Longest leg done for The Ocean Race

Itajaí, Brazil (April 5, 2023; Day 39) – The grueling 14,840 nautical mile Leg 3 of The Ocean Race came to a close as 11th Hour Racing Team crossed the finish in third this morning, followed two hours later by Biotherm.

Both teams incurred damage which slowed their progress by over three days from the top two teams.

“It didn’t go the way we wanted it to go, and it tested our team, and it tested our platform, but the resilience that we all showed was absolutely outstanding,” commented 11th Hour Racing Team skipper Charlie Enright.

Setting off from Cape Town, South Africa on February 27, the team was beset by technical challenges from the very start, having to suspend racing after just 42 minutes due to broken battens in the mainsail.

The issues onboard didn’t stop there, as the team had to contend with two damaged rudders, damaged foil downlines, as well as a huge tear in the mainsail.

“We always said it was going to be tough, but I don’t think we ever imagined it was going to be as challenging as it was,” said navigator Simon Fisher, as he undergoes his sixth circumnavigation of the planet.

Eager to finish, it was five days out from Itajaí when the team was knocked down by a 50 knot squall, and then just 10 hours later they crash gybed, with the boat knocked all the way down to the surface of the sea, and the mainsail incurred a massive tear, rendering it unusable without major repair.

As they were contending with 30 knots of wind, and a rough sea state, it was not possible to attempt repairs at that time, and all the team could do was sail under two smaller jib sails. Enright’s attention turned to how to keep this under wraps from Biotherm, their rival for the final spot on the podium.

“We knew that they were facing adversity too [Biotherm had damaged their port rudder], and if there was a chance that by them not knowing the news of our mainsail damage, they would be complacent, even for just a few hours, they were hours that we desperately needed.”

After 24 hours of sailing under jib, the wind conditions lessened, giving the team to ability drop the mainsail and affect a patch-repair at sea, allowing them to re-hoist and set off at pace again for the finish line.

Biotherm took the final finish position, and were satisfied to survive the longest leg in the history of The Ocean Race.

“Mostly I’m very, very happy,” said skipper Paul Meilhat. “We managed to get a very new boat through the south and we had to deal with a lot of issues to get here. Of course, I’m also a competitor and so I can’t say I’m very happy with fourth place. But I know what we went through to get here and overall it’s very positive. ”

A collision with a UFO damaged the port foil and casing, causing the compromised hull to leak.

The next challenge is to be ready for leg 4 as the boats are to be launched ahead of the pro-am races in Itajaí in two weeks. The five IMOCA teams will start April 23 for the course from Itajaí to Newport, Rhode Island.

On the overall points table, Team Malizia takes over second place from 11th Hour Racing Team by just one point. But more than half of the race points are still available for collection on the remaining legs as the teams race towards the Grand Finale in Genova at the June.

Leg Three Results
1. Team Malizia, finished April 2 at 05:20:28 UTC (34 days, 17 hours, 10 mins, 28 seconds)
2. Holcim-PRB, finished April 2 at 10:56:20 UTC (34 days, 22 hours, 46 mins, 20 seconds)
3. 11th Hour Racing Team, finished April 5 at 08:20:23 UTC (37 days, 20 hours, 10 minutes, 23 seconds)
4. Biotherm, finished April 5 at 10:51:19 UTC (37 days, 22 hours, 41 minutes, 19 seconds)
GUYOT environnement – withdrawn from Leg 3

Overall Leaderboard (after 3 of 7 legs)
1. Team Holcim-PRB — 19 points
2. Team Malizia — 14 points
3. 11th Hour Racing Team — 13 points
4. Biotherm — 10 points
5. GUYOT environnement – Team Europe — 2 points

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