Conrad Colman has his crew. A 100% Kiwi team is confirmed for the Ocean Race Atlantic, leaving New York on 1 September and finishing in Lorient, France. The Atlantic is sorted. The Ocean Race around the world is another matter entirely.
The Atlantic race will be sailed under the Aotearoa Ocean Racing name. Four sailors, two men and two women as required by the race rules, plus Georgia Schofield as on-board media. Schofield covered the last Ocean Race World with Holcim and is a familiar part of the Colman campaign. The sailing crew is drawn from young Kiwis active on the domestic racing scene, including events like the Three Kings Race, RNI and the PIC Coastal Classic. Colman is finalising the last crew position and will announce the lineup shortly.
When the boat crosses the start line in New York, it will be the first time a Kiwi crew has raced an IMOCA 60 across the Atlantic since Mike Sanderson in 2004.
The campaign is backed by MSIG Europe, the renamed successor to MS Amlin (those who followed my coverage of the last Vendeé Globe will remember Conrad’s MS Amlin campaign), now into its fourth year alongside Colman. The existing boat, a non-foiling IMOCA that Colman knows well, will be used for the Atlantic. It won’t trouble the front of a fleet that includes the latest generation foilers, and Colman isn’t pretending otherwise.
“We’re not going to win the transatlantic race,” he says. “But what we can do, without significant competitive pressure, is focus on building the team and the practices required to work together as a high-performance unit. That is exactly what we need.”
The Ocean Race: what it takes
With the Atlantic race funded and the crew in place, Colman’s energy is now pointed squarely at the Ocean Race around the world. The start is 17 January 2026. The fleet arrives in Auckland in 2027, at the end of the direct leg from Europe. The window to put a programme together is tight.
A new-generation foiling IMOCA costs between 10 and 11 million euros. Colman is not chasing a new hull. A second-hand latest-generation boat sits at around half the price, with annual operating costs of approximately 3 million. Total budget across a three-year campaign, covering the Ocean Race, the Vendée Globe, and the Ocean Race Europe, will run into millions of dollars.
“By going in with a second-hand boat that is well-proven and very fast, I believe that through boat speed, knowledge, and reliability, we can be just as competitive as a new boat that, in reality, will not achieve its performance threshold in the short time available,” he says.
MSIG Europe has confirmed it will not be the title partner for the round-the-world campaign. Colman needs New Zealand corporate backing and is open about how that search is going.
“I am struggling thus far. Part of that is the challenging business environment in New Zealand for the past couple of years. I feel underrepresented in my home market, simply because I’m not there most of the time.”
He is looking for companies with a global story or international businesses with a meaningful New Zealand presence. The partnership offer goes well beyond a logo on the hull. Colman points to something concrete: his advocacy inside the Vendée Globe for renewable energy led to race officials mandating it across the entire fleet for the next edition. He is the only person to have raced around the world twice without burning fossil fuels, using solar power to run his systems, recyclable membrane sails from OneSails, and an electric van on land through a partnership with LDV in France.
“When I did this in 2016 I was looked at as being a bit kooky. Now the rest of the space is starting to catch up.”
Why Auckland matters to Conrad
Colman grew up in Auckland watching The Ocean Race arrive in the Waitemata. That event sent him to France, into a Mini 650, and eventually to the IMOCA class. Now he wants to come the other way, arriving in the Waitemata as part of the fleet, with a team of Kiwis who got there together.
“What I want to do is inspire the next young fellow to come and do this kind of adventure themselves, discover a bigger, brighter world, and figure out how to look after it along the way.”
The Ocean Race is coming to Auckland in 2027. The question is whether New Zealand sends a team.
