NEWPORT – Sail Newport, host of the 2015 and 2018 North American Ocean Race stopover points, has yet to decide whether it will enter a bid for the 2021/2022 race.
A change of ownership and reorganization of the race route, which may impact the timing of some stops, has delayed a process that Brad Read, Sail Newport’s executive director, initially expected to be decided on by the end of the summer.
“If they’re coming to North America in February, I don’t think they should come to Newport,” Read said, adding that March and April aren’t optimal either.
“That is not an effective time for marine tourism here, no boats are in the water… “We just have to wait.”
Current indications are that the North American stopover point will be in April, Sail Newport’s marketing director Kim Cooper said. A decision on whether to bid will come “when they finalize the course and what time of year it would be,” she said.
The decision also depends on “economics and our ability to execute an amazing stopover like the last two times,” Read said.
Planning is in the final stages and race organizers expect to announce the route “later this summer,” Ocean Race spokesman Peter Rusch wrote in an email.
The race is set to start in Alicante, Spain in October of 2021 and finish in Europe by late spring or early summer in 2022, with up six to eight stopover points in between, Rusch said.
A U.S. stopover point is planned for the spring of 2022.
Rusch added that cities are currently submitting bids, but said that “we aren’t able to comment on ongoing negotiations with specific cities.”
While the Newport stopovers in 2015 and 2018 brought in tens of millions across the state, Sail Newport lost $250,000 in 2015 and barely broke even in 2018, Read has said.
If the nonprofit does throw its hat into the ring and is chosen to host the stopover, it would work with multiple agencies, including R.I. Commerce Corp, the Governor’s office and members of the Legislature and the city of Newport.
After a change in ownership, the event, formerly known as The Volvo Ocean Race, is now simply The Ocean Race.
More vessels are expected in the 2021/2022 race, which divides competition into the high-tech V065 class, and more traditional IM0CA60 class.
Seven teams competed in the 2017/2018 edition, Rusch said.
In the 2017-2018 race, Rhode Island’s Charlie Enright and Nick Dana were on the Vestas 11th Hour Racing team. Enright was skipper for the Vestas crew following his debut campaign as skipper of Team Alvimedia in 2014-2015.
Elizabeth Graham is a PBN staff writer. She can be reached at Graham@PBN.com.
