The Ocean Race enters Pacific Ocean

(March 13, 2023; Day 16) – Following record breaking conditions and the leg 3 scoring gate, the workaday grind sets in again with Cape Horn still nearly two weeks away.

The record-breaking runs were spurred on by highly motivated crews pushing each other hard towards the leg 3 scoring gate as well as near perfect winds and relatively flat sea state.

Last night, Kevin Escoffier’s Team Holcim-PRB would be first across the 143 degrees east longitude line, collecting another 5 points and expanding his lead on the points table.

“From the start in Cape Town to this scoring gate I think we’ve done very well to keep the other boats behind us,” Escoffier said. “We’ve also had an amazing 24 hour record. So I’m very happy with the boat, very happy with the crew… and I think we deserve to enjoy, but now it’s back to work.”

Team Malizia was able to sail past 11th Hour Racing Team in a close quarters racing on Sunday to grab second place and earn 4 points at the gate.

“I am so happy, so relieved that we managed to come away with second place,” said co-skipper Will Harris. “It has been such a fight to even still be in the race after having to fix the mast a week and a half ago and not being sure we could continue, and now we are here crossing the line in second.

“This has been some of the closest offshore racing I have ever done, we crossed 11th Hour Racing within only 200 metres. It is a big relief that we have crossed the line second, we have proved our potential, I can sleep well tonight and then look forward to the Pacific. I am really so happy!”

On the other side of that result in close racing, 11th Hour Racing Team skipper Charlie Enright knew yesterday he had his hands full trying to fend off Malizia: “These conditions really suit them (Team Malizia). We’ve been doing a nice job, but it’s hard. We’ve been sailing for 5000 miles and it’s going to come down to these last couple hundred.”

11th Hour Racing Team would collect 3 points at the gate to retain second place on the overall leaderboard, but now just a single point ahead of Malizia.

Fourth across the gate, for 2 points, was Biotherm, but nearly immediately, Paul Meilhat’s team vaulted back up the leg 3 tracker rankings.

The team had been too far behind Malizia and 11th Hour Racing Team to engage in a match race for the scoring gate finish and was therefore able to take a longer tactical view, positioning themselves more favorably further to the south. As Malizia and 11th Hour Racing Team gybed after the gate to get to a similar southerly position, Biotherm was suddenly back in the game.

“We are a bit disappointed of course, as one day before the finish they both got in front of us,” Meilhat said. “But on the other side, we are learning a lot and improving our speed all the time.

“I always remember that we have been the last boat to launch and so we aren’t at the same level of preparation, so the positive thing is we have sailed across the Indian Ocean and now we have the Pacific ahead of us and this is why we do this race.”

Meilhat went on to say the favorable wind conditions are forecast to last for a couple more days before the fleet bumps up against a high pressure system with much lighter conditions – the next speed bump on the way to Cape Horn.

Leg Three Rankings at 20:00UTC
1. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to finish, 7191.1 nm
2. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 100.8 nm
3. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 143.2 nm
4. Biotherm, distance to lead, 154.8 nm
GUYOT environnement – withdrawn from Leg 3

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 (1900 nm) start: January 15, 2023
Cabo Verde – ETA: January 22; Leg 2 (4600 nm) start: January 25
Cape Town, South Africa – ETA: February 9; Leg 3 (12750 nm) start: February 26
Itajaí, Brazil – ETA: April 1; Leg 4 (5500 nm) start: April 23
Newport, RI, USA – ETA: May 10; Leg 5 (3500 nm) start: May 21
Aarhus, Denmark – ETA: May 30; Leg 6 (800 nm) start: June 8
Kiel, Germany (Fly-By) – June 9
The Hague, The Netherlands – ETA: June 11; Leg 7 (2200 nm) 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