Tradition gets tested in The Ocean Race

(February 3, 2023; Day 10) – Credit to GUYOT environnement – Team Europe who have re-gained The Ocean Race lead on the race tracker as well as their position as the most southerly boat in the fleet. But is it sustainable?

Two of the three boats positioned about 120 miles to the west – Team Holcim-PRB and 11th Hour Racing – have just (as at 1200 UTC) put in a gybe to the west, solidifying their position for a weather transition ahead of the eventual left turn to Cape Town. Biotherm soon followed the move to the west.

Tradition would say this is the right tactic, but that same tradition would have had GUYOT environnement stuck in the doldrums, and to this point the team keeps making miles towards the target. Can their luck hold?

“Whether the separation from the field will do us any good remains to be seen,” said skipper Robert Stanjek. “The pronounced ridge of high pressure is forcing us all deep south, maybe even south-west. That doesn’t make us happy.”

Navigator Sébastien Simon is looking for a way out of the trap: “The finish line is very far for us. So we have to stay focused for the next part of the race. After the high pressure we have to manage all the suptropical low pressure. The game is not finished. We have to just sail our boat, sail our strategy.”

The ‘sail your boat’ theme comes up again and again. The IMOCA fleet is not one-design, the boats have different characteristics and sweet spots. Copying an opponent’s moves is a road to ruin. This is how media man Amory Ross, on 11th Hour Racing Team, described the situation coming out of the doldrums:

“Over the next (days) everyone to our east will probably want to come down to our line. Too far east going into the high and it gets really light. It’s always tempting to cut the corner so to speak, but it rarely works. So while the competition may be numerically closer to Cape Town and may be in better wind for the time being, if we can hang on out here to the west, our lane will come good eventually.

“We have, in essence, already done the hard work to get here and now we have to hope they either get stuck too close to the high…or spend their gains to join us. That’s when we get our turn. For now though the watch brief from (navigator) Si Fi is simple. Stick to the plan… Don’t be distracted by the short term successes of those to the east.”

That will come as comfort to the sailors furthest to the west, Team Malizia. Led by Will Harris, the team remains in the hunt, chasing down the leaders, while cautiously maintaining watch on their new foils.

With the ETA in Cape Town slipping by up to 48 hours, both food and power supplies become a focus, with the teams already looking at light rationing to conserve what is on board.

“We have been working on the solar panels – we have added 50% more area so that they are not in the shadow of the boom – so we can charge all day with solar,” said Team Holcim-PRB skipper Kevin Escoffier. “We also have the hydro generator that works off the speed of the boat and today we have been able to do 24 hours off these sources of power.”

Initially, race management predicted a 14-15-day passage time for Leg 2, with the leading boats expected to arrive in Cape Town on or around February 8 or 9. Now the ETA is February 11.

Leg Two Rankings at 1200 UTC
1. GUYOT environnement – Team Europe, distance to finish, 2663.9 miles
2. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 94.5 miles
3. Biotherm, distance to lead, 108.6 miles
4. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 136.7 miles
5. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 220.6 miles

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

IMOCA LEG 2 CREW LIST

11TH HOUR RACING TEAM (USA)
Charlie ENRIGHT (USA) Skipper
Simon FISHER (GBR)
Jack BOUTTELL (AUS/ GBR)
Justine METTRAUX (SUI)
Amory ROSS (USA) – OBR

BIOTHERM (FRA)
Paul MEILHAT (FRA) – Skipper
Anthony MARCHAND (FRA)
Amélie GRASSI (FRA)
Damien SEGUIN (FRA)
Annne BEUGÉ (FRA)

TEAM HOLCIM-PRB (SUI)
Kevin ESCOFFIER (FRA) – Skipper
Sam GOODCHILD (GBR)
Tom LAPERCHE (FRA)
Susann BEUCKE (GER)
Georgia SCHOFIELD (NZL) – OBR

GUYOT ENVIRONNEMENT-TEAM EUROPE (FRA/ GER)
Robert STANJEK (GER) – skipper
Sébastien SIMON (FRA)
Anne-Claire LE BERRE (FRA)
Phillip KASÜSKE (GER)
Charles DRAPEAU (FRA) – OBR

TEAM MALIZIA (GER)
Will HARRIS (GBR) – skipper
Yann ELIES (FRA)
Rosalin KUIPER (NED)
Nicolas LUNVEN (FRA)
Antoine AURIOL (FRA) – OBR

Leg One Results

IMOCA
1. Team Holcim-PRB, winner leg one, finished – 5d 11h 01m 59s
2. 11th Hour Racing Team, finished – 5d 13h 50m 45s
3. Team Malizia, finished – 5d 16h 35m 21s
4. Biotherm, finished – 6d 8h 47m
5. GUYOT environnement-Team Europe, finished – 6d 12h 20m 37s

VO65
1. WindWhisper Racing, finished – 5d 16h 35m 21s
2. Team JAJO, finished – 6d 4h 52m 52s
3. Austrian Ocean Racing-Team Genova, finished – 6d 19h 13m 54s
4. Ambersail 2, finished – 6d 21h 49m 04s
5. Viva Mexico, finished – 8d 13h 50m 25s
6. Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team – Retired from leg

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: The Ocean Race