Return to the Med for The Ocean Race

(June 21, 2023; Day 7) – As skipper Daryl Wislang pushed his WindWhisper Racing Team across the line of 37-degress north latitude at 10:04 UTC today, his team prepared to turn east towards the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea.

By crossing this 37-degree latitude at the head of both fleets, Wislang’s team wins the Vasco da Gama Mirpuri Foundation Prize, celebrating the heritage of the great navigators of The Ocean Race. In this case, WindWhisper Racing Team navigator Aksel Magdahl will be given the award in Genova.

To watch WindWhisper Racing Team change spinnakers, click here.

While this milestone is in their wake, the team still has over 900 nautical miles to the finish line with very challenging, light conditions ahead.

However, they have built a nice margin and should be in good shape for the approach to the Mediterranean Sea with the four chasing boats in the VO65 class all well behind.

In the IMOCA fleet, Team Holcim-PRB is working hard to hold onto its lead as Biotherm continues to close in.

The IMOCAs, starting behind the VO65s, are just starting to catch the trailing boats in the 65 fleet, as the slow conditions haven’t allowed the best performance from the 60-foot foilers.

“Normally we have some good wind off the coast of Portugal, but now we don’t have wind… only about 8 knots,” said Biotherm’s Mariana Lobato. “Hopefully it comes soon so we can make it downwind, and fast, and have some fun!”

“It hasn’t been windy for very much time and now we’re back to the J0, the big headsail, in very light winds,” said Biotherm skipper Paul Meilhat.

Despite the light conditions, the Strait of Gibraltar passage is expected tomorrow, proof that progress is being made, albeit slower than the teams would like.

IMOCA – Leg 7 Rankings at 18:00 UTC
1. Holcim-PRB, distance to finish, 1092.9 nm
2. Biotherm, distance to lead, 5.6 nm
3. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 40.6 nm
Retired – 11th Hour Racing Team
Retired – GUYOT environnement

VO65 – Leg 7 Rankings at 18:00 UTC
1. WindWhisper Racing Team, distance to finish, 927.4 nm
2. Team JAJO, distance to lead, 117.3 nm
3. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, distance to lead, 119.6 nm
4. Viva México, distance to lead, 153.3 nm
5. Austrian Ocean Racing powered by Team Genova, distance to lead, 166.4 nm
Retired – Ambersail 2

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