Teaser offered for The Ocean Race 2023

Alicante, Spain (January 8, 2023) – The battle for The Ocean Race began today as the IMOCA and VO65 teams competed in the first In-Port Race.

Starting first, the VO65 fleet had barely a breath of wind as WindWhisper Racing Team ghosted across the finishing line by a comfortable margin. Such was the lead established by skipper Pablo Arrarte (ESP) and his predominantly Polish and Spanish crew, the other five boats failed to finish inside the 15-minute time limit which started ticking the moment WindWhisper had slipped across the finish line.

Next up was the IMOCAs, but the US flagged 11th Hour Racing Team was without skipper Charlie Enright (USA) who had tested positive for COVID-19 on arrival in Alicante eight days earlier. With Enright still producing positive results, he was replaced by Justine Mettraux (SUI) for the race and Simon Fisher (GBR) was the designated skipper.

In a light 8-10 knot, south-westerly breeze, four of the five competing teams took the lead in the box course, but it was Team Malizia (GER) claiming the victory, while 11th Hour Racing would settle for second with Fisher and Mettraux joined by Jack Bouttell (AUS/GBR), Francesca Clapcich (ITA), and Amory Ross (USA).

“Obviously, I would rather have started today with Charlie onboard,” noted Fisher. “He’s a really important part of this team and he’s worked so hard to make this project happen.”

Fisher added, “We learnt a lot today about how tough these races are going to be, how tactical they are, how full-on, no matter the wind strength.”

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 Ocean Race 2023 gets underway January 15 with the 1900 nm leg from Alicante to Cabo Verde, the first time the Race has stopped at the African archipelago.

IMOCA results and points
1. Team Malizia, 5 points
2. 11th Hour Racing Team, 4 points
3. Biotherm, 3 points
4. Guyot environnement – Team Europe, 2 points
5. Holcim-PRB – did not finish, 0 points

VO65 results and points
1. WindWhisper Racing Team, 6 points
2. Team Jajo, did not finish, 0 points
2. Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team, did not finish, 0 points
2. Viva Mexico, did not finish, 0 points
2. Ambersail 2, did not finish, 0 points
2. Austrian Ocean Racing – Team Genova, did not finish, 0 points

Race details – Route – Teams – Facebook

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 or 27 (TBC)
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.