Records fall in The Ocean Race

(May 26, 2023; Day 6) – Skipper Kevin Escoffier and his Team Holcim-PRB have shattered the existing 24-hour distance records for monohull boats.

First to fall was The Ocean Race 24-hour Speed Record Challenge sponsored by Ulysse Nardin, previously set at 602 nautical miles by Simeon Tienpont’s VO65 Team AkzoNobel in the 2017-18 race.

A few hours later and the outright monohull record, 618 nautical miles set by the 100 footer Comanche in 2015, had been eclipsed. As of 0630 UTC today, Team Holcim-PRB pushed the 24 hour distance further to 640.9 nautical miles.

The previous high speed for the 2023 race was on Leg 3 when 11th Hour Racing Team posted a 544.63 nautical mile run over the 24 hours, which at time improved on the distance for a monohull up to 60-feet over the record set in 2017 of 536.81 nm. All record times must be submitted to the World Sailing Speed Record Council for ratification.

Conditions have been near perfect for making a record run – downwind reaching, in 25-27 knots of wind, with a relatively flat sea state.

“It’s a great boat and I’m really pleased! It’s not every day you break a record like this,” said Escoffier. “I’m really happy for the whole team after what happened on the fourth leg (the team retired after dismasting). We don’t know what’s going to happen next, even if we’re going to do everything we can to win this leg. In any case, I think it’s a great reward for the whole team.”

The run has brought the team within a couple miles of 11th Hour Racing Team who continue to lead the leg.

Team Holcim-PRB hasn’t been alone on this record-breaking mission as 11th Hour Racing was the first into the favorable conditions but they topped out run at 611.9 nautical miles, though the team reported a collision with what the crew “suspect(s) to be a marine mammal or megafauna…”

Team Malizia was the last of the leading trio to enter the ‘record run’ conditions while Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm crew is still battling different conditions to the leading trio, and although their boatspeed is rising, they are now nearly 50 miles behind.

The ETA for the finish in Aarhus has moved forward with the record-breaking conditions to May 29.

Leg Five Rankings at 21:00 UTC
1. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to finish, 969.0 nm
2. Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 1.7 nm
3. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 36.4 nm
4. Biotherm, distance to lead, 492.8 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: TOR