Helly Hansen and Team AMAALA Announce Partnership for The Ocean Race Europe
July 23, 2025
3 min read
We are proud to announce our partnership with Team AMAALA for The Ocean Race Europe. As the Official Clothing Supplier, Helly Hansen will provide the IMOCA team with professional grade, performance-driven gear for the 4,500-nautical mile multi-stage offshore race, which starts on August 10.
Team AMAALA is among the seven mixed-gender crews competing in The Ocean Race Europe. All seven teams will compete in foiling IMOCA designs, which use retractable foils to reduce drag and increase speed, and each team will race with four sailors aboard.
The Swiss/Saudi Arabia-flagged Team AMAALA will be skippered by Alan Roura – a highly experienced sailor who at age 23 became the youngest sailor to complete the 2016–17 Vendée Globe. In 2019 he set a new solo North Atlantic record before going on to finish seventeenth in the Vendée Globe 2020. 2024 saw him complete his third Vendée Globe when he finished the race in eighteenth place.
“Helly Hansen has been accompanying me on the oceans for almost 10 years now,” says Swiss skipper Alan Roura. "I am therefore very happy to continue this collaboration, which is part of our shared history and reflects the long-term relationship of trust we have built up. Thanks to their expertise and their extremely wide range of products for all sailing conditions, my team and I will be ready to face any situation during this incredible tour of Europe that awaits us."
After three successful Vendée Globe campaigns, the Geneva-based sailor decided to team up with other Swiss sailors for new collective adventures. With the support of AMAALA, an ultra-luxurious wellness tourist destination located along the northwestern coast of Saudi Arabia, the Swiss Offshore Team, a true Swiss national offshore sailing team, was born this summer, with the aim of training young people and participating in the biggest races on the IMOCA calendar.
Thanks to Helly Hansen's expertise and their extremely wide range of products for all sailing conditions, my team and I will be ready to face any situation during this incredible tour of Europe that awaits us.
The Swiss team recently ran an intensive physical and psychological testing session, from which seven sailors were chosen to make up the sailing squad for The Ocean Race Europe 2025: Jessica Berthoud (SUI/NZL); Lucie De Gennes (FRA/SUI); Rebecca Gmuer (SUI/NZL); Guillaume Rol (SUI); Mathis Bourgnon (FRA/SUI); Félix Oberle (SUI); and Yann Burkhalter (SUI).
Racing with Roura as co-skippers in The Ocean Race Europe are Simon Koster (SUI) – who built his offshore reputation in the Mini Transat and Class40 fleets, and highly experienced New Zealand yachtsman Conrad Colman – a veteran of two editions of the Vendée Globe (2016–17, 2024–25) and winner of the Global Ocean Race in 2012.
“The timing does not allow us to set high sporting ambitions for this summer,” explains Alan Roura. “We are focusing more on achieving great human performances, with the establishment of a team, in a spirit of cohesion and long-term development, with The Ocean Race 2027 as our goal.”
“Team AMAALA brings together a diverse group of experienced sailors whose passion and spirit of collaboration reflect the values we hold at Helly Hansen,” says Gabriele Galaverni, Brand Partnerships Director at Helly Hansen. “Working with professionals is at the heart of what we do, and partnering with a team that shares our dedication to design and innovation is a strong and natural alignment. We’re proud to support their campaign in The Ocean Race Europe and look forward to equipping them with high-performance gear built for maximum protection in even the harshest waters.”
Øyvind Vedvik, VP for Sailing and R&D at Helly Hansen adds, “Alan Roura is a world-class athlete, whose talent, determination, and ambition continue to inspire us. His insights and experience have been invaluable, and we’re especially proud to support a team that values not just performance, but also mentorship and the shared experience on board – passing on knowledge and creating opportunities for the next generation of sailors.”
Team AMAALA will join the other competitors on the starting line of The Ocean Race Europe in Kiel, Germany – with stops in England, Portugal, Spain, France, and Italy, before the teams arrive in Boka Bay, Montenegro in September.