The Ocean Live Park opened today in the port of Alicante, the starting place of The Ocean Race, the most extraordinary and challenging around-the-world regatta, now 50 years old. It will finish for the first time in Italy, with a landmark “Grand Finale” in Genoa.
The 150-square-metre Genoa Pavilion (Pavilion di Genova) is arousing a lot of curiosity. Thanks to the LED wall, positioned in front of the structure, numerous visitors are exploring the beauties of the city of Genoa and Liguria. The walls of the Pavilion “tell the story” of the territory through iconic images while the immersive room set up by ETT lets everyone sample the emotions of the regatta, together with Genoese and Ligurian excellences. An emotional connection through spectacular and continuous videos immediately captivates the audience. The highly popular “Virtual Reality” viewers explore the iconic areas of the Old Town of Genoa, with its squares and buildings that include Palazzo San Giorgio.
Cecilia Zorzi and Alberto Riva were among the first to visit the Genoa Pavilion. The two Italian sailors will participate in The Ocean Race Sprint aboard “AOR Team Genova” and are preparing for the first trials. Tomorrow will be the first In-Port Race. The VO65 race starts at 14:00 Italian time while the IMOCA yachts will leave at 16:00 (live on Eurosport and Discovery). On Sunday, 15 January, they will depart for Mindelo, Cape Verde, for the first offshore leg of the regatta.
In-Port races earn points on the In-Port Race Series leaderboard. Whoever wins a race receives a point for every member of the crew. The second gets the same number as the first minus one, and so on. The highest-scoring team wins the In-Port Race Series. In the event of a tie, the boat with the best result in the last race wins. The In-Port Race of Genoa on 1 July will decide the winner of the Ocean Race if two or more teams tie for first place.
After tomorrow’s first In-Port in Alicante, it will be Cape Town’s turn on 24 February, followed by the third race in Itajai on 21 April and the fourth in Rhode Island on 20 May. The last three are planned in Europe: Aarhus (4 June), The Hague (13-14 June) and Genoa (1 July).
No other sporting event brings its fans as close to the action as The Ocean Race and there are many ways to follow the competition during the six months it lasts. TheOceanRace.com and @theoceanrace social platforms are the hubs for key content, including the latest news and analysis, boat videos and photos, and a comprehensive regatta section with electronic cartography, leaderboards and scoreboard.
The start and finish of each leg will be broadcast live on the Discovery and Eurosport channels, including Eurosport.com. Every day, at 12:00 UTC during the offshore legs, a two-minute newscast covering the previous 24 hours of the race will be broadcast on theoceanrace.com (also on social media). Highlights of leg starts, finishes and in-port racing will be published on The Ocean Race social platforms and website, as well as Eurosport social channels, just as soon as they become available.
The Ocean Race Opening Ceremony is set for 12 January at 20:00 and will be followed by a drone show. In the Genoa Pavilion, the events programme is intense, with Italian Day scheduled for Friday 13th. The Municipality of Genoa, in collaboration with ICE, is promoting meetings dedicated to inventiveness, entrepreneurship and tourism – with one eye at all times on sustainability – sport and the blue economy. Culture takes centre stage thanks to the event “Discovering Genoa: Culture, Art and Tradition as an engine of city transformation”.
Saturday 14th will see the World Pesto Championship as well as the official presentation of the “AOR Team Genova” crew, the VO65 boat in partnership with Austrian Ocean Racing and some Genoese and Italian excellences such as Iren, Sangiorgio Marine, the Italian Navy and the Italian Sailing Federation.
