The sun was shining on Sunday (4 June), as it has been throughout the entire Aarhus stopover, and that meant a building sea breeze would be the order of the day for the In-Port Racing programme.
This marked the return of the VO65 class to The Ocean Race, as the fleet comes back to continue racing in the VO65 Sprint.
In the IMOCA class, with the overall race leaderboard so close at the top, the In-Port Race results take on greater importance as a tie-breaking mechanism for The Ocean Race.
It was a day of comebacks, with the return of the VO65 fleet and Biotherm taking their first win after only arriving in Aarhus yesterday evening.
As the IMOCAs got underway just after 1400 local time (1200 UTC), the sea breeze had built to nearly 10 knots, providing steady conditions for the fleet. The rectangular configuration race course was set at three laps.
As the clock counted down, the first decision for crews was focused on the sail configuration. Judging whether the breeze had built to its peak or whether there was more to come was the key pre-start decision. After that, judging the time on distance approach into the start was critical.
Biotherm and Team Holcim-PRB were closest to the start line in the final moments and appeared to be struggling to kill their pace.
Meanwhile, having started their run from further back, 11th Hour Racing Team looked like they could maintain more of their momentum.
Biotherm wins the IMOCA In-Port Race in Aarhus | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race
But as the gun went, it was Biotherm that timed their approach and building speed perfectly to hit the line at the leeward end at pace, gaining the initial advantage as the four boats made their way up the first leg.
By mark one, Biotherm led with Team Holcim-PRB in second, 11th Hour Racing Team third and Team Malizia in fourth.
Leg three saw Biotherm stretch their lead over the fleet on the long reach back down towards the bottom of the course.
Biotherm only arrived in Aarhus late on Saturday night after a difficult and frustrating transatlantic leg, making their dominant performance all the more impressive.
Judging when to tack on leg four to lay the next mark was another key decision to ensure no distance was given away. Once again Biotherm picked the perfect spot and gained over the rest of the fleet as a result. On the second lap they had drawn out to 640m ahead of Holcim-PRB.
Towards the end of that lap Biotherm delivered another perfect rounding of marks three and four to extend their lead even further.
Behind them life wasn’t easy. With a strong incentive to try to cut the distance to the upwind mark there was a temptation to tack too early. Team Holcim-PRB almost fell foul of this but got away with it, while Team Malizia did not and ended up squeezing up to the mark, losing more distance as a result.
On the final lap it was more of the same from Biotherm with a perfect performance stretching the lead even further to take the in-port win in Aarhus.
Meanwhile, 11th Hour Racing team took distance out of Holcim-PRB to the point that on the downwind leg at the top of the course, there was an opportunity for Charlie Enright’s team to gain a place. But sailing low in an attempt to catch Holcim-PRB on the give-way port tack slowed their progress too much and gave away distance instead.
Team Holcim-PRB finished second, 11th Hour Racing Team third and Team Malizia fourth.
“We won the start and when you win the start in an In-Port Race it’s easy after,” Paul Meilhat said following the race. “We were a bit faster off the line than Team Holcim-PRB and that was it. We are really happy and I dedicate this win to our shore team who have worked so hard to get us out here. It’s our first victory so it means a lot to us.”
“It’s a first step for the new crew,” said Team Holcim-PRB skipper Benjamin Schwartz. “We managed to get around the course nicely. We had a bit of tension when 11th Hour Racing Team came back on us a little bit, but the team did a great job to stay in front.”
IMOCA - Aarhus In-Port Race - Results
- Biotherm - 5 points
- Team Holcim-PRB - 4 points
- 11th Hour Racing Team - 3 points
- Team Malizia - 2 points
- GUYOT environnement - Team Europe - 0 points
Earlier in the day, it had been the VO65s who took to the race course first, in light winds of five to seven knots as the sea breeze was only just getting established.
As the seconds counted down to the start, initially it was WindWhisper Racing Team that appeared to have the early momentum although a round-up manoeuvre at the pin end slowed them down. Instead, it was Team JAJO that got the best start delivering a perfect time-on-distance run into the middle of the start line.
A few minutes later, WindWhisper had built their pace once again to pull themselves into the lead. By the first mark, WindWhisper led, followed by Team Jajo who rounded 16 seconds behind. In third place it was Viva México, closely followed by Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team.
WindWhisper Racing Team leading the fleet in the VO65 Sprint Cup In-Port Race in Aarhus | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race
After a short reaching top leg it was a gybe at mark two for a longer broad reaching leg back down towards the start area.
So far the manoeuvres had been kind to the boat speed with bear aways and gybes helping to keep the speed on. Keeping momentum was critical.
Leg four was an upwind affair and it was here that crews came under a great deal more pressure to maintain their pace. For WindWhisper, a well-timed approach and a slight gust provided a smooth mark rounding. The same was true for Team Jajo as the pair stretched their lead on the rest of the fleet.
When it came to the tack to reach mark four, both boats delivered perfect executions, helped by a slight increase in the breeze.
Meanwhile further back, there was a tight battle between third placed Viva México and Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team as the pair duelled for mark four with less than a boat length between them.
The second lap of the course didn’t provide any passing opportunities and skipper Pablo Arrarte’s WindWhisper Racing Team held off Team JAJO for the win. It was a flawless performance and a great win for the Polish team as the VO65 Sprint reignites.
“It’s been awesome to get back into the race,” said WindWhisper skipper Pablo Arrarte. “We’ve been away from the race for a while, watching the IMOCAs, which has been great, but it’s time to get back.
“We’ve had some changes on the crew but had an opportunity to train here for the last 10 days so we were confident we could handle all the situations today. It was a tricky day and the start was so important, but we managed okay and we got a good lead there and we were able to hold it.”
VO65 Sprint - Aarhus In-Port Race - Results
- WindWhisper Racing - 6 points
- Team JAJO - 5 points
- Viva México - 4 points
- Trifork Mirpuri Racing - 3 points
- Austrian Ocean Racing / Team Genova - 2 points
- Ambersail - did not start - 0 points
