IMOCA Roared Back to Life as the 1000 Race Opened the 2026 Globe Series There is no easing yourself gently back into solo offshore racing. Not in an IMOCA. Not after the Vendée Globe. And certainly not when your first job of the new season is to disappear into the North Atlantic for a thousand miles of cold fronts, tactical traps and sleep deprivation. That was the reality facing seven skippers as the 2026 IMOCA Globe Series opened from Port-la-Forêt with the start of the 1000 Race — a compact but demanding offshore contest stretching north to the Fastnet Lighthouse before diving south again into the Bay of Biscay.