11th Hour Racing back in The Ocean Race

Cape Town, South Africa (February 17, 2023) – In advance of Leg 3 for The Ocean Race, the US-flagged 11th Hour Racing Team has received permission from the Race Committee to replace its damaged foils.

As the rules specify teams are only allowed to use one set of foils for the entire race, the team needed to request their replacement due to serious damage sustained in the first two legs of the Race. Now with approval, the team’s spare foils will be put into the boat and the 60-foot race boat is due back in the water on February 21.

“After examining the foils and considering the technical reports supplied by the team and speaking with their designers, the Race Committee is satisfied the damage to the foils on 11th Hour Racing Team could not be repaired in time for the start of leg 3,” said Phil Lawrence, Race Director.

Mark Towill, 11th Hour Racing Team CEO, was pleased with the Race Committee’s decision. “This will allow us to compete in the next Leg in a safe and seamanlike manner. We will continue to work with our design and engineering teams on a repair plan, and look forward to getting Mālama back in the water, and back to racing next week.”

Three days after arriving in Cape Town, having completed Leg 2 of The Ocean Race 2022-23, 11th Hour Racing Team discovered, through surface Non-Destructive Testing, that both foils on its 60-foot race boat had suffered serious damage.

The team’s designers and engineers concluded that the extent of the work required to repair the foils would take a number of weeks, which meant the boat would not have been able to set off on Leg 3 of The Ocean Race, due to depart Cape Town on February 26. The team therefore applied to have the damaged foils replaced.

The Race Committee approved the request, stipulating that the team must notify the IMOCA Measurement Team of the change – which has been done – and comply with any measurement requirements they may request. The replacement foils have previously been measured by the IMOCA Measurement Team, and 11th Hour Racing Team is working with the Class Measurers to ensure that the boat is rule compliant before departure.

11th Hour Racing Team is currently lying in second place overall after two legs of The Ocean Race 2022-23. Leg 3 is a 12,750-mile distance from Cape Town to Itajai in Brazil..

Race details – Route – Tracker – Teams – Content from the boats – YouTube

IMOCA: Boat, Design, Skipper, Launch date
• Guyot Environnement – Team Europe (VPLP Verdier); Benjamin Dutreux (FRA)/Robert Stanjek (GER); September 1, 2015
• 11th Hour Racing Team (Guillaume Verdier); Charlie Enright (USA); August 24, 2021
• Holcim-PRB (Guillaume Verdier); Kevin Escoffier (FRA); May 8, 2022
• Team Malizia (VPLP); Boris Herrmann (GER); July 19, 2022
• Biotherm (Guillaume Verdier); Paul Meilhat (FRA); August 31 2022

The Ocean Race 2022-23 Race Schedule:
Alicante, Spain – Leg 1 start: January 15, 2023
Cabo Verde – ETA: January 22; Leg 2 start: January 25
Cape Town, South Africa – ETA: February 9; Leg 3 start: February 26
Itajaí, Brazil – ETA: April 1; Leg 4 start: April 23
Newport, RI, USA – ETA: May 10; Leg 5 start: May 21
Aarhus, Denmark – ETA: May 30; Leg 6 start: June 8
Kiel, Germany (Fly-By) – June 9
The Hague, The Netherlands – ETA: June 11; Leg 7 start: June 15
Genova, Italy – The Grand Finale – ETA: June 25, 2023; Final In-Port Race: July 1, 2023

The Ocean Race (formerly Volvo Ocean Race and Whitbread Round the World Race) was initially to be raced in two classes of boats: the high-performance, foiling, IMOCA 60 class and the one-design VO65 class which has been used for the last two editions of the race.

However, only the IMOCAs will be racing round the world while the VO65s will race in The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint which competes in Legs 1, 6, and 7 of The Ocean Race course.

Additionally, The Ocean Race also features the In-Port Series with races at seven of the course’s stopover cities around the world which allow local fans to get up close and personal to the teams as they battle it out around a short inshore course.

Although in-port races do not count towards a team’s overall points score, they do play an important part in the overall rankings as the In-Port Race Series standings are used to break any points ties that occur during the race around the world.

The 14th edition of The Ocean Race was originally planned for 2021-22 but was postponed one year due to the pandemic, with the first leg starting on January 15, 2023.

Source: The Ocean Race, 11th Hour Racing