INTRODUCTION
In the begining...

The 1970s saw the emergence of open sailing as a rather discrete sport limited to a few English speaking mariners sailing small boats more for pleasure than anything else.

However, in 1960 the Englishman, Blondie Hasler, had thrown down an outrageous challenge - a race across the Atlantic based upon a very simple idea.

One man, One boat and the ocean.

He asked his club , The Royal Western Yacht Club of England, based on the historic Plymouth waterfront, to organise it and so started the legacy which has today grown into the great sporting adventure of open ocean sailing.

Eric Tabarly's victories in 1964 & 1976 proved a powerful catalyst bringing the event to a wider International audience and provoking huge media interest. These victories further acted to accelerate the development of open ocean racing.

From 1976 onwards the World would witness the explosion of Ocean racing, the number of events multiplied and the variety of boats eligible expanded further popularising Ocean sailing into the major sport it is today.

The first manifestation of this explosion was seen in 1978 with the Route du Rhum, the first French transatlantic race, followed in 1979 by the the first double handed transat from the French port of Lorient (Brittany) to Bermuda and back. In 1984 the Canadians organised a crewed transat from Quebec to St-Malo. In the same year the Spanish organised the Discovery Route retracing the historical oceanic links of that country.

From the small beginnings of one man and an outrageous challenge sailing had suddenly become a magnificent spectacle of human endeavour, a spectacle with a proven audience. With this rapid success was borne the need for a structure capable of managing these global events.

The birth of FICO

In 1986 FICO took over from AFIPCO as the ruling body over global ocean racing federating all the national associations involved in its direct organisation. The two major features put in place by FICO are :-