The International Monohull Open Class Association (IMOCA) is an international association within the sport of sailing which administers the monohull class of sailboats. The association is responsible for defining and updating the class rules for Open-class boats, and has the additional aims of co-ordinating events involving Open boats, and promoting their use.
The monohulls are high-performance racing boats, designed principally for single-handed competition. Several high-profile yacht races are based around these boats, such as the VELUX 5 Oceans Race, the Vendée Globe and the Barcelona World Race (circum-navigations), the Calais Round Britain Race (crewed race around British islands), and the Route du Rhum, the Transat Jacques Vabre, the Quebec-St Malo the Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race, and the Europa Race.
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The class is the main focus of IMOCA. As the names imply, this class is "open", meaning that it does not represent fixed boat designs; instead, they are defined by a "box rule" which permits any design, as long as it meets certain restrictions. The restrictions limit the lengths of the boats and place certain safety requirements on the boats, such as minimum stability requirements. This class is recognised by the International Sailing Federation.
Boats are typically light and high-powered, with large sail-plans. Typically consisting of large carbon-fibre shells, there are few concessions to comfort.