The Mirpuri Foundation announced today that will be part of the next edition of the Ocean Race, the longest and toughest sporting event in the world, not only to contribute to the Race’s renewed and important sustainability initiatives, but also with a Race team in the event.
Formerly known as the Whitbread Round the World Race (1973 to 1997) and the Volvo Ocean Race (2001 to 2018), The Ocean Race is the premiere, fully-crewed, offshore race in the world, and a pinnacle event in the sport of sailing.
The team will be named “Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team”, and in a couple of months the Foundation will announce the underlying sustainability message that will tour the world with them.
The Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team will build a campaign in the VO65 boat- the one-design class that produced such close racing last time out – to take the Foundation sustainability message around the globe.
“Our team will be very competitive and will fight very hard for our causes as well as for the race trophy. It will be a very special team of sailors with a genuine interest for the environment, for sustainability and for the values of the Mirpuri Foundation”, said Chairman Paulo Mirpuri.
Mirpuri Foundation is also exploring the possibility of an Imoca campaign that would make a strong challenge for the Ocean Race Trophy.
Paulo Mirpuri states that “with the Imoca 60 foiling class, which will be part of the race in 2021, we will see faster and more extreme racing than ever before. I’m extremely interested in this new class, which will show case the best in technology and innovation. Alongside sustainability, these are both values which we hold dearly at the Mirpuri Foundation.”
Having been a part of the race for the first time in 2017-18, the Mirpuri Foundation believes that this Race is not only one of the toughest tests in sailing, but in the whole of sport.
“Aside from the sporting competition, the Race is also a powerful platform to connect and collaborate with partners – and we’re proud of our role in the ground breaking Sustainability Programme, which sparked a global movement against plastic pollution to restore ocean health”, adds Paulo Mirpuri.
Overall the Race Platform is a very important and a powerful communication tool for the Foundation, that expects that the 2021-22 race will continue to lead sustainability in sport and the Ocean Summits series to expand even further. And above all the Mirpuri Foundation expects to consolidate the large wave against plastic pollution built during the last race. The public is now much better informed on the perils of plastic and on what each one of us can do to turn the tide on plastic, for a better world.
The live announcement:
The 2017-18 Race experience The Mirpuri Foundation joined the Race in 2017-18 as the Race Principal Sustainability Partner as well as the Founding Partner of the Turn the Tide on Plastic Boat and Racing Team. This was a quite successful project. The campaign was about promoting Sustainability values in and outside the water. And in particular about the very serious problem of the large quantities of plastic that are ending up in our oceans every day. The Campaign sparked a global movement against plastic pollution to restore ocean health, that survived the end of the race. And this is a wonderful and very powerful legacy.
The Mirpuri Foundation The Mirpuri Foundation is a world class well established and well-funded Portuguese Foundation that focus its work on six main areas, Marine Conservation being one of the most important. Promoting a more sustainable way of doing things at business and at personal level is one of the core objectives of the Foundation. “We do believe that if we, as a species, are to survive in the long term we need to refine a lot better the balance between progress and sustainability” says Paulo Mirpuri, the Founder. The other areas of interest of the Mirpuri Foundation and where it has several active programs are Wildlife Conservation, Aviation, Medicine, Social Responsibility and the Arts.
Photo: Paulo Mirpuri in a live connection to The Ocean Race headquarters in Alicante (21.03.19 – 19.00 UTC), announcing the Mirpuri Foundation Racing team in the Race 21-22 edition
