The Ocean Race Fleets are Easing Their Way South

20th June 2023

VO65 Sprint Cup Stage 3, Day 5 (Tuesday 20 June) onboard Austrian Ocean Racing powered by Team Genova with skipper Gerwin Jansen Credit: Stefan Leitner/Austrian Ocean Racing - Team Genova/The Ocean Race

Nobody will be breaking any records on Tuesday (20 June) in The Ocean Race. Light winds mean speeds are still modest for both IMOCA and VO65 fleets as they slide down to the south along the west coast of the Iberian peninsula.

“It would be nice to be going faster,” said Team Malizia’s Will Harris, as his team has taken advantage of the lighter winds ahead to claw a few miles back on Team Holcim-PRB and Biotherm.

“It’s a long way to Genova. It’s not a leg to be underestimated. I think anything could happen right up to the finish. There will be lots of opportunities to catch up…

“It’s a lot more tactical in these conditions. You still have to sail the boat as fast as possible and remember that everyone is dealing with the same conditions. It’s about how you overcome it.”

In the VO65 fleet, it’s WindWhisper Racing Team who have done some very good work to maintain a lead of 75 miles (as of Tuesday evening) over the next four boats, all of whom are grouped together in a chasing pack separated by just 25 miles.

“Last night was quite difficult. The wind was up and down and left and right, so it was hard work for the crew to keep the speed up,” said Gerwin Jansen from Austrian Ocean Racing - Team Genova. “Today we expect to be sailing close to the Spanish and Portuguese coasts and doing a lot of gybing to stay in the wind.”

The forecast is for the generally light conditions to continue although from a favourable north-northwesterly direction until the boats are through the Strait of Gibraltar on Thursday (22 June).

And on Wednesday (21 June) the first boat is expected pass the Vasco da Gama Mirpuri Foundation latitude — 37 degrees north — earning a prize that will be awarded to the team’s navigator in Genoa.

Rankings at 1800 UTC, 20 June

IMOCA:

Team Holcim-PRB, 1,308.6 miles to finish
Biotherm, 8.1 miles to leader 
Team Malizia, 27.5 miles to finish

VO65 :

WindWhisper Racing, 1,184.4 miles to finish
Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, 75.2 miles to leader
Team JAJO, 78.2 miles to leader
Viva México, 92.7 miles to leader
Austrian Ocean Race - Team Genova, 100.8 miles to leader

Follow both fleets’ progress via the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.

Published in Ocean Race

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