Alan Roura, the Swiss offshore sailor, has partnered with AMAALA to compete in The Ocean Race Europe, 2025. With less than three months to go before the race start in Kiel, Germany, the team will begin their intensive training when the boat is launched in Lorient later this month.
“We have been working for a long time towards launching a campaign and to be on the start line of TOR Europe. It is always a significant moment for any team to secure a Title Partner and head to the start line with their full support. I'm very proud today to be the skipper of TEAM AMAALA, which allows us to convey shared values of design and innovation, competition, teamwork, and our commitment to ocean health and regeneration. This is the start of a new story, an incredible adventure, and we don't have a minute to lose. Our boat is currently undergoing a livery re-design in the colors of AMAALA. We are recruiting our crew, preparing training drills, setting logistics in motion. It’s an exciting phase for us. The first time our race boat emerges from the shed and sees the light of day will be the beginning of new era,” said TEAM AMAALA Skipper, Alan Roura.
“We believe deeply in this project, which strengthens our brand and offers great international visibility,” said John Pagano, Group CEO of Red Sea Global, the developer behind AMAALA. “We have been a part of The Ocean Race family since 2023 as Red Sea Global, but this is now AMAALA’s time to fly its flag and connect an international community with the yachting lifestyle that will be an important part of the destination.”
After 10 years of solo sailing and three successful Vendée Globe campaigns, the 32-year-old Captain is taking a more collective approach. He has set himself the mission of taking part in The Ocean Race round-the-world challenge in 2027 and being the skipper of capable and highly competitive team. The core crew includes the talented Simon Koster and Elodie Mettraux and with team selection well under way, the full squad will be finalized and announced in the coming weeks.
"We want to bring together an international team, mixing ocean racing experts with young talent. To achieve this, we have organized two selection sessions, one on Lake Geneva and one in Lorient. The crew format is also new to me, it's the shared experience on board that appeals to me and the challenge of putting together a high-performance team that gets on well. Having worked closely with the AMAALA team over the past months I know that this team spirit of respect, collaboration and passion are values we share. There is a great sense of camaraderie between the IMOCA teams throughout the race, and despite the intensity of competition, these are races where we help each other out a lot. In sporting terms, the level promises to be very high, and I see the race to the finish line in Montenegro being the leg that will likely challenge us the most in terms of weather, because anything can happen,” added Roura.
The new chapter Roura is opening promises to be as exciting as it is gripping. Barely having time to digest his third solo round-the-world voyage, he has already laid the foundations for this collective Swiss-Saudi challenge. With its unique format of long and short legs, city flybys and stopovers around Europe, The Ocean Race offers a new type of crewed event, integrated into the IMOCA Globe Series circuit.
The race organizers decision to focus on IMOCA Open 60s since the last edition has breathed new life into this legendary race. From now on, the best teams in the world will be competing on the most reliable and the fastest boats in ocean racing. After an initial tour of Europe this summer, a transatlantic race between New York and Barcelona will take place in 2026. It will serve as the final preparation for the round-the-world race with AMAALA hosting the Grand Finale in 2027.
All these opportunities will also be used as selection phases to welcome and develop as much young talent as possible. For the skipper and his team, it will also be a question of gaining skills in sailing with a crew and continuing to professionalize the management of their projects.
“The timing may not allow us to display the highest sporting ambitions this summer, but we are going to give it all we’ve got" explains Roura. “We are concentrating on great human performances, resilience, and the setting up of long-term team success".
“We create destinations that are led by science and inspired by nature, that actively seek to enhance the well-being of visitors, communities, and the environment. We believe that tourism can be an effective change agent to enable destinations to thrive and The Ocean Race and TEAM AMAALA campaign provide us with an important platform to promote this cohesion between the common effort, for common good. If ever there was an era demanding common determination to protect our oceans and a sailor’s playground and purpose, this is it,” added Mr. Pagano.
Alongside AMAALA, the watchmaker Hublot, who have been supporting Alan Roura since 2022 in line with a ‘push your limits’ philosophy, is continuing the adventure as the Team's official sponsor and timekeeper.
"Our maritime DNA is embedded in our name: Hublot (French word for "porthole"). Hublot is proud to support Alan in the challenges he takes on in the ocean, carrying with him the spirit of Swiss ingenuity and inspiring future generations to aim for the impossible. Alan's dedication and pursuit of excellence in offshore racing are a source of inspiration for young people who aspire to achieve their dreams. This year, we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Big Bang, the icon of the 21st century, and the watch that accompanies Alan on his adventures" said Julien Tornare, CEO of Hublot.
Alan Roura commented: "I am delighted that Hublot is continuing the adventure alongside us. Over the past three years, we have forged strong human connections and shared common values that are dear to me. This is the beginning of a new story as TEAM AMAALA, an exceptional adventure and a very exciting challenge that awaits us all.”
The TEAM AMAALA campaign will also see the reveal of the AMAALA Yacht Club brand and vision, an icon on the Red Sea coast, that is set to attract, encourage and involve its members and visitors in the enjoyment of yachting and a shared commitment to ocean health.
“There is no greater force for change and for progress than a community that has discovered what it wants to collaborate on and care for,” said Mr. Pagano. “With Alan at the helm, backed by AMAALA, the Yacht Club, Hublot and The Ocean Race community, we look forward to continuing our partnerships in the sport of sailing. Everything starts with participation.”
AMAALA, FOR RESPONSIBLE LUXURY TOURISM
AMAALA is an ultra-luxury, regenerative tourism destination along the northwestern coast of the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia that is sustainably developed by Red Sea Global (RSG) with a focus on coastal lifestyle with wellness at its core.
Two of AMAALA’s signature attractions will be, Corallium Marine Life Institute – an experiential, educational and scientific research center and the AMAALA Yacht Club, which is set to become an international hub for luxury yachting.
Red Sea Global is a vertically integrated real estate developer with a diverse portfolio across tourism, residential, experiences, infrastructure, transport, healthcare, and services. This includes the luxury regenerative tourism destinations The Red Sea, which began welcoming guests in 2023, and AMAALA, which remains on track to welcome first guests in 2025.
A third destination, Thuwal Private Retreat, opened in 2024. RSG has also been entrusted with refurbishment works at Al Wajh Airport, focused on upgrading the existing terminal and infrastructure, and building a new international terminal.
RSG is a PIF company and a cornerstone of Saudi Arabia’s ambition to diversify its economy. Across its growing portfolio of destinations, subsidiaries, and businesses, RSG seeks to lead the world towards a more sustainable future, showing how responsible development can uplift communities, drive economies, and enhance the environment.
HUBLOT, EXPERTISE THAT COMBINES TRADITION AND INNOVATION
In 1980 and for the first time, a watch dared to put a gold case on a rubber strap, turning the luxury watch world upside down in the process. Named for the porthole-shaped bezel with its exposed screws, Hublot was born and with it, the Art of Fusion.
In 2005 the brand took this exercise in creative thinking to a new level with the Big Bang and its iconic design, size and layered construction case. That same year, Hublot received the Best Design award at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. Since then, spurred by this revolutionary mindset, the Big Bang has never stopped reinventing itself. The twenty-first century has its first watch Icon.
The concept of fusion is omnipresent, the guiding principle for every collection. Big Bang timepieces reshape the geometries of time; Classic Fusion balances boldness and restraint, while the Exceptional Timepieces overwrite expectations to create unprecedented horological objects. With its disruptive approach of challenging convention, Hublot’s DNA is transcribed in the Unico, Meca-10 and tourbillon in-house movements, to add another tier of meaning to the Art of Fusion.
Alchemy is ingrained into Hublot and not just at La Manufacture. Magic can take place on a football pitch, producing partnerships with major events (UEFA Champions League and UEFA EuroTM). Sometimes it happens at a concert, a basketball match, an artistic performance or at a unique gastronomic experience with Hublot’s family of starred Chefs. And so, the Hublot Vibes come to life, through shared moments of exaltation amongst the Hublotistas, its very own community of proud Hublot owners. The Art of Fusion goes beyond the tangible. It is a way of being, the Hublot way of life.
Since 1973, The Ocean Race has provided the ultimate test of a team and a human adventure like no other. For 50 years, it has kept an almost mythical hold over some of the greatest sailors and been the proving ground for the legends of our sport.
The 14th edition of The Ocean Race started from Alicante, Spain on January 15th 2023, and finished in Genova, the Grand Finale, in Italy on 1 July 2023 after visiting nine iconic cities around the globe. Led by skipper Charlie Enright, the American 11th Hour Racing Team won the race, which was contested for the first time in the flying, foiling, record-setting IMOCA boats.
The Ocean Race celebrated its 50th anniversary during 2023 and is looking ahead to The Ocean Race Europe in 2025; The Ocean Race Atlantic - New York to Barcelona in 2026; and the next edition of the around the world race, which will start from Alicante, Spain in 2027.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE RACE
Photo © Jean-Louis Carli