The Ocean Race: Both fleets return for In-Port Race

Published on June 4th, 2023

Aarhus, Denmark (June 4, 2023) – In advance of the Leg 6 start on June 8, The Ocean Race returned to the water for the In-Port Race for clear skies and a building sea breeze.

This marked the return of the VO65 class to The Ocean Race, as the fleet comes back to continue racing in the VO65 Sprint.

In the IMOCA class, with the overall race leaderboard so close at the top, the In Port race results take on greater importance as a tie-breaking mechanism for The Ocean Race.

IMOCA Race Report
As the IMOCAs got underway just after 1400 local time, the sea breeze had built to nearly 10 knots, providing steady conditions for the fleet. The rectangular configuration race course was set at three laps.

As the clock counted down the first decision for crews was focused on the sail configuration. Judging whether the breeze had built to its peak or whether there was more to come was the key pre-start decision. After that, judging the time on distance approach into the start was critical.

Biotherm and Team Holcim-PRB were closest to the start line as the clock counted down and appeared to be struggling to kill their pace.

Meanwhile, having started their run from further back 11th Hour Racing Team (USA) looked like they could maintain more of their momentum.

But, as the gun went it was Biotherm that timed their approach and speed build perfectly to hit the line at the leeward end at pace, gaining the initial advantage as the four boats made their way up the first leg.

By mark 1 Biotherm led with Team Holcim-PRB in second, 11th Hour Racing Team third and Team Malizia in fourth.

Leg 3 saw Biotherm stretch their lead over the fleet on the long reach back down towards the bottom of the course.

Given that Biotherm only arrived in Aarhus late last night after a difficult and frustrating transatlantic leg made their dominant performance all the more impressive.

Judging when to tack on leg 4 to lay the next mark was another key decision to ensure no distance was given away. Once again Biotherm picked the perfect spot and gained over the rest of the fleet as a result. On the second lap they had drawn out to 640m ahead of Holcim-PRB.

Towards the end of the second lap Biotherm delivered another perfect rounding of marks 3 and 4 to extend their lead even further. Behind them life wasn’t easy. With a strong incentive to try to cut the distance to the upwind mark there was a temptation to tack too early. Team Holcim PRB almost fell foul of this but got away with it, Team Malizia didn’t and ended up squeezing up to the mark losing more distance as a result.

On the final lap it was more of the same from Biotherm with a perfect performance stretching the lead even further to take the in-port win in Aarhus.

Meanwhile, 11th Hour Racing team took distance out of Holcim PRB to the point that on the downwind leg at the top of the course there was an opportunity for Charlie Enright’s team to gain a place. But sailing low in an attempt to catch Holcim PRB on the give way port tack slowed their progress too much and gave away distance.

Team Holcim-PRB finished second, 11th Hour Racing Team third, and Team Malizia fourth.

“We won the start and when you win the start in an In Port Race it’s easy after,” Paul Meilhat, said after the race. We were a bit faster off the line than Team Holcim-PRB and that was it. We are really happy and I dedicate this win to our shore team who have worked so hard to get us out here. It’s our first victory so it means a lot to us.”

“It’s a first step for the new crew,” said Team Holcim-PRB skipper Benjamin Schwartz. “We managed to get around the course nicely. We had a bit of tension when 11th Hour Racing Team came back on us a little bit, but the team did a great job to stay in front.”

VO65 Race Report
Earlier in the day, it had been the VO65s who took to the race course first, in light winds of 5 to 7 knots as the sea breeze was only just getting established.

As the seconds counted down to the start, initially it was WindWhisper Racing Team (POL) that appeared to have the early momentum although a round up maneuver at the pin end slowed them down. Instead, it was Team JAJO (NED) that got the best start delivering a perfect time on distance run into the middle of the start line.

A few minutes later WindWhisper had built their pace once again to pull themselves into the lead.

By the first mark, WindWhisper led, followed by Team Jajo who rounded 16 seconds behind. In third place it was Viva Mexico closely followed by Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team (DEN).

After a short reaching top leg it was a gybe at mark 2 for a longer broad reaching leg back down towards the start area.

So far the maneuvers had been kind to the boat speed with bear aways and gybes helping to keep the speed on. Keeping momentum was critical.

Leg 4 was an upwind affair and it was here that crews came under a great deal more pressure to maintain their pace.

For WindWhisper a well timed approach and a slight gust provided a smooth mark rounding. The same was true for Team Jajo as the pair stretched their lead on the rest of the fleet.

When it came to the tack to reach mark four, both boats delivered perfect executions, helped by a slight increase in the breeze.

Meanwhile further back, there was a tight battle between third placed Viva México and Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team as the pair dueled for mark 4 with less than a boat length between them.

The second lap of the course didn’t provide any passing opportunities and skipper Pablo Arrarte’s WindWhisper Racing team held of Team JAJO for the win. It was a flawless performance and a great win for the Polish team as VO65 Sprint reignites.

“It’s been awesome to get back into the race,” said WindWhisper skipper Pablo Arrarte. “We’ve been away from the race for a while, watching the IMOCAs, which has been great, but it’s time to get back.

“We’ve had some changes on the crew but had an opportunity to train here for the last 10 days so we were confident we could handle all the situations today. It was a tricky day and the start was so important, but we managed okay and we got a good lead there and we were able to hold it.”

IMOCA Results
1. Biotherm – 5 points
2. Team Holcim-PRB – 4 points
3. 11th Hour Racing Team – 3 points
4. Team Malizia – 2 points
5. GUYOT environnement – Team Europe – 0 points

VO65 Results
1. WindWhisper Racing – 6 points
2. Team JAJO – 5 points
3. Viva Mexico – 4 points
4. Trifork Mirpuri Racing – 3 points
5. Austrian Ocean Racing / Team Genova – 2 points
6. Ambersail – did not start – 0 points

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

Race detailsRouteTrackerScoreboardContent from the boatsYouTube

In-Port Overall Results:

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

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