Pressure On as The Ocean Race Leg 5 Leaders Duel Into Aarhus

28th May 2023

Onboard 11th Hour Racing Team, skipper Charlie Enright shows his good mood as they lead the fleet full speed to Aarhus on Sunday 28 May Credit: Justine Mettraux/11th Hour Racing/The Ocean Race

Change may be coming to The Ocean Race. Since the opening leg from Alicante to Cabo Verde, skipper Kevin Escoffier and his rotating cast of characters on Team Holcim-PRB have been firmly positioned at the top of the IMOCAs’ overall race leaderboard.

Now, with just over 250 miles left to the Leg 5 finish line in Aarhus, it is Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Team that is keeping the pressure on, racing at eye-watering speeds towards the end of the leg.

A win here — on this double-points scoring leg — would be the second consecutive leg victory for the American-flagged team and would vault the pre-race favourite to the top of the overall race leaderboard.

But it is not over yet. At 1600 UTC on Sunday, the leader had 175 miles to sail and a 26-mile lead to protect. The fast downwind conditions will require some manoeuvring and there are a handful of traffic separation zones — exclusion zones — to navigate.

And if that wasn’t enough, Team Malizia, fresh off their record-breaking run, is lurking just over 40 miles back in third place.

The ETA for the winning boat is after 0430 local time in Aarhus (0230 GMT) in the early hours of Monday morning. Catch the arrival live on eurosport.com.

Meanwhile, Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm is having a leg the team would rather forget. Overnight they broke the port shroud, but fortunately the crew are all safe and the team was able to ensure the stability of the mast, though the boat is now sailing more slowly towards Aarhus, well off the pace.

Leg Five Rankings at 1600 UTC, 28 May

11th Hour Racing Team, distance to finish, 175.8 miles
Team Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 26.3 miles
Team Malizia, distance to lead, 41.5 miles
Biotherm, distance to lead, 723.7 miles

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

Published in Ocean Race

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