Max warp speed for days on end! Pip Hare on joining Canada Ocean Racing for The Ocean Race Europe 

Max warp speed for days on end! Pip Hare will be joining Canada Ocean Racing for The Ocean Race Europe - she explains what she's looking forward to this summer

British IMOCA skipper Pip Hare has announced that she’ll be racing alongside Canadian skipper Scott Shawyer on Shawyer’s Be Water Positive campaign for the 2025 edition of The Ocean Race Europe.

Pip will be onboard as part of the four-person team for every stage of The Ocean Race Europe, which is a crewed multi-stage race that begins on 10 August 2025.

Shawyer’s team is shortly about to take possession of their new foiling IMOCA yacht (details to be announced soon) on the next stage of his working towards the 2028 Vendée Globe.

“It’s a nice development,” she told Yachting World. “I’ve been speaking with Scott ever since he started his campaign. I remember what it was like coming into the class and kind of feeling a bit isolated – so I always try to check in with him, see how he’s doing, see if there’s anything I could support him with.

“Then after my dismasting (in the 2024 Vendée Globe) we started talking about what a collaboration might look like, whether I could support him with stepping up into a foiling boat.”

Hare’s own IMOCA is currently being shipped back to Europe after dismasting in the 2024 Vendée Globe. She is currently seeking a new title sponsor for her own Vendée Globe 2028 campaign.

“It’s one of the really positive things about being able to collaborate within the class.

“We’re all out there on our own with our own projects and very much in competition, particularly at the moment. Trying to find sponsorship is very hard for everyone. So all pulling together to maintain our knowledge, to keep driving performance while still trying to look for our own projects is going to be a really important thing for quite a number of sailors.

“I’m going to be kind of driving the sailing programme over the next two months. I’m really looking forward to the opportunity of sailing with some other IMOCA sailors and learning from them about how to manage the boat fully crewed – this idea of being able to sail a foiling IMOCA at max warp for days on end, the power of collective minds and strength. That’s really exciting to me.

“I’m just really pleased that Scott and I have been able to work something out. And it’s going to be exciting to see another non-French team making an impact.”

“I think we’re going to have a lot of fun over the summer.”

Ocean Race Europe course

However, she points out that the course for the Ocean Race Europe is going to be tough.

The race starts from Kiel in Germany, with stage finishes in Portsmouth, UK, then a ‘flyby’ at Matosinhos in Portugal before finishing the long Leg 2 in Catagena, Spain. Leg three takes the fleet onto Nice, then they race to Genova, before hooking around Italy to finish in Montenegro.

“Having taken part in the Ocean Race Europe in 2021, I know about the challenges of the Mediterranean – particularly the massive frustrations as well of wind shadows and parking up.

“Leg two is going to be enormous and then the leg from Genoa to Montenegro is a complete unknown for me, that’s an area in the Med that I haven’t been to before.

“It’s going to be an intense race – the stopovers aren’t very long.”

Shawyer, a successful businessman and lifelong amateur sailor, announced his Vendée Globe ambitions in 2022. He has since worked with Vendée veterans Alex Thomson and Nick Moloney as he builds experience and preparedness for the 2028 race.

“Pip is a ruthless competitor with a huge heart,” he said. “She brings a rare mix of tenacity, experience, and humanity to the team. Her ability to dig deep and lead through action will be a huge asset to us.”

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