Longest leg becomes sprint to finish

(March 31, 2023; Day 34) – In the final days of The Ocean Race’s third leg, Holcim-PRB and Team Malizia are on fumes as they seek out the win in Itajaí, Brazil.

Despite racing hard for over 33 days and over 14,000 miles sailed over ground, neither Boris Herrmann’s Malizia, nor Kevin Escoffier’s Holcim-PRB crew have managed to find a winning advantage.

To the contrary, they are often sailing within plain sight of each other, and have been exchanging the lead back and forth over the past 48 hours.

“We can see them on the computer, but we can also just see them out the window,” said a very tired Sam Goodchild, speaking about a Malizia team that is staying close like a shadow.

For the atmosphere on Team Holcim-PRB, click here.

It’s no better on Team Malizia where Herrmann’s team was hoping to take advantage of unexpectedly strong conditions after Cape Horn to gain some separation in conditions that tend to favor the German boat. It hasn’t happened and they are locked in a duel that appears destined to go all the way to the finish line.

To watch the Malizia boatfeed with Holcim PRB a few hundred metres away, click here.

“Holcim-PRB is just here,” Herrmann says at one point, pointing slightly behind. “I’m happy to see them there, and not there,” he adds, moving his arm slightly forward.

“We can see a 10 minute average speed on the computer and see if we are faster – green – or slower – red. For the moment we are faster.”

This is close quarters, short-handed racing of the kind rarely seen on these boats. It is now a question of who can hold on the longest between now and the finishing line.

Further back, things are slightly better for 11th Hour Racing Team who have eked out a 50+ nm advantage over Biotherm. Still absurdly close after nearly 14,000 miles of racing, but a measure of breathing room nonetheless.

The ETA is starting to take shape: for the leading pair, the most likely scenario is near sunrise in Itajaí on April 2 (near noon UTC). The second pair is approximately one day behind.

Leg Three Rankings at 21:00 UTC
1. Team Malizia, distance to finish, 510.5 nm
2. Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 17.8 nm
3. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 389.8 nm
4. Biotherm, distance to lead, 444.5 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GUYOT environnement – withdrawn from Leg 3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