Miranda Merron
Miranda Merron started sailing when she was 5 years old on the River Seine, south of Paris. At the age of 9 she was crewing for her father in his International 14 (the old one!). Educated in England, she graduated from Cambridge University before going to work in Tokyo in advertising, and later in Sydney and Paris.
Having opted for a change of career, Miranda has been sailing professionally for the past 25 years, mainly in offshore racing, and has competed in solo, double-handed and fully-crewed races, including the Route du Rhum, the Transat, and the Volvo Ocean Race, and won the Transat Jacques Vabre, Quebec – Saint Malo Race, RORC Transatlantic and Round Britain & Ireland races. In 2009, she was navigator with the all-female team on the IMOCA 60 Aviva (Dee Caffari), when the team set a new outright World Record for Round Britain & Ireland, taking 16 hours off the previous record.
She raced with Halvard Mabire for much of the past decade in Class40 before entering the IMOCA class in 2019, and successfully completing the Vendée Globe in one of the oldest boats in the fleet in February 2021.
Halvard Mabire
Halvard Mabire competed in his first solo transatlantic race at the age of 20 on a boat which he built entirely himself, and raced it to 3rd place in the inaugural Mini Transat race. He has over 45 years and 450,000 miles of offshore racing experience, with five Whitbread Round the World Races and 44 transatlantic races, including The Artemis Transat and OSTAR to his name. He has twice won the Quebec – Saint Malo, the Twostar and the Round Europe Race. He has also participated seven times in the Solitaire du Figaro, including leg wins, and 2nd and 3rd place overall. He has also held Atlantic and Mediterranean World Speed Records.
Throughout his long career, Halvard has had the opportunity to race with and against some of the greatest sailors.
He competed in two round the world races as navigator with Eric Tabarly as skipper, but also had the privilege of having Eric as a member of crew on the 60′ « Ville de Cherbourg » on which Halvard won the Round Europe Race in 1993.
When he has been able to compete with the same means as others, such as in the Figaro, he has beaten top sailors including Desjoyeaux, Le Cam, Peyron etc…
Halvard raced with Miranda for several years in Class40 before managing her 2020 Vendée Globe campaign.
He has valuable experience in yacht design, project management and boat building.
Mora
Campaigns are managed through MORA, of which Halvard is company director.
MORA manages all technical aspects of campaigns, thus freeing sponsors of any responsibility on the technical side, while guaranteeing a successful project. Sponsors can therefore concentrate on the communications aspects of projects.
For sponsors wishing to use sailing as a platform for communications, MORA is one of the few organisations which can deliver first class service within the strict confines of an allocated budget, both technically and financially. We have over 30 years of experience at the highest level, and have the trust of our suppliers and partners in the industry.
We have a good relationship with the media, meaning that there will be some return on investment before we even start racing. Above and beyond the sporting and media aspects, we also have experience in making good use of a campaign for internal communications, incentive programmes and business-to-business relations. Our previous experience in these areas has been alongside some of the biggest names in offshore racing.
