After disaster, onward to Genova

(June 16, 2023; Day 2) – The offshore fleet left The Hague in full racing trim yesterday afternoon, with five VO65s competing in the final leg of The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint but just three IMOCAs remain for the main event, The Ocean Race.

A dramatic collision required 11th Hour Racing Team and GUYOT environnement – Team Europe to retire from Leg 7 to Genova, Italy.

The VO65 fleet had the first start of the day, getting underway just after 13:00 local time, under mostly sunny skies and in a 9-12 knot northerly breeze.

After pleasing the home fans with a win in the In Port Race, the local heroes on the Dutch-flagged Team JAJO once again led the way again, making an early pass on the first downwind leg and extending away to lead the fleet through the departure gate and away from The Hague.

“This has been super nice,” said Team JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek from on board as the boat passed through the final starting gate. “It’s great to have so many people out on the water supporting us. It keeps amazing me. And we’re in first place so a good start for us on the race to Genova.”

Just behind JAJO was WindWhisper Racing Team, the overall leader in the VO65 fleet and the team JAJO has to beat to Genova to have a chance at the title. Austrian Ocean Racing/Genova, Mirpuri-Trifork Racing and Viva Mexico were all lined up behind the leaders, as they sailed downwind from The Hague.

Positions have shuffled as the tracker shows both fleets zigzagging into the English Channel amid the exclusion zones.

IMOCA – Leg 7 Rankings at 19:00 UTC
1. Holcim-PRB, distance to finish, 1923.9 nm
2. Biotherm, distance to lead, 4.5 nm
3. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 8.3 nm
Retired – 11th Hour Racing Team
Retired – GUYOT environnement

VO65 – Leg 7 Rankings at 19:00 UTC
1. WindWhisper Racing Team, distance to finish, 1888.3 nm
2. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, distance to lead, 1.8 nm
3. Team JAJO, distance to lead, 6.9 nm
4. Viva México, distance to lead, 9.9 nm
5. Austrian Ocean Racing powered by Team Genova, distance to lead, 27.0 nm
6. Ambersail 2, retired

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

IMOCA Overall Leaderboard (after 6 of 7 legs)
1. 11th Hour Racing Team — 33 points
2. Team Holcim-PRB — 31 points
3. Team Malizia — 27 points
4. Biotherm — 19 points
5. GUYOT environnement – Team Europe — 2 points

VO65 Overall Leaderboard (after 2 of 3 legs):
1. WindWhisper Racing Team — 12 points
2. Team JAJO — 9 points
3. Austrian Ocean Racing powered by Team Genova — 7 points
4. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team — 5 points
5. Viva México — 4 points
6. Ambersail 2 — 3 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