The Ocean Race: Biotherm finishes Leg 5

Aarhus, Denmark (May 31, 2023) – In accordance with the Sailing Instructions for The Ocean Race, which allow the Race Committee to shorten the course for boats still racing, the finish line for Biotherm has been moved to longitude 0-degrees.

The team then finished Leg 5 this morning, but remains 480 nm from the finish port in Aarhus . The team is making way slowly due to their broken main shroud on the port side of the boat, and is not expected to join the IMOCA fleet before June 3.

After the team lost touch with the leaders soon after the Leg 5 start in Newport, they were mired in a different weather pattern that left them off the pace. Problems with their autopilot and electronics, plus a broken sail lock that dropped their J3 headsail into the water, added to their woe before the shroud break on May 28.

See the latest boatfeed from the team, which shows how they are sailing under a jury-rigged shroud towards Aarhus.

The start for Leg 6 to The Hague, The Netherlands is Wednesday, June 8, 2023.

Leg Five Rankings at 13:00 UTC
1. 11th Hour Racing Team, finished on May 29 at 02:56:49 UTC (7d 08h 41min 49s)
2. Holcim-PRB, finished on May 29 at 07:22:03 UTC (7d 13h 07min 03s)
3. Team Malizia, finished on May 29 at 07:27:50 UTC (7d 13h 12min 50s)
4. Biotherm, finished on May 31 at 10:37:50 UTC (9d 16h 22min 50s)*
Did not start – GUYOT environnement
* Course shortened by 480nm.
For the crew lists, click here.

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

Overall Leaderboard (after 5 of 7 legs)
1. 11th Hour Racing Team — 28 points
2. Team Holcim-PRB — 27 points
3. Team Malizia — 24 points
4. Biotherm — 17 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