Incident onboard 11th Hour Racing Team

(May 25, 2023; Day 5) – At 1541 UTC today, while racing in Leg 5 of The Ocean Race, 11th Hour Racing Team activated its Hazard Button to alert Race Control and the wider fleet they had hit something, suspected to be a marine mammal or megafauna.

The Team was in the mid-North Atlantic Ocean at 52°N, 35°W – approximately 750 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, sailing at 29 knots, in 28+ knots of wind speed – some of the fastest conditions yet seen in the race.

The impact was sudden, and the crew onboard were thrown forward, causing two injuries onboard. Trimmer Charlie Dalin (FRA) has a suspected mild concussion, and Media Crew Member Amory Ross (USA) has injured his shoulder.

The Race’s on-call Doctor – Dr. Spike Briggs – has spoken to the sailors onboard the boat by satellite phone, and has prescribed painkillers, bunk rest, and plenty of water to hydrate, and is monitoring the situation closely. The two sailors are reported to be comfortable, and their next of kin have been informed.

The crew are all very shaken by the incident and will follow best practices, reporting the suspected strike to the International Whaling Commission.

After the incident, the crew slowed the boat down to conduct checks: the boat, as far as they can visually assess, has no damage.

The three other sailors onboard are all uninjured. Skipper Charlie Enright (USA), Navigator Simon Fisher (GBR), and Trimmer Justine Mettraux (SUI) – will continue to race the boat towards their final destination – Aarhus, Denmark.

The ETA in Aarhus is tentatively on May 30.

Leg Five Rankings at 18:00 UTC
1. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to finish, 1630.2 nm
2. Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 19.8 nm
3. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 83.1 nm
4. Biotherm, distance to lead, 274.7 nm
Did not start – GUYOT environnement

For the crew lists, click here.

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.

Source: 11th Hour Racing Team