Canada Ocean Racing, founded by Scott Shawyer, is a Canadian Offshore Sailing Team competing in the IMOCA Globe Series and striving toward the 2028 Vendée Globe.
Our Mission
Canada Ocean Racing is a high-performance offshore sailing team founded by Canadian entrepreneur and sailor Scott Shawyer. While proudly Canadian, the team operates with a truly global reach, uniting international talent and competing in the world’s most elite offshore sailing competitions.
Our mission is twofold:
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To make history by supporting Scott’s goal of becoming the first Canadian to complete the Vendée Globe, the toughest round-the-world yacht race; solo, unassisted, non-stop. Approximately 3 months at sea alone.
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To raise awareness and action around global water scarcity through the Be Water Positive initiative, working alongside industry leaders in water solutions and championing sustainable water practices worldwide.
Canada Ocean Racing – Be Water Positive is an offshore, elite sailing team that also aims to inspire and develop the next generation of Canadian offshore sailors through our Pathway Program.
Our Purpose
Canada Ocean Racing has built a world-class offshore sailing venture to manage Scott’s Vendée Globe campaign. The campaign is purpose-driven with a focus on building awareness around water scarcity and in 2023 the project adopted the Be Water Positive identity and goals in association with the International Desalination and Reuse Association (IDRA) and our founding partner H2O Innovation.
The Opportunity
The platform of sport is unique in that it acts as a bridge between collective enjoyment and societal responsibility. It is a medium where we can harness our networks and explore the gap between challenges and solutions. Our unique position also creates reach, enabling us to amplify the voices of change-makers and facilitate meaningful connections between solution providers and those in need.
#CHOOSEYOURADVENTURE
Scott Shawyer
“Life is what you make of it and it can be an amazing adventure!
It wasn’t until I was in COVID lockdown working 12 hours a day that the coin dropped. I hadn’t been outside in days and I came across the start of the 2020 Vendée Globe. The skippers walked down the dock, got on their boats, threw off their masks, and set out to sail around the world. They were setting out not just to sail around the world, but to compete in a race that is arguably the toughest sporting challenge on the planet!
At that moment, I realized that I wanted that – the challenge, the passion, the excitement – something to have me excited to get out of bed in the morning, something to put an extra bounce in my step, something to really energize my soul.
We are all capable of achieving almost anything we set our minds to, and we can all choose our own adventure. This is mine, what is yours?”
Our Boat
Our boat has several identities; Canada Ocean Racing, Be Water Positive (our team purpose), and is registered in maritime archives as EMIRA IV. EMIRA IV is an IMOCA 60 foiling racing yacht.
The meaning of IMOCA comes from the French acronym “International Monohull Open Class Association”.
IMOCA Class yachts are high-performance sailboats designed for solo or team competitions on long-distance ocean races and round-the-world races. These sailboats are elite sailing billboards that also stand out for their advanced design, cutting-edge technology and capabilities to face extreme ocean conditions. They are the fastest and most technologically advanced ocean racing mono-hull yachts in the world.
