Officially registered for the 2022 Route du Rhum, Alan Roura can now concentrate on all of his season, which will start on 8th May, with the Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race, in Brest. This first solo race will allow the young Swiss sailor to get to grips with his new boat and be prepared for the starting line of the most legendary of transatlantic races, in November.
Alan Roura is back in business! While all of his team has been developing the Hublot IMOCA over the last few months and preparing it for racing, the 29-year-old skipper is about to get back on track. In exactly ten days, the season will kick off with the Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race, the first of the four races of the 2022 IMOCA Globe Series championship. Speed runs and a 1,000 mile loop starting and finishing in Brest are on the programme for the event that already counts 24 contestants. An event that all the Hublot Sailing Team is looking forward to, after such a frenzied pace to make sure they were ready in time. “The team has done an amazing job,” says Alan. “Now it’s my turn to play and I can assure you that I can’t wait to go racing on my new boat!”-
Deprived of any competition in IMOCA since his Vendée Globe arrival, over a year ago, in February 2021, the Genevan skipper has got itchy boots. Although he has less than four months of experience on board his new yellow and black monohull, his athletic ambitions are clear. “The goal this year is to gradually gain power”, explains Alan. “This first confrontation will be an opportunity for me to get to grips with this Hublot IMOCA, to be at one with her and then get into competition mode. I still have a lot to learn and discover on board, I need to find certain reflexes… Our quest for reliability of the boat is also one of the issues of this first race, and I will give my all to use her potential fully. And, if the occasion to play along with those who know their boats better comes up, I won’t hold back!” First life-size test for the skipper and his boat and their new duet, before another training session phase and in June, the Vendée-Arctique-les Sables d’Olonne, the second race of the championship. In September comes the traditional Défi Azimut, before the start of the Route du Rhum on 6th November in Saint-Malo, real key moment of the project’s first year. And the first step towards Alan’s ultimate goal: the 2024 Vendée Globe.
Coefficient: 2Qualifying for the Route du RhumSelective for the Vendée Globe
Format: Single-handedDistance: 1,200 miles (2,220 km)Race track: Brest - Brest
Coefficient: 4Qualifying for the Route du RhumSelective for the Vendée Globe
Format: Single-handedDistance: 3,566 miles (6,600 km)Race track: Les Sables d'Olonne - Iceland - Les Sables d'Olonne
Coefficient: 1
Format: Single-handedDistance: Runs / 500 miles offshore / Around the Ile de GroixRace track: Lorient - Lorient
Coefficient: 6Qualifying for the Vendée GlobeSelective for the Vendée Globe
Format: Single-handedDistance: 3,542 miles (6,560 km)Race track: Saint-Malo - Pointe-à-Pitre
Photo © Pierre Bouras / Hublot