Gybing on shift in The Ocean Race

(May 24, 2023; Day 4) – It’s been a bumpy ride for the past two days of The Ocean Race as winds in the 25-30 knot range interact with the currents of the Gulf Stream to make an uncomfortable and unpredictable sea state.

However, the hurdle today was encountering the center of the low pressure system that has been the dominant weather feature of this leg, which has seen the wind back around from the northwest to the southwest. 11th Hour Racing Team, leading the fleet, was the first to see this shift and the first to gybe.

“There hasn’t been a lot of sleep at all because of the weather,” admitted 11th Hour skipper Charlie Enright. “I’m pretty tired. We’re trying to manage the situation as best we can, rotating through people. But there’s been a lot of maneuvers – some expected, most unexpected – so it’s been tough to plan around.”

As the first boat to gybe, 11th Hour Racing Team saw its lead shrink over Team Holcim-PRB and Malizia, but with all three now on starboard gybe, the pecking order restored though more condensed.

“We had a good day today,” said Will Harris on Malizia. “We managed to find our speed again and kind of match pace with Team Holcim-PRB and 11th Hour Racing Team. They managed to get away from us a bit yesterday but we’re trying to find our legs, find our speed in these conditions. But we’re still in touch, a long way to go and we just have to keep going.”

The same can’t be said for Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm which has yet to gybe, and continues to bleed miles on the lead trio.

The ETA in Aarhus is May 30 but there remains a degree of uncertainty around this, which should work out over the next couple of days.

Leg Five Rankings at 18:00 UTC
1. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to finish, 2213.7 nm
2. Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 15.5 nm
3. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 34.1 nm
4. Biotherm, distance to lead, 109.4 nm
Did not start – GUYOT environnement

For the crew lists, click here.

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

Overall Leaderboard (after 4 of 7 legs)
1. Team Holcim-PRB — 19 points
2. 11th Hour Racing Team — 18 points
3. Team Malizia — 18 points
4. Biotherm — 13 points
5. GUYOT environnement – Team Europe — 2 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.