Getting festive at Ocean Live Park

The arrival of The Ocean Race to USA has ignited the race village, titled Ocean Live Park, at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, RI.

Along with music and entertainment, The Ocean Race Newport’s family-friendly festival is created to celebrate The Ocean Race’s only stopover in North America, the State of Rhode Island, and to inform and inspire ocean health.

This is the eighth edition of the circumnavigation race to visit American shores, with the arrival highlighted by an American crew – with Rhode Island skipper Charlie Enright – delivering the Newport-based 11th Hour Racing Team across the finish line in first place.

“Newport is a magnificent town, and Rhode Island a magnificent state,” said Richard Brisius, the Director of The Ocean Race. “We’re thrilled by Rhode Island’s tag line of the Ocean State. You have a truly proud tradition in relation to the ocean. This does not happen easily.”

Rhode Island Representative Marvin Abney, as Chairman of the House Finance Committee, helped secure state funding for the Newport stopover. A resident of Middletown, RI, Abney settled in the area after retiring from the military and raising his family.

“I want to thank all of the visitors from around the world who are here,” said Abney. “It’s so important to showcase what we have here, not just this ground we’re on, but the entire city of Newport, the entire State of Rhode Island, so welcome.”

Newport Mayor Xaykham “Xay” Khamsyvoravong has a connection that extends to the race beyond his role as mayor. He’s personal friends with Enright, a relationship that dates back to their days at Brown University in the 1990s.

He visited Itajaí, Brazil, for the start of Leg 4 to Newport and had the opportunity to sail with 11th Hour Racing Team in the In-Port Race. Read light-heartedly credited Khamsyvoravong as starting 11th Hour Racing’s winning streak, because he was a guest onboard during In-Port Race in Brazil, and the connection to Newport for the recent leg win.

“Our deep waters and reliable breeze make Newport a wonderful venue, but also work from organizations like Sail Newport,” said Khamsyvoravong. “It’s absolutely extraordinary that one of the greatest sporting events in sailing is hosted and organized by a community boating center. It’s the result of thousands of hours from Brad and his team but also the volunteers who come out to make this possible.”

Access to Ocean Live Park is free and open through May 19 from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. On May 20-21, the park opens at 10:00 a.m. each day and closes at 7:00 p.m. on May 20 and at 6:00 p.m. on May 21 after the Leg 5 start.

Details: https://theoceanracenewport.com/

Leg Four Results
1. 11th Hour Racing Team, finished May 10 at 18:41:41 UTC (17d 02h 26min 41s)
2. Team Malizia, finished May 10 at 19:13:22 UTC (17d 02h 58min 22s)
3. Biotherm, finished May 11 at 12:04:38 UTC (17d 19h 49min 38s)
Retired – GUYOT environnement, (dismasted May 9)
Retired – Holcim-PRB, retired (dismasted April 27)

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

Overall Leaderboard (after 4 of 7 legs)
1. Team Holcim-PRB — 19 points
2. 11th Hour Racing Team — 18 points
3. Team Malizia — 18 points
4. Biotherm — 13 points
5. GUYOT environnement – Team Europe — 2 points

IMOCA: Name, 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.

Held every three or four years since 1973, 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.