From the podium, race co-owner and chairman Richard Brisius called him out by name in front of the Minister, the Mayor, and a room full of the country’s most prominent sailors. “We have a Colman who is trying hard,” Brisius said. “He’s doing the Ocean Race Atlantic and we’re looking forward to seeing more Kiwis coming back.”
Mike Sanderson, the last Kiwi to win the Ocean Race outright, went further. He’d spoken with Colman just days before the event and knew the details.
“The budgets are a fraction of what they were in 2005,” Sanderson said.
“And the media platform and social media reach now is tenfold on what it was then. If you looked at Conrad’s budget to go and participate in the race, it would be an amazing return. But it’s still quite a lot of money.”
Colman is building his Aotearoa Ocean Racing campaign toward two goals. First, the Ocean Race Atlantic, which starts from New York on 1 September with a fully Kiwi crew racing under New Zealand colours. Second, a full campaign in the 2027 Ocean Race, arriving in Auckland on 20 February. He has described the Atlantic not as the destination but as the first step, the proof that the team can operate at the highest level.
Kiwi team locked in for Ocean Race Atlantic as Colman sets sights on the big one
The European insurance company that backed his previous campaigns has already passed on the around-the-world programme. Finding that scale of funding out of New Zealand is where the campaign stands right now. Sanderson’s suggestion: build a core Kiwi identity inside a competitive programme and let the public get behind it. “If we could get a core of New Zealanders into another team and become the centre of it, the Kiwi public would get behind that team. And that would be massive.”
Colman’s angle, Sanderson confirmed, is sustainability. “You need to have a strong feather in your cap, a point of difference. If he’s going down that road, that’s smart.”
Brisius sees Colman as exactly the kind of leader the sport needs here. “Conrad is passionate; he’s driving very hard, he has this dream, and he wants to make it happen.” His challenge to New Zealand at the press conference was pointed. Kiwis were the kings of round-the-world racing. Not anymore. The IMOCA class, he argued, offers the most realistic pathway back, with budgets more manageable than previous eras and a media platform that can deliver genuine return on investment for a sponsor willing to back it.
Minister Upston asked directly whether the government could do anything to support Colman’s campaign, acknowledged she wasn’t across the detail and pointed to Sport New Zealand as the relevant body. She added that sailing is a significant part of New Zealand’s DNA, and that the government wants to see sailors coming through from P-class all the way up to events like The Ocean Race.
When the IMOCAs start to arrive in the Waitemata on 20 February 2027, Brisius said he wants to see a New Zealand flag racing in with them. “We don’t want you just to be watching. We want you to see the New Zealand flag back on the water, inspiring a nation and inspiring the world.”
Conrad Colman is the person trying to make that happen.
