Eager for The Ocean Race Europe

While the elite IMOCA sailors were spinning the planet during the 2020-21 Vendée Globe for 80+ days, the American-led 11th Hour Racing Team was in school, learning to sail their 60-footer, the former Hugo Boss 6 which came second in the 2016-17 Vendée Globe.

The miles sailed also helped the development of the new boat being built for The Ocean Race 2022-23, but for now the team will race their proven platform against four other crewed entrants in The Ocean Race Europe, a new three-stage 2000 nm contest from Lorient, France with stops in Cascais, Portugal, and Alicante, Spain along the way to Genova, Italy.

Starting May 29, skipper Charlie Enright has onboard British five-time around-the-world racer Simon Fisher, French champion Pascal Bidégorry – a serial around-the-world racer who won The Ocean Race 2017-18 edition with Dongfeng Race Team – and Swiss two-time The Ocean Race competitor, Justine Mettraux. Also aboard will be the team’s onboard reporter, Amory Ross (USA).

“We finally get to have a race start!” said Bidégorry. “For those of us who didn’t do the Vendée Globe, it’s going to be real thrill to rediscover competition. Several generations of foils have been tested and now we’ve received our new foils, which we’ve been trailing over recent days with other small gadgets and it’s really quite good in terms of performance, stability and use, so we’re fairly content!

But we are always working on the autopilot… the better it is, the less we helm because ultimately with four of us, it’s the kind of crew where you’re regularly paired up and it may even be that in a long race like The Ocean Race, there are bound to be phases where you’ll be alone on deck. A lot of work has gone into the autopilots so they perform very well over the distance. It’s also a good way to find the right trim and concentrate on performance.”

Justine Mettraux, who did The Ocean Race with Team SCA (2014-15) and Dongfeng Race Team (2017-18, Leg 4 and 10), she looks forward to competing with this crew. “We’re going to have to manage the weather variations over the course and quickly find the right trim. We have a team which works well together, who trust one another and when you add the experience of everyone involved, we have a serious haul of skills. I’m stoked at the prospect of doing this race. We’re also doing the return delivery trip together, which will really help the team progress to the next level.”

Details: https://www.theoceanrace.com/en/the-ocean-race-europe

The Ocean Race Europe is a new event on the offshore sailing calendar, open to the one-design VO65 class and teams sailing in a fully-crewed configuration in the IMOCA 60s. The Ocean Race Europe is providing a bridge event for 2022-23 The Ocean Race (formerly Volvo Ocean Race) which was postponed one year due to COVID-19.

As well as the three equally scored offshore legs totalling 2000 nm – Leg 1: Lorient to Cascais, Portugal (starts May 29); Leg 2 Cascais to Alicante, Spain (starts June 6); and Leg 3 Alicante to Genova, Italy (starts June 13) – the teams will also race two shorter coastal races in Cascais and Genova with bonus points being awarded to the top three.