Winner of The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint

(June 26, 2023; Day 12) – WindWhisper Racing Team won the final leg of The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint into Genova, beating the rest of the fleet to Italy by a massive margin. Given their lead and the very light winds, WindWhisper could win the leg from The Hague to Genova by more than 18 hours.

With skipper Pablo Arrarte (ESP) unable to take part in the final leg, it was left to previous race winner Daryl Wislang (NZL) to take up the skipper’s role. “It’s an amazing feeling to arrive here, happy to be part of the team, and I was lucky enough to take the handlebars for the last leg.”

Crew member Liz Wardley has a special connection with this particular VO65, having led the five-month refit of the boat that she had already managed in its previous guise as Team AkzoNobel. “We had such a big lead into the Med and there was always the option that the others could catch us, so that was stressful. We did leg one well, we did leg six well, and now to win leg seven by more than a hundred miles is pretty cool.”

WindWhisper Racing Team was leading the overall standings for The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint, with their latest victory securing the title for the 3-leg series.

As for the seven boats that remain at sea, the remaining miles won’t be easy as they fight through light winds to get to the finish.

In the IMOCA class, it is Team Holcim-PRB at the head of the fleet. After enjoying some strong outflow winds off the coast of France overnight, the team is now back in the slow lane, in winds near 5 knots.

“Last night we had very welcome wind – 20-25 knots of wind – and this was wonderful as the boat loves wind and we love the boat when it is flying so we were happy,” said Ambrogio Beccaria, the Italian sailor on the Holcim PRB boat.

Looking ahead there are still some shifts and changes to navigate before the finish.

“We are now heading north to the next transition,” said skipper Ben Schwartz. “Ahead of us is a transition to a southwesterly wind, and this is the wind that could bring us to Genova… hopefully.”

Biotherm confirms it’s not going to be straightforward.

“Still long to reach Genova… ” said Paul Meilhat. “Really complicated from here until the finish line. Probably there will be a convergence of the fleet and then it might open up, some might choose the coast, some offshore. Many possibilities but we will make the final choice tonight.”

For the VO65s, the fight now is for second place on Stage 3 and on the overall ranking for the VO65 Sprint. Team JAJO is two points clear of Austrian Ocean Racing / Team Genova on the overall leaderboard. But with the four VO65s spread out over just 15 miles, it’s a wide open race still.

“The game is to stay focused on all the little details,” said JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek.

“I think we are all going to be together again,” said Gonzalo Infante, the navigator on Viva Mexico. “And we just need to work out how to escape!”

Given the forecast, the ETA for the remaining boats is very uncertain, but the best estimate remains tomorrow morning local time.

IMOCA – Leg 7 Rankings at 19:00 UTC
1. Holcim-PRB, distance to finish, 71.0 nm
2. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 5.3 nm
3. Biotherm, distance to lead, 5.7 nm
Retired – 11th Hour Racing Team
Retired – GUYOT environnement

VO65 – Leg 7 Rankings at 19:00 UTC
1. WindWhisper Racing Team, finished June 26 at 10:27:52 UTC (10:23:17:52)
2. Viva México, distance to finish, 73.4 nm
3. Team JAJO, distance to finish, 74.0 nm
4. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, distance to finish, 75.2 nm
5. Austrian Ocean Racing powered by Team Genova, distance to finish, 89.5 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