The crews competing in The Ocean Race Europe have spent a second restless night out on the Mediterranean searching for wind to help them along the race’s third and final leg from Alicante to Genoa.
Racing in two classes – seven identical one-design VO65s and five development rule IMOCA 60s – the crews representing nine countries made a fast exit from the Spanish mainland last Sunday afternoon in 15-knot winds and under clear skies.
Since leaving Alicante, both classes have made stop-start progress due to patchy winds and large glassy areas of total flat calm littering the route to Italy.
On board with Viva Mexico on the third leg | Credit: Jen Edney/Viva Mexico/The Ocean Race
The VO65 class has made the best collective progress so far, having made it past the Spanish islands of Mallorca and Menorca overnight, and into some welcome fresher northerly breeze filtering out across the Mediterranean from the French interior.
The leading pair — Sailing Team Poland, skippered by Bouwe Bekking (NED), with Norway’s Aksel Magdhal as navigator, and Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team led by Yoann Richomme (FRA) with fellow Frenchman Nico Lunven navigating — benefitted from being first into the new breeze and considerably extended the gap between them and the chasing pack.
However this afternoon (Tuesday 15 June) the Polish boat has been going it alone after Mirpuri slipped back and found themselves in a battle for second with Team Childhood I.
11th Hour Racing Team finds some speed | Credit: Amory Ross/11th Hour Racing/The Ocean Race
There was relief on board that Dutch-flagged vessel, skippered by two-time round-the-world racer Simeon Tienpont (NED). The crew had bet everything on an alternative northern passage past the Balearic Islands, but yesterday had struggled to find any meaningful wind along the northwest coast of Mallorca.
Speaking today from the foredeck of the Team Childhood boat, Lars van Stekelenborg said: “We’re all sailing east and into a tricky area again as fast as we can and then we’ll have to see what happens when we get there.”
In the IMOCA 60 class, the northern route taken by Robert Stanjek’s non-foiling Offshore Team Germany has continued to pay dividends.
“We never planned to split from the other IMOCAs,” said Stanjek. “But all of our weather routings were all north of the Balearics. So to us it was obvious we go this way to the coastline. Some of the others did as well. But then somehow we found a lane where we were lifted brutally away from the fleet.
“Within a few hours the separation was so big… It was never our plan to split, but a chance opened and we took it. And now it is like two different races. Four of the IMOCAs are south and they are sailing their race and we have to sail ours.”
Since yesterday evening the German yacht has managed to pull away into an 82-nautical-mile lead over the four foiling IMOCAs — Thomas Ruyant’s LinkedOut in second, Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Team in third, Louis Burton’s Bureau Vallée (FRA) in fourth,and Nicolas Troussel’s CORUM L’Epargne (FRA) fifth.
Time to rest on board CORUM L’Epargne | Credit: CORUM L’Epargne/The Ocean Race
“All of the foiling IMOCAs are close together [this morning] off the coast of Mallorca,” said Pip Hare on Bureau Vallée. “Offshore Team Germany went north of the Balearic Islands, which was a punchy move and it looks like it may pay off for them — they’re looking good.
“We’re all battling it out on the south side, though. It’s very close racing. We’ve had complete [wind] shutdowns and then at one stage we were doing 16 knots upwind. It’s great. Let’s see where it goes!”
Despite today’s better breezes and the large separation seen in both fleets, the wind is expected to drop away again, which may result in both fleets compressing before the end of Leg 3.
Twilight on board Ambersail-2 | Credit: Aiste Ridikaite/Ambersail-2/The Ocean Race
“Leading into the light air zones is always tricky as the boats behind have more speed and manoeuvrability and can wait for us to slow down before they try another way to attack,” admitted Sailing Poland navigator Aksel Magdahl.
“We will just have to be patient and not start giving away too much to cover the boats behind, otherwise the lead will slip quickly.”
Track the latest fleet positions on The Ocean Race website HERE.
