Disapproval of Team Holcim-PRB protest

As the final results of The Ocean Race 2023 are in the hands of the International Jury, the provisional overall leader Team Holcim – PRB (SWE) seeks to improve their odds by submitting a protest against 11th Hour Racing Team (USA) to counter their Request for Redress due to a collision that knocked them out of the final leg.

Here’s a sample of the reaction on The Ocean Race Facebook page:

Cory Silken
That’s in bad taste. They should be protested under a rule so important that it’s the second rule!
2. FAIR SAILING
A boat and her owner shall compete in compliance with recognized principles of sportsmanship and fair play. A boat may be penalized under this rule only if it is clearly established that these principles have been violated. The penalty shall be a disqualification that is not excludable.

Matt Swift
It looked to me like 11th Hour complied with the rules, and realized too late that Guyot wasn’t keeping a proper watch for the other boats. feels like Holcim is trying to keep their place in the standings

Lynn Loraine Calvert
I used to enjoy the race but it’s just become a mess. So disappointing 😐

Adrian Taylor
Pointless protest but I’m sure they’ve been advised to do so by some lawyer or other. Protests can be logged until the time limit, so by getting it in now means it’ll be heard. Hope to hear the result and what they actually want out of it..

Aidan Doyle
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again……. closed cockpit IMOCAs are not suitable to close quarter racing such as the inshore races

Paul Tschopp Mota
I bet there wouldn’t be any protest if the last leg would’ve gone their way.

Oliver Greitbauer
What the …. ? If this is really related to the incident between Guyot and 11th Hour, this shows poor sportsmanship on the parts of Holcim 😱

Alexandru Mihaescu
I liked Holcim for Kevin Escoffier. This is bad for the team, for the sponsors, for everyone.

Darren Wallace
Team PRB Holcim this is pretty desperate; you have as a team dropped in my rankings!!

Arthur Ploix
Sailing is a sport of rules, but sometimes you just have to let go…

Peter DeGolian
This is unfortunate. 11th Hour has every right to ask for redress according to the rules of racing. It is a certainty that if the Jury decides to award redress then 11th becomes the overall winner. Holcim appears to be trying to influence the Jury ahead of time. All teams will have an opportunity to speak during the hearing so this seems to be unnecessary and is a bad look for a team that sailed so well during this competition.

Je Linden
Unworthy of a professional team and a shame for Holcim PRB. I am sure that the jury will hold a fair hearing on this incident. Part of that hearing will certainly be the role of the two helmsmen. IMHO, that includes these rules. So dear Team Holcim PRB, ask me why??

Martin Lossie
Disgusting. Very bad sportsmanship. As if 11th Hour had many options. Crash tack? Not on a boat with runners. Bearing away? Perhaps, but at these speeds, there was very little time to maneuver. I can’t imagine any other outcome than redress for 11th Hour and overall victory

Noel McKinley
Sponsor pressure

Lisa Lisa
This seems like a desperate effort on Team Holcim’s part, as well as poor sportsmanship.

Fernando De Cardenas
This is embarrassing for the sport of sailing!

Jürgen Flemming
I guess, they have to do the protest just to try to get something out of it. From my perspective, they have only a very little chance of winning. But 11th hour did tack pretty short before the collision. May be that’s the point…

Fausto Briosa
This race is turning into an even bigger joke shop!

Kerri Hardisty
Disgusting. For wasting the jury’s time, they should be tossed…

IMOCA – Leg 7 Results
1. Team Malizia, finished June 27 at 11:17:51 UTC (11:19:02:51)
2. Biotherm, finished June 27 at 12:54:23 UTC (11:20:29:23)
3. Holcim-PRB, finished June 27 at 13:31:49 UTC (11:21:16:49)
Retired – 11th Hour Racing Team
Retired – GUYOT environnement

VO65 – Leg 7 Results
1. WindWhisper Racing Team, finished June 26 at 10:27:52 UTC (10:23:17:52)
2. Team JAJO, finished June 27 at 10:50:43 UTC (11:23:40:43)
3. Viva México, finished June 27 at 13:35:39 UTC (12:02:25:39)
4. Austrian Ocean Racing powered by Team Genova, finished June 27 at 15:30:00 UTC (12:04:20:00)
5. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, finished June 27 at 15:45:00 UTC (12:04:35:00)
Retired – Ambersail 2

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

IMOCA Overall Leaderboard* (after 7 of 7 legs)
1. Team Holcim-PRB — 34 points
2. 11th Hour Racing Team — 33 points
3. Team Malizia — 32 points
4. Biotherm — 23points
5. GUYOT environnement – Team Europe — 2 points
* Results are provisional as they wait for 11th Hour redress hearing on June 29.

VO65 Overall Leaderboard (after 3 of 3 legs):
1. WindWhisper Racing Team — 18 points
2. Team JAJO — 14 points
3. Austrian Ocean Racing powered by Team Genova — 10 points
4. Viva México — 8 points
5. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team — 7 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