globe. For Hare, it’s an opportunity to stay sharp, continue learning, and remain fully embedded in elite-level racing.
This dual approach—building a business while staying active in competition—reflects a wider reality for many solo racers. Unlike SailGP or Formula 1, ocean racing doesn’t run on guaranteed sponsorships. Sailors like Hare must build and manage their own teams, funding, media, logistics, and performance all at once. When things go wrong, there’s no back-office safety net. You adapt or you stall.
By launching Pip Hare Ocean Racing Services, Hare is doing more than keeping the lights on. She’s proving that the team’s expertise—earned in the harshest of conditions—has commercial value beyond the racecourse. And while she may not be racing solo right now, everything she’s doing is designed to get her back to the start line.
Based on an update provided by Pip Hare Ocean Racing.
