Over 3000 persons have climbed Mount Everest, over 500 persons have gone to space, but less than 100 persons have competed 44.000 kilometres around the world in a sailboat, alone, without stopping, without assistance, and as fast as possible.

Finnish Ari Huusela wants to achieve what less than a hundred people have done before him. The 55-year old Airbus 350 airline captain and sailor wants to begin a new chapter in Nordic sailing. As the first Nordic sailor Ari participates in all Imoca Globe Series ocean races before the legendary Vendée Globe 2020, which consists in sailing solo and without stops around the world. Next year there will be two and respectively in 2020 two other races before Vendée 2020. Vendée 2020 is the biggest sport event to be arranged in France in 2020 and offers unprecedented global visibility for sponsors and stakeholders.

The Imoca Globe Series is sometimes called the world cup of solo and duo sailing. It will start on November this year with the Route du Rhum, which follows the contours of the old rum route from France to the Caribbean. Only a few months separates us from the starting day and the 40-year anniversary festivities are expected to persuade over 2 million visitors in the city.

The Formula 1 of all solo sailing classes is known as IMOCA60. Ari’s vessel came to Finland in May and Ari has trained ever since on the Baltic either alone or with a crew. After a regular maintenance and refurbishment period in England the vessel will be transferred to the old coastal city of St. Malo in France. The inauguration of the first race Route du Rum takes place on October 24 and all participants and skippers will be present until the starting day in November.

Ocean racing has become an extremely popular sports discipline. The race can be easily followed with live-applications and the race organizations as well as the teams publish constantly the latest news and information also outside the races. The visual taste of adventure speaks also for those who do not sail themselves.

Knowing that the popularity of sailing is growing fast in China and Asia, Ari is thankful for getting ARC Consulting as his trusted Asian partner in promoting his project in Asian markets.