The Transat has been organised every four years since it began. Rescued at the last minute in 2004 by OC ThirdPole, in 2008 the event became a monohull only race with a strong commitment to the 60-foot monohull IMOCA Class, with the exclusion of all multihulls. With Artemis as title sponsor, the event was a great success and in particular a real result for UK sailing with a very well attended pre-start village in Plymouth, the historical ‘home’ of the event.

Following the postponement of this year’s Istanbul Europa Race scheduled for July, due to insufficient entries, OC ThirdPole, a supporter of the IMOCA circuit, has acted to help solve the difficult position of this IMOCA race. By offering to release to its organiser Olay Nautic it’s long established May slot in the pre-Vendée Globe 2012 calendar, it has permitted the rescheduling of the Istanbul Europa Race to 2012 with hopefully a stronger fleet.

OC ThirdPole will now re-evaluate, along with its partners, the future timing and format of The Transat, with potentially a biennial event alternating between the historical solo and duo formats, supporting IMOCA’s key pillars of a round the world race every two years (Vendée Globe, Barcelona World Race).

OC ThirdPole hope that IMOCA will now work on a much needed long term strategic marketing plan and vision, in order that the Class can once again attract new sponsors at both team and event level.

For more on the 2008 Artemis Transat, visit www.theartemistransat.com.