The five IMOCAs in The Ocean Race fleet were short tacking up the coast of Brazil on Wednesday (26 April), squeezed between the land to the west and an exclusion zone to the east.

With the wind coming from the north-northeast, which is the desired direction to sail towards, it means a lot of tacking and close quarters manoeuvring.

The racing remains close. Team Holcim-PRB and 11th Hour Racing Team nearly appear as one boat on the tracker, separated by less than a mile. Biotherm and Team Malizia are just six to seven miles back and GUYOT environnement-Team Europe a further 10 miles behind.

“I think we’re going to go inside the exclusion zone,” said Alan Roberts on Biotherm as the teams were considering their options before needing to make that decision on Wednesday morning.

“There’s a big left hand shift coming, and we’re expecting a bit of a back-eddy of current at the moment so there’s a bit of a tidal gain. And it looks like the whole fleet will pass inside so it will be the low risk option.”

“We have about two more days to go of upwind sailing up the coast,” said Christopher Pratt on Team Malizia. “There’s going to be a lot of work to do. And then maybe, it looks like good sailing ahead, reaching along the Brazilian coast. But it’s long upwind ahead first…a lot of manoeuvres, a lot of tacks.”

The clouds have still played a role in giving very localised winds to the teams. While Malizia was lamenting losing out to 11th Hour Racing Team and Holcim-PRB, not surprisingly the leaders were happy with the result.

“Overnight we finally got a good cloud and we sailed around everybody,” said 11th Hour Racing Team skipper Charlie Enright, with a smile.

With the full fleet compressed between the exclusion zone and the coast, boat handling and local weather will be difference-makers over the next day.

Onboard 11th Hour Racing Team on Tuesday 25 April, Ireland’s Damian Foxall is on the bow putting the J3 sail away | Credit: Amory Ross/11th Hour Racing/The Ocean Race

This exclusion zone is one of several on Leg 4 up to Newport. Race director Phil Lawrence says the exclusion zones fall into four broad categories:

• Areas with high levels of hazards or marine traffic: the oilfields off the coast of Brazil fall into this category and are where the fleet is now.
• Areas with high levels of protected marine life: just to the north of current positions on this leg, the whale breeding grounds on the Abrolhos Bank off the coast of Brazil are an example of an area the boats will be routed around.
• Areas with specific hazards: later on this leg, the exclusion zone off the northeast coast of Brazil is in place to keep the boats away from debris that comes out of the Amazon River Delta.
• Designated shipping lanes where traffic can only travel in one direction: there is a zone like this on the approach to Rhode Island.

In addition to reducing the risk to the fleet and to marine life, an exclusion zone may force tactical decisions. In this case, the entire fleet stayed inside the oilfields exclusion zone, taking the lower risk — but higher work rate — option of staying together.

There is about 100 miles of racing to the northeast before the playing field opens up again — and many tacks to go between now and then.

In other news, GUYOT environnement - Team Europe has partnered with Berlin-based CleanHub to set an ambitious goal of collecting a minimum of 20,000kg of plastic waste as the team covers the remaining 12,000 nautical miles in The Ocean Race.

Leg Four Rankings at 1900 UTC, 26 April

• Team Holcim-PRB, distance to finish, 4,560.0 miles
• 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 0.7 miles
• Team Malizia, distance to lead, 6.2 miles
• Biotherm, distance to lead, 7.4 miles
• GUYOT enironnement - Team Europe, distance to lead, 16.4 miles

Find the latest fleet positions on the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.

It hasn’t been a straightforward start to Leg 4 of The Ocean Race 2022-23 as the IMOCA teams zig-zag away from the coast of Brazil, seeking favourable conditions to the east, while keeping an eye on the overall goal of making miles north.

There’s also big-picture weather that dictates overall strategy to consider versus the very localised impact of clouds and squalls that must be deal with.

“There’s just a lot of random ‘cloudage’ going on here,” said 11th Hour Racing Team’s Charlie Enright. “And at the moment it’s not going our way.”

That moment may have passed, however, as the 1800 UTC tracker update on Tuesday (25 April) has the American team at the top of the table, just bow forward on Team Holcim-PRB as they race east.

“Things are tricky,” navigator Simon Fisher said. “It’s pretty messy. The game is to find our way offshore and find better pressure but it’s a little challenging, with the wind shifts.”

“The shifts are up to 50 degrees,” said Kevin Escoffier on Holcim-PRB. “So even a small tack, maybe half an hour, we need to do something like that [or we lose a lot].”

These shifts are what account for the tracks behind the boats on the race tracker as the fleet takes it in turn to weave up to the north and then to the right towards the more favourable winds offshore to the east.

“There are clouds in front — a dark zone — and the wind is very shifty,” said Seb Simon on GUYOT environnement - Team Europe. “Sometimes it’s a big lift, sometimes a header, sometimes lots of pressure, so it’s hard to keep the speed. But the fleet is close and it’s a huge speed test.“”

As of 1800 UTC on Tuesday there is a small split in the fleet, with 11th Hour Racing Team, Team Holcim-PRB and Biotherm now 30 miles to the north of Team Malizia and GUYOT environnement.

The teams will be yearning for more stable, stronger conditions as the fleet is yet to make a 200-mile day towards the finish in Newport.

Leg Four Rankings at 1800 UTC, 25 April

1. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to finish, 4,724.7 miles
2. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 5 miles
3. Biotherm, distance to lead, 15.5 miles
4. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 37.3 miles
5. GUYOT enironnement - Team Europe, distance to lead, 41 miles

Find the latest fleet positions on the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.

It was GUYOT environnement - Team Europe sailor Annie Lush who said the opening days of Leg 4 of The Ocean Race 2022-23 would be a “trim off” and this is how it has come to pass.

She was referring to the probability the IMOCA teams would be closely lined-up, drag racing one boat next to the other. Sail trim and boat speed would be the determining factors.

And over the first 18 hours of racing this has come to pass, with the fleet racing east-southeast on Monday (24 April) to get offshore as fast as possible.

Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm held the early lead into this morning, but now it is Team Holcim-PRB who bow forward. But the margins are very thin: on the leaderboard, the spread from first to fifth is just five miles.

The east-northeast wind is fairly light — eight to 12 knots — and variable with squalls and rain showers. It is forecast to build slightly over the next 24 hours.

“We’ve spent these first hours of the race trying to get to the gradient wind offshore,” said 11th Hour Racing Team’s Simon Fisher, on Sunday evening (23 April). “It’s going to be tricky with the clouds.”

“The wind is very shifty,” said Kevin Escoffier on Team Holcim-PRB. “But we have to deal with it. Instead of going for a big bet, it is better to play with the small shifts than going for a big change. When you are not sure, it is better to be safe.”

On Team Malizia, navigator Nico Lunven had a scary moment when he was hit by a jib sheet as the fleet sailed away from Itajaí last night. He suffered minor cuts and abrasions to the face. After consultation with the shore-side doctor he is reported to be fit to keep racing and has been taking on his regular duties, including doing his weather routing through the night.

“I feel like a boxer who has lost a match but it is okay,” he said.

Leg Four Rankings at 1700 UTC, 24 April

1. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to finish, 4,950.4 miles
2. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 4.3 miles
3. Biotherm, distance to lead, 4.6 miles
4. GUYOT enironnement - Team Europe, distance to lead, 4.9 miles
5. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 7.6 miles

Find the latest fleet positions on the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.

Nearly 350,000 fans visited the Ocean Live Park in Itajaí, Brazil this month to celebrate The Ocean Race stopover.

And on Sunday (23 April), Leg 4 of The Ocean Race got under way as the five-boat IMOCA fleet set out from Itajaí on their 5,000-plus-nautical-mile adventure towards Newport, Rhode Island in the USA.

It was a close fought battle at the start of the two-lap inshore section of the race course, with no one wanting to concede an inch to a rival crew.

What appeared to be great starts by 11th Hour Racing Team and GUYOT environnement-Team Europe — with the two boats right on the starting line at full speed as the starting gun fired — turned out be a little too good.

The two IMOCAs were judged to have crossed the starting line a fraction too early and were forced to turn back and restart. It was an expensive mistake which left the way clear for Biotherm to take the early lead ahead of Team Malizia and Team Holcim-PRB.

With around 10 knots of breeze, there wasn’t quite enough for full foiling, but the fleet was still making good progress at up to 18 knots of boat speed.

Biotherm continued to extend its lead, helped in part by a duel for second between the next two boats. By the start of the second lap, Holcim-PRB finally managed to overhaul Malizia for second place, with the two premature starters — GUYOT and 11th Hour Racing — trailing some way behind.

By the end of the inshore section, Biotherm held a very healthy advantage over the fleet, while GUYOT had done a good job of closing the gap to Malizia in front.

Earlier, the sailors were farewelled off the dock in Itajaí by a large and enthusiastic crowd. The Brazilian stopover embraces The Ocean Race family fully and completely and the passion of the people here set a warm tone for the day. Over 315,000 people had visited the stopover heading into Sunday. When the last crowd is accounted for later this afternoon, the final number will be near 350,000, organisers say.

A further 250 boats were on the water to witness the start and while Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm team led the way, he was excited by the prospect of close racing all the way to Newport.

“I think it will be a close race again on this leg,” he said just before docking out. “I mean, when we were at Point Nemo [the most remote place in the world] we had four boats within a mile of each other! That means that it could happen every time. If it happens again this leg I will be happy because we are here for that, we’re in this race for close competition.”

The leg from Itajaí to Newport is just over 5,000 nautical miles and is expected to take up to 17 days, with an ETA around 9-10 May.

Leg Four Rankings at 2000 UTC, 23 April

1. Biotherm, distance to finish, 5,053.3 miles
2. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 1.8 miles
3. GUYOT enironnement - Team Europe, distance to lead, 1.9 miles
4. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 2.8 miles
5. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 2.9 miles

Find the latest fleet positions on the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.

While the five IMOCA teams in The Ocean Race 2022-23 have already sailed nearly two-thirds of the way around the world, the sporting competition is not yet at the halfway point.

There are nine full point scoring opportunities in this edition of the race — and after Leg 3 to Itajaí only four of them have been completed.

The sailors referenced this often in the skipper’s press conference on Friday (21 April); fully 56% of the points in the race are still available.

The most punchy comment came from 11th Hour Racing Team skipper Charlie Enright, whose team was a pre-race favourite but has suffered through numerous equipment issues on Leg 3 and currently sits in third place.

“This is an important leg for our team. 11th Hour Racing is from Newport, Rhode Island; I’m from Rhode Island too. And in a sense, this is our 11th hour. We have a sense of urgency,” Enright said. “We didn’t have the leg we wanted in the last one…but we have a good squad on board and there are nearly 60% of the points left and we’re going for them all.”

Importantly, Enright’s team went out a few hours later and backed him up by winning the In-Port Race.

But the full leg promises to be more challenging. It is a 5,500-nautical-mile charge to the north, with plenty of transitions, including another equator crossing and the associated doldrums, followed by the Gulf Stream current which pushes to the northeast along the east coast of the United States.

Teams with veterans of The Ocean Race on board may have a small advantage of insider knowledge on this leg. Although the French IMOCA sailors do plenty of racing in the Atlantic, it’s rarely on the ‘western’ portion of the ocean.

“It’s going to be an interesting leg for many of us,” said Sebastian Simon from GUYOT environnement - Team Europe. “We don’t often race on this side, so there will be a lot to learn.”

The race to Newport is expected to take 16-17 days with an ETA around 9-10 May. The opening days of Leg 4 are expected to be on the slower side, with winds forecast to be under 10 knots on Sunday (23 April) and usually less than 15 knots into the middle part of the week.

In Ireland, Sunday’s Leg 4 start will be available for broadcast exclusively on Eurosport 1 and as well as live or on demand on the Eurosport app or discovery+ player, with the feed beginning at 1230 local time/1530 UTC/1630 IST.

It was start-to-finish domination by 11th Hour Racing Team in Itajaí, Brazil in the In-Port Race on Friday (21 April) and the win moved the American team to the top of The Ocean Race In-Port Race Series leaderboard.

Light winds of eight to 10 knots meant the IMOCA fleet was unable to get on the foils, but the two-lap square-shaped course was still challenging for these ocean-going boats which are not easily manoeuvred in tight spaces.

Charlie Enright timed his approach to the leeward end of the start line perfectly, and 11th Hour Racing Team looking strong from the moment the gun fired. Breathing down his neck was Kevin Escoffier’s Team Holcim-PRB, with the Frenchman keen to see if he could overhaul the American boat before the first turning mark. Meanwhile a good start from the windward end of the line by Biotherm also saw Paul Meilhat’s new crew threatening the front two boats.

Further back, GUYOT environnement - Team Europe (FRA/GER) were back racing their black boat for the first time since retiring from Leg 3. Benjamin Dutreux kept the slow-starting Team Malizia at bay, with Will Harris’s crew initially unable to make inroads on the fleet.

However, on the downwind leg, with double Olympian Marie Riou calling the tactics for Meilhat, Biotherm managed to steal the inside line from Holcim-PRB and the French boat moved up into second place on the second lap. Further back, Malizia did the same to GUYOT, the German boat squeezing around the turning mark just ahead of Dutreux’s crew.

11th Hour Racing Team led the IMOCA fleet from start to finish in Itajaí on Friday 21 April | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

Enright grinned with relief and delight as the American IMOCA, Mālama, crossed the finish line more than two minutes ahead of the fleet.

“In conditions like this, it’s never over until it’s over,” Enright said. “Big credit to the team; I start the boat and everyone else does the rest. I can’t say enough for the guys down below who do all the work. It’s a good day for us here in Brazil.”

Meilhat was delighted how his brand new team — Riou, Alan Roberts and Mariana Lobato — sailed Biotherm so effectively to take an easy second place. “Our boat speed was really good and the manoeuvres were also good, which is a bit of a surprise because it's really the first opportunity for all the crew, which shows they are really strong,” he said. “This is a good sign for Biotherm ahead of the Atlantic race to Newport.”

The same could not be said for Holcim-PRB who struggled through their final manoeuvre in the race, the headsail flapping helplessly as Malizia charged through on the final leg to take third place across the line. Escoffier was disappointed to fall to fourth place, with the GUYOT environnement team coming across in fifth place.

The start of the 5,500-nautical-mile Leg 4 from Itajaí to Newport in Rhode Island, USA is scheduled for this Sunday 23 April at 1315 local time/1615 UTC/1715 IST.

In Port Race - Itajaí - Results and points

1. 11th Hour Racing Team (USA), 5 points
2. Biotherm (FRA), 4 points
3. Team Malizia (GER), 3 points
4. Team Holcim - PRB (SUI), 2 points
5. Guyot Environnement - Team Europe (FRA/GER), 1 point

Crew rotation is proving to be a big feature in this edition of The Ocean Race. For Leg 4, some big crew changes are afoot, for two of the teams in particular.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Ireland’s round-the-world veteran Damian Foxall is joining the crew of 11th Hour Racing Team for the leg from Itajaí in Brazil to its home base of Newport in Rhode Island, USA.

Others have made more sweeping changes. Current race leader Team Holcim-PRB sees skipper Kevin Escoffier about to set sail with a completely different crew line-up than for Leg 3. Stepping on board the IMOCA for the first time are Annemieke Bes (NED) and Benjamin Schwartz (FRA), while Fabien Delahaye (FRA) moves from shore duties to racing on the boat for the first time. Georgia Schofield (NZL) steps back on board as the On Board Reporter (OBR).

“I chose this crew for several reasons,” Escoffier said. “First, I wanted to have an international crew, with different cultures. Secondly, I selected Fabien’s profile because he already knows the boat as he sailed her at the end of 2022 from Pointe-à-Pitre on the way back from the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe.

“I then looked for a versatile crew member, and Annemieke’s profile matched exactly what I was expecting. She has already done a Volvo Ocean Race with a crew, she has been an Olympian [Olympic silver medal, 2008] and is very strong physically. To complete the team, the profile of Benjamin Schwartz was ideal, as he has a lot of skills, has also done multihulls, and is very experienced in terms of electronics and pilot.

“As the crew is new, to get the sailors into the swing of things, I have already sent them documents before their arrival on the specifics of the boat. I have sent them various sheets that summarise our knowledge of the boat and the trim book that we fill in as we sail. They will also take part in the boat’s performance debrief next week. This is already allowing us to make progress ahead of the sailing next week.”

There are also big changes on Biotherm, with skipper Paul Meilhat (FRA) bringing in three new crew members. For Leg 4 he’ll be joined by British sailor Alan Roberts (GBR), a nine-time participant on the French Figaro singlehanded circuit; Portuguese sailor Mariana Lobato (POR), Olympian and 2013 Match Racing World Champion; and French sailor Marie Riou,(FRA), a four-time Nacra 17 World Champion, Olympian and winner of the Volvo Ocean Race 2018 with Dongfeng Racing Team. Anne Beaugé (FRA) will be back aboard as OBR. This means the Biotherm boat will be sailing with two women and two men as race crew, and three women on board in total including the OBR.

British sailor Will Harris will be Team Malizia’s skipper for Leg 4 of The Ocean Race, taking over the role for the second time in the round-the-world race. New addition to the international team is French offshore sailor Christopher Pratt (FRA). He will replace Boris Herrmann who, as planned, is sitting out the race from Itajaí to Newport. Pratt has a wealth of IMOCA experience across various projects on the French racing circuit.

“I am really happy to join Team Malizia on the next leg of The Ocean Race,” said the 42-year-old Frenchman. “Taking part in this race is a childhood dream come true. I have been following the race very closely from the start and even more during the last leg. I am impressed by the commitment and the resilience of the crew winning the longest leg of the race. I am really looking forward to joining the team in Itajaí and I will do my best to bring my experience and enthusiasm to the crew.”

GUYOT environnement – Team Europe are sticking with the same crew that set out on Leg 3. That wasn’t originally in the plan, but after the retirement of the boat from Leg 3, skipper Benjamin Dutreux and the team have decided that it would be best to retain the continuity of crew from the previous leg. Most of the crew took the opportunity to rest and recuperate back at home, so they have had a good few weeks to recharge and get ready for a strong performance up the Atlantic.

“We can’t wait to get racing,” Dutreux said. “This is an interesting leg for most of us as we don’t normally sail up the west side of the Atlantic, so there will be a lot to learn and experience for us.”

The crew lists for the In-Port Race on Friday 21 April and for the Leg 4 start on Sunday 23 April are now available.

As skipper Charlie Enright put it, this wasn’t the finish they wanted, but it was a massive achievement all the same.

He was referring to a third-place result in Leg 3 of The Ocean Race 2022-23 for 11th Hour Racing Team, who battled increasing amounts of damage to their boat from the first moments after the start in Cape Town all the way through the finish line in Itajaí.

At one point as the team approached the southern latitudes ahead of the scoring gate with damage to both rudders (the teams carry one spare), it wasn’t clear they would be able to continue at all, or for how long.

But Enright and his crew kept bouncing back, finding repair solutions and eventually gliding into Itajaí in the pre-dawn glow on Wednesday morning (5 April). After a tough leg, the crew appeared extremely happy to reach shore.

“There’s definitely a feeling of positivity and accomplishment, more than I could have imagined,” said Charlie Enright. “That leg was gruelling. It was the ultimate test.

“It didn’t go the way that we’d wanted it to go. But I think every single team would have said that. It was extremely challenging. It tested the people and tested the boat.

“The resilience that our group showed was absolutely outstanding. You know, sometimes you need to be your strongest at your lowest moments and I’m just really proud of our team.”

Less than three hours later, with the morning sun beating down, it was Biotherm’s turn to ghost across the finish line to claim fourth place.

Biotherm crosses the line fourth in Itajaí after 37 days, 22 hours, 41 minutes and 19 seconds of racing | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

Like their counterparts on 11th Hour Racing Team, it was clear from the smiles on board that the team felt proud in its accomplishment of taking on the longest Leg in the history of The Ocean Race and rising to meet each challenge.

“Mostly I’m very, very happy,” said skipper Paul Meilhat. “We managed to get a very new boat through the south and we had to deal with a lot of issues to get here. Of course, I’m also a competitor and so I can’t say I’m very happy with fourth place. But I know what we went through to get here and overall it’s very positive.”

Both boats suffered significant damage during the race from Cape Town, whether the mainsail and rudders on 11th Hour Racing Team or the port foil and casing and hull leaking on Biotherm.

And so the race to be ready for Leg 4 is now under way. Before each IMOCA boat had its lines secure on the dock, shore crew and technicians were already climbing over lifelines to get a look at what lies ahead.

The boats are to be launched ahead of the Pro-Am races in Itajaí in two weeks. It’s a tall order.

On the overall points table, Team Malizia takes over second place from 11th Hour Racing Team by just one point. But more than half of the race points are still available for collection on the remaining legs as the teams race towards the Grand Finale in Genoa this June.

Leg Three Finishes at 1145 UTC, 5 April

1. Team Malizia, finished on 02/04/2023 at 05:20:28 UTC
2. Team Holcim-PRB, finished on 02/04/2023 at 10:56:20 UTC
3. 11th Hour Racing Team, finished on 05/04/2023 at 08:20:23 UTC
4. Biotherm, finished on 05/04/2023 at 10:51:19 UTC

Leg 3 Results

1. Team Malizia — 5 points
2. Team Holcim-PRB — 4 points
3. 11th Hour Racing Team — 3 points
4. Biotherm — 2 points
5. GUYOT environnement - Team Europe — did not finish — 0 points

Race Leaderboard (after Leg 3)

1. Team Holcim-PRB — 19 points
2. Team Malizia — 14 points
3. 11th Hour Racing Team — 13 points
4. Biotherm — 10 points
5. GUYOT environnement - Team Europe — 2 points

The podium battle promises to push the two teams still racing up the coast to the very end, with Biotherm and 11th Hour Racing Team racing within as close as seven miles of each other on The Ocean Race Leg 3 leaderboard as of Tuesday evening (4 April).

It’s slow but steady progress to the north with Biotherm set up to the west of 11th Hour Racing Team, where skipper Paul Meilhat’s team continues to race from a compromised position.

In addition to damage to their foil, the IMOCA boat is still leaking — taking on water slowly — and now the team reports the hydraulic system that moves the keel isn’t working, so that becomes a manual procedure. In addition, the team has been without wind instruments for over a week.

It’s been a long list of challenges to overcome and a remarkable display of fighting spirit to remain in the hunt for the podium, something the Biotherm skipper was quick to acknowledge.

“The wind is quite unstable,” Meilhat reports. “[On Monday 3 April] we weren’t on the damaged foil so that was good. But we have been sailing for the last 10 days without the wind sensor and it’s been really hard, trying to steer the boat during the night when you can’t see the sails.

“But we’ve been going fast compared to the forecast and we’ve come back on 11th Hour Racing Team so that’s good news. Maybe we can fight for third place. We have hope and hope is an engine for the crew!

“The water continues to come in to the boat. But not a lot — it’s something like 50-100 litres per hour, so it’s okay. Monday we had an opportunity to try and fix it a bit more so we are confident.

“It’s really hard to say the ETA as the wind is so different from the prediction… We hope to arrive on Wednesday [5 April] but I don’t know when.”

Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Team continues the push north to Itajaí with one eye on Biotherm and another on the work list that needs to be completed upon arrival.

“I’m just doing a bit of a check around the boat,” said Jack Bouttell from on board. :As we sail on the leg we make repairs on board to keep the boat performing well but we also have a jobs list for when the boat gets on land…

“This was meant to be the longest stopover period for work but we’re still at sea so there are a few days less than originally planned, so we’re just trying to get a jump on what needs doing…”

“We’re locked in a battle with Biotherm here and we’re basically bow-even,” said Charlie Enright in a boat feed from Monday. “But there’s another race going on as well. The race for our boatyard period. We have a 35-day jobs list that’s accumulated over the course of this leg and we have to be prepared when we hit the dock to let the tech team know what they have in store…”

The ETA for arrival is fairly uncertain as neither team appears to be sailing at maximum potential, making accurate weather routing from on shore challenging. But the latest predictions are for a finish near midday local time in Itajaí on Wednesday. This could shift in either direction by several hours. And still to be determined is the order of arrival.

Leg Three Rankings at 9800 UTC, 4 April

1. Team Malizia, finished on 02/04/2023 at 05:20:28 UTC
2. Team Holcim-PRB, finished on 02/04/2023 at 10:56:20 UTC
3. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to finish, 141.4 miles
4. Biotherm, distance to lead, 13.4 miles

Find the latest fleet positions on the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.

With The Ocean Race Leg 3 winner Team Malizia and second-place finisher Team Holcim-PRB safe in Itajaí, the battle on the water for third place has closed up dramatically over the past 24 hours.

Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm crew has realised an incredible gain on 11th Hour Racing Team, making up more than 100 miles on the leaderboard as of 1600 UTC on Monday (3 April).

The IMOCA pair are separated east/west by about 80 miles, but in terms of distance to finish are now virtually tied.

Both crews are showing incredible resilience in the face of adversity as each team has suffered more than its share of damage in the five weeks of racing to date. A race for third place isn’t the race they were dreaming about when this leg started in Cape Town.

Meanwhile, the weather isn’t ideal for making fast progress to the finish — light to moderate winds, upwind — but should provide for some good racing.

“We have had highs and lows, seen joy, frustration, courage and heartache. We’ve been fast. We’ve been broken. Above all, thus far, we’ve been safe,” said 11th Hour Racing Team skipper Charlie Enright on Sunday afternoon.

“The magnitude of what we’ve done hasn’t yet set in, nor should it have, it’s never over till it’s over! We have 500 miles or so to go, and two or three potential points on the table.

“Everyone and every boat has been pushed to the limit and beyond. We need to get to Itajaí as fast as possible, for the points, for the physical and mental rest and, most importantly, to be preparing Mālama for the next leg, into our hometown of Newport, Rhode Island.”

That last point can’t be overstated. All of the teams have lengthy work lists for their boats, and 11th Hour Racing Team and Biotherm are no exception. Their technical teams will be looking on with envy on Monday as the Team Malizia and Holcim PRB boats are now out of the water and work begins in the technical zone at the Ocean LIve Park.

The sooner Mālama and Biotherm arrive, the sooner the ‘race to repair’ can begin.

Leg Three Rankings at 1600 UTC, 3 April

1. Team Malizia, finished on 02/04/2023 at 05:20:28 UTC
2. Team Holcim-PRB, finished on 02/04/2023 at 10:56:20 UTC
3. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to finish, 363.5 miles
4. Biotherm, distance to lead, 3.5 miles

Find the latest fleet positions on the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.