Entrants must arrive at the race venue no later than 1600hrs on August 14th 2022. Safety inspections will be carried out prior to the event.

The race clock starts with the start gun on September 4th, 2022. If an entrant does not start within five days of the start, he or she is deemed to have withdrawn from the race.

Entrants may seek shelter and anchor (using the engine if needed) to make repairs, but may not enter the port and no person may give any materiel assistance at any time during the race.

At the end of the race, ships logs and celestial navigation notes will be scrutinised for compliance and further declarations signed by the entrant, confirming rule compliance during the race.

Race Route

The race course is an east-about circumnavigation starting and finishing in Les Sables-d’Olonne, France.

Competitors will sail down the Atlantic from North to South leaving:

• An inshore Canary Island mark to starboard – a chance to interview the skippers as they sail past without stopping and for them to pass over films and letters.
• Trindade to port.
• Cape Town film drop.
• Cape of Good Hope to port.
• Prince Edward Islands to starboard.
• The Crozet Islands to starboard.
• The Kerguelen Islands to starboard.
• 45°S latitude to starboard. An imaginary line the entrants must not cross or face a time penalty. Race Control follows the satellite tracker.
• Cape Leeuwin to port.
• To a Gate in Storm Bay Tasmania. Entrants sail over a line and must drop sails and drift, or anchor for 90 minutes. Media, family and friends may then interview and chat without touching them and films and letters passed off the boats, but nothing goes onto the boats. Only after 90 minutes may they recross the line and continue on to Cape Horn. The clock does not stop.
• Snares Islands to starboard.
• Bounty Islands to starboard.
• Waypoint 46°S, 174°W to starboard. An imaginary rounding mark. 46°S latitude to starboard until east of 115°W longitude. An imaginary line the entrants must not cross or face a time penalty. Race Control follows the satellite tracker.
• Cape Horn to port.
• Punta del Este film drop [Edit Jan 2023: the Punta del Este film drop has been removed from the race course]
• Sail up the Atlantic from South to North. Then to the finish line.

Amendments to the race course regarding safety measures to avoid drifting ice and/or a minimum distance of the course from the coast of some countries in the southern hemisphere will be published no later than the 30th July 2022.

These amendments will be based on studies carried out for weather and ice conditions in consultation with Rescue Coordination Centres around the world.