STOPOVER: The Ocean Race, Episode 1

Published on January 20th, 2023

The Ocean Race 2023 will be featured in STOPOVER, a documentary series which will follow the five IMOCA teams in this crewed round the world race. Produced by the IMOCA class, the series spans eight episodes filmed at the start and at each stopover, exploring the repercussions of the previous leg and anticipate the next.

In this first episode:
• The sailors: Abby Ehler and Sam Goodchild (Team Holcim-PRB), Amélie Grassi and Paul Meilhat (Biotherm) and Benjamin Dutreux (Guyot environnement-Team Europe).
• The On-Board Reporters: veteran Amory Ross (11th Hour Racing Team) and rookies Antoine Auriol (Team Malizia) and Charles Drapeau (Guyot environnement-Team Europe).
• The shore teams with a focus here on Thomas Cardin, technical director of Guyot environnement-Team Europe.

From studying the weather, to deciding which things to take or not to take to sea and a series of sponsor/media events, these pre-race days are hectic, but also serve as a welcome distraction for sailors trying not to overthink what’s to come at sea…

 

IMOCA LEG 1 CREW LIST

11TH HOUR RACING TEAM (USA)
Charlie Enright (USA) Skipper
Simon Fisher (GBR)
Jack Bouttell (AUS/ GBR)
Francesca Clapcich (ITA)
Amory Ross (USA) – OBR

BIOTHERM (FRA)
Paul Meilhat (FRA) – Skipper
Anthony Marchand (FRA)
Amélie Grassi (FRA)
Damien Seguin (FRA)
MingHao Zang (CHN) – OBR

TEAM HOLCIM-PRB (SUI)
Kevin Escoffier (FRA) – Skipper
Sam Goodchild (GBR)
Tom Laperche (FRA)
Abby Ehler (GBR)
Julien Champolion (FRA) – OBR

GUYOT ENVIRONNEMENT-TEAM EUROPE (FRA/GER)
Benjamin Dutreux (FRA) – Skipper
Robert Stanjek (GER)
Annie Lush (GBR)
Phillip Kasüske (GER)
Charles Drapeau (FRA) – OBR

TEAM MALIZIA (GER)
Boris Herrmann (GER) – Skipper
Will Harris (GBR)
Rosalin Kuiper (NED)
Nicolas Lunven (FRA)
Antoine Auriol (FRA) – OBR


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 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, with the first leg starting on January 15, 2023.

Source: IMOCA

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