The Ocean Race fleet passed Point Nemo just after 1730 UTC on Tuesday (21 March), leaving the most remote and isolated place on the ocean in their wake.

It likely didn’t feel as isolated as it usually would. All four IMOCA boats passed the waypoint within a span of 23 minutes and at the head of the fleet, Team Malizia just eked out ahead of Team Holcim-PRB to claim bragging rights by a mere 30 seconds.

This is not what most race fans expected to see after 23 days and 9,000 miles of racing in Leg 3. It’s not exactly what the sailors were anticipating, either.

“This morning [local time on board] we marked an important moment in the Pacific Ocean in this race as we passed Point Nemo,” said Will Harris on Team Malizia. “It’s bascially the most remote point in the ocean, the furthest place from land. It’s actually about 200 miles north of us but this is the closest we get to it…

“We’re feeling kind of by ourselves, although we’ve decided to bring some friends with us to Point Nemo… Holcim-PRB is only a couple of miles down here and the whole rest of the fleet is within 10 miles. We expected to be a little bit more remote out here, but that’s the way of the racing.”

The view from Biotherm was similar but evoked strong memories from skipper Paul Meilhat.

“We just crossed Point Nemo,” Meilhat said. “It reminds me of the Vendee Globe in 2016… I was in third position around here when I broke my hydraulic keel ram which meant I needed to retire from the race. It was quite difficult to reach shelter as it is the furthest point from land… But we found a solution in a French Polynesian island. It took me about eight days to get there. So it’s not the best memories for me but now we’re crossing it again and we’re heading for Cape Horn, about five days away.”

At 1400 UTC on Wednesday, the fleet remained compact — the spread on the leaderboard from first to fourth was under 10 miles. Having passed the northernmost point of the ice exclusion zone, the boats unsurprisingly gybed south again before resuming their easterly course. True wind speed is currently about 20 knots, in waves up to three metres.

There is a balance to be struck between here and Cape Horn, measuring up risk and reward. A cold front is approaching from behind with stronger winds and bigger seas. The impact will be more severe further south. The sweet spot will be to find maximum wind with a relatively mild sea state. To the south is a shorter distance to the Horn, and stronger winds, but managing the waves could make staying north a better, faster option.

The ETA at Cape Horn is Sunday evening UTC (26 March), and the most likely arrival date in Itajaí, Brazil is Saturday 1 April.

Leg Three Rankings at 1900 UTC, 22 March

1. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to finish, 3,723.5 miles
2. Biotherm, distance to lead, 8.5 miles
3. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 14.6 miles
4. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 16.5 miles

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

The four IMOCAs charging towards Cape Horn in Leg 3 of The Ocean Race 2022-23 are approaching Point Nemo on Tuesday (21 March).

Defined as the most isolated, remote place on earth, Point Nemo is a spot in south Pacific Ocean some 2,688 kilometres from the nearest land. In fact, the closest sign of civilisation is the International Space Station, orbiting just over 400 kilometres above the sailors.

But it is unlikely the crews on The Ocean Race are feeling lonely. To the contrary, the race is as close as one could imagine.

After more than three weeks of racing, the spread from first to fourth is still just around six—to-seven miles on the race tracker leaderboard, but on Tuesday there is a new leader — just barely — in Team Malizia.

“It’s an historic day today,” said skipper Boris Herrmann. “The battle of Point Nemo! We can see all the boats here through our windows. They are just a few boat lengths away and we’re all racing towards Point Nemo. It’s amazing to be sailing so close to our friends!”

The crew on long-time leader Team Holcim-PRB has come to terms with how the vagaries of the weather has meant a lead of nearly 600 miles has disappeared. But sailor Abby Ehler says they’ve been prepared to see the rest of the fleet catch them for some time now.

“The writing was on the wall a week ago that the fleet would catch us up so it was only a matter of time, that’s just how the weather systems roll,” she wrote. “It’s actually nice to be back in the fleet, it intensifies things and we’re definitely more on guard. Not to say we got lazy, more that it’s harder to benchmark speed and angles when you are flying solo.

“We have another couple of days of moderate downwind conditions and then we’re in for some heavy air downwind sailing… We’ve tried to plot a route around Cape Horn that keeps us in less than 35 knots but that has proved impossible so here goes!”

The forecast does get quite aggressive for the rest of the week. Westerly winds build to 35 knots and the sea state — especially further south — is predicted to be over six metres.

“The wind will increase — we’re expecting 30-40 knots of wind and a big sea state, maybe up to eight metres,” said Paul Meilhat on board Biotherm. “We’ll have to manage the routing to avoid the worst and still arrive as fast as we can.”

The ETA at Cape Horn remains Sunday night UTC (26 March) and at the finish in Itajaí, Brazil on 1-2 April.

Leg Three Rankings at 1900 UTC, 21 March

1. Team Malizia, distance to finish, 4,037.5 miles
2. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 0.1 miles
3. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 5.4 miles
4. Biotherm, distance to lead, 7 miles

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

Leg 3’s four IMOCAs pushing east through the southern latitudes of the Pacific Ocean are seeing better speeds today, following a weekend of light winds for The Ocean Race.

Racing along the ice exclusion limit at 52-degrees south, the teams are in 15 to 25 knots of wind, and average speeds are back up near 20 knots.

And it is still incredibly, impossibly close racing: at 2000 UTC on Monday (20 March), the four boats are separated by just over six nautical miles on the tracker leaderboard, and 3.5 miles north to south.

“We are quite fast,” said Kevin Escoffier on the leading Team Holcim PRB. “I think when we are close to the other boats we are ok with the speed…But each time we get fast and away from the others, they come back with wind from behind.”

“We are going well, almost in the middle of the Pacific,” said Nico Lunven from Team Malizia. “The fleet is very compressed together so we are able to monitor the other boats quite well to check whether we are sailing faster or slower, higher or lower than the other.”

“It’s all very close, the fleet is back together, it’s like a complete restart,” agreed Justine Mettreaux on 11th Hour Racing Team. “It’s going to be interesting. A lot to play for over the coming days.”

“It’s crazy,” said 11th Hour’s skipper Charlie Enright. “Despite the fact that there are these boats right here [beside us], we are just trying to race ourselves, not change our philosophy. There is a lot of race left and particularly before Cape Horn we know that there is going to be some big weather. So we really want to keep this boat in one piece and we’ll go from there.”

The longer range forecast is for more ‘southern ocean’ type conditions on the approach to Cape Horn next weekend, when the fleet will be squeezed between an ice exclusion zone that is unusually far north due to confirmed ice sightings and perhaps the most infamous rocky outcropping in the world, which will force them to dive far to the south, dipping as far as 57-degrees south.

Very strong westerly winds — and an accompanying sea state upwards of six metres — is the current prediction for Cape Horn, so the sailors have enjoyed their last days of relative calm with two weeks of racing left to Itajaí, Brazil.

Leg Three Rankings at 2000 UTC, 20 March

• Team Holcim-PRB, distance to finish, 4,436.1 miles
• 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 2.3 miles
• Team Malizia, distance to lead, 4 miles
• Biotherm, distance to lead, 6.1 miles

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

On Saturday (18 March) it seemed as if Leg 3 of The Ocean Race 2022-23 couldn’t get any closer. By Sunday morning UTC that was proved wrong.

Today (19 March), all four IMOCA teams are lined up on a 13-mile line extending north to south, but separated by less than six miles on the leaderboard. All this after three full weeks of racing.

The reason for the close racing remains a stubbornly persistent ridge of high pressure and its light winds that is acting as a barrier to the teams making progress to the east.

In these conditions, the wind is marginally stronger to the south, so the teams have been taking it in turns to gybe south, dropping down the leaderboard by a few miles as they move towards the ice exclusion zone, before making gains back when the next team dives south.

This should remain the dominant weather pattern until Monday (20 March) when the ridge begins to dissipate and stronger winds return.

“There is a ridge of high pressure in front of us and a low pressure behind, so we are stuck a bit in the middle” is the way Biotherm skipper Paul Meilhat explains the situation.

It’s definitely worth taking a look at the Content From the Boats page today. In the relatively calm conditions, teams are doing repairs, boat and mast checks and plenty of drone flying.

When Team Malizia’s Rosie Kuiper went up the mast, she could see all four boats from the top of the rig, for example.

While the past couple of days provided a respite from typical southern latitude conditions, the forecast shows this will be short-lived, with the breeze coming on again to start the week.

The latest weather routings have the teams passing Cape Horn in one week, on 26/27 March, while the ETA in Itajaí, Brazil — with less certainty — is the first weekend in April.

Leg Three Rankings at 1700 UTC, 19 March

1. Biotherm, distance to finish, 4,924.6 miles
2. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 0.3 miles
3. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 4.7 miles
4. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 5.5 miles

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

On day 20 (Saturday 18 March) of racing in Leg 3 of The Ocean Race 2022-23, the competition is incredibly close, with four IMOCAs separated by fewer than 17 nautical miles as of 1800 UTC.

The teams still have two weeks of racing to go. But with the positions so close, this weekend is serving as a re-start of sorts.

The lighter conditions which have compressed the fleet together have also given the crews time to complete much needed maintenance and repairs — on boats and people alike.

The wind is forecast to return on Monday and the ETA for Cape Horn is now 26-27 March.

“We have Biotherm just over there and Team Holcim-PRB just down to leeward,” said Will Harris from the sunshine on deck of Team Malizia.

“The wind is coming behind us with these clouds,” he said, pointing behind the boat. “And if you look in front of us there is nice sunny weather, but that’s the high-pressure up ahead with not much wind.

“That’s why we’ve all compressed and the fleet has really shrunk down together. We’re effectively re-starting the race, which is good and bad. We can fight for the lead, but at the same time, we’ve lost our lead over the ones behind.”

Indeed, Malizia enjoyed a few hours at the top of the tracker leaderboard overnight UTC on Friday night before slipping towards the back of the pack on Saturday.

But in reality, all four teams now have the potential to emerge with the advantage by the time the more typical southern latitude conditions return early in the new week.

Leg Three Rankings at 1800 UTC, 18 March

1. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to finish, 5,204.4 miles
2. Biotherm, distance to lead, 10.3 miles
3. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 13.4 miles
4. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 16.2 miles

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

As forecast, lighter than usual conditions just ahead of the fleet have provided an effective re-start of Leg 3, just after the four IMOCAs reached the halfway point of the longest stage in the history of The Ocean Race.

These are unusual conditions for the ‘Furious 50s’, the waters in the latitudes south of 50 degrees where strong winds and towering seas are the norm.

But on Friday 17 March, on the 19th day of racing, the teams are racing in much easier conditions, separated by just 30 nautical miles, and Team Holcim-PRB has seen a lead that at one point had stretched to 600 miles disappear in the course of the afternoon as Team Malizia took their place at the front.

Holcim-PRB skipper Kevin Escoffier knows his fate is largely due to weather conditions outside his control: a brick wall of light winds to the east that slows the leader more than the chasing pack. But he also feels his team could have been sailing better this week.

“I think we are not as focussed or precise in terms of how we are sailing compared to before,” he said. “We’ve discussed this and now we are back to how we were doing it earlier. Things like having small debriefings after each watch, writing down our goals each time, it’s essential to do that.

“As for Malizia, we haven’t been looking that much at them because they do not have the same wind as us for a few days now.”

Famous last words, as Boris Herrmann’s Malizia team is five miles ahead as of 1800 UTC and some 30 miles to the north, having gained over 30 miles in the past 24 hours.

“It has been our plan to be in the north so we have the ability to come down at a good angle to the ice exclusion zone,” said Nico Lunven on Team Malizia. “With this wind speed it is quite nice. But it is already getting a bit light closer to the high pressure.”

This is something the entire fleet will deal with over the weekend. But the benign conditions are also an opportunity for boat checks and repairs.

“The next few days will be progressively lighter and not to be blunt, but we have a lot of work to do on Malama,” was the update from 11th Hour Racing Team media crew Amory Ross as the team plans to repair its mainsail and at least one rudder.

The light winds will dominate the forecast this weekend, with relief coming early in the week.

Leg Three Rankings at 1800 UTC, 17 March

1. Team Malizia, distance to finish, 5,524 miles
2. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 3 miles
3. Biotherm, distance to lead, 15.9 miles
4. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 24.5 miles

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

Team Holcim PRB retains its lead in Leg 3 of The Ocean Race 2022-23 on Thursday 16 March as the IMOCA fleet compresses to within 100 miles.

As per the forecast on Wednesday, the leader is slowing slightly and the trailing boats are nibbling into the lead, but little has changed in the big picture over the past 24 hours.

“We knew that everyone would close up on us from behind so the only solution for us has been to keep pressing forward as fast as possible,” skipper Kevin Escoffier said. “That’s why we chose to stay south. I think if we are still a little bit ahead of the other boats, it is because we made that choice, so I’m happy with what we have done.

“The next day we will be in a light spot and after that we will be reaching along the ice exclusion zone limit, but further ahead the weather models are not clear.”

Team Malizia continues to be the biggest threat to the leader, positioned some 60 miles north but nearly in line in terms of distance to the east. Biotherm and 11th Hour Racing Team are further back, but in line with the leader.

The teams are around the halfway point on this mammoth Leg 3 — the longest stage in race history — with an ETA at Cape Horn still 10-11 days and some 4,000 nautical miles away. The forecast over the next three days is for lighter conditions that will see more compression on the leaderboard as well as an opportunity for repairs.

During a live call with media to the boat on Thursday afternoon, 11th Hour Racing Team reported making around 22 knots of boat speed in winds near 20 knots. But as the crew looks ahead, priorities will shift to include making repairs.

“We have had the time to assess the damage we have had over the past days,” Justine Mettraux said, responding to a journalist’s question. “We will make the most of [the light period] to fix the mainsail and one of the rudders and do a big check over the rest of the boat to be in good shape for the rest of the leg. We’ve had the time to think about what we want to do and make a priority list and a good plan for what we want to do.”

Mettraux confirmed the team has made a plan with their sailmakers for a repair such that if all goes well, they will be able to use the sail at 100 per cent capacity.

GUYOT environnement - Team Europe sail out of Cape Town on Thursday 16 March | Credit: Charles Drapeau/GUYOT environnement - Team Europe/The Ocean Race

Meanwhile, nearly halfway around the world, GUYOT envrionnement - Team Europe took a significant step towards rejoining the fleet in Brazil on Thursday morning when the team slipped lines from the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town to start its delivery sail to Itajaí. This follows a significant repair to the boat structure that knocked the team out of Leg 3.

“In the end we were very lucky in how we could manage this crisis,” co-skipper Robert Stanjek said. “We had the right things available in Cape Town for this — the shore team, boat builders, material — and the repair job went smoothly.“”

“It was a very big job and we had a lot of things to do to get the boat back in the water,” skipper Benjamin Dutreux said. “When we lifted the boat out we discovered a big area had been completely delaminated… It would normally take about a month to do this work in a boatyard, but we managed it in more like one week… It was an amazing team-building job.

“It was frustrating but in the end everyone is looking forward with the same goal to get to Itajaí and continue in the race.”

Leg Three Rankings at 1700 UTC, 16 March

1. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to finish, 5,925.8 miles
2. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 41.8 miles
3. Biotherm, distance to lead, 67.4 miles
4. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 82.1 miles

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

Near midnight UTC on Tuesday (14 March), The Ocean Race Leg 3 leader Team Holcim-PRB made yet another gybe to the south, looking to stay close to the ice exclusion zone.

Its nearest competitor — Team Malizia — continued pushing to the east, and for the first time since the start and the Cape of Good Hope over two weeks ago, there was a boat positioned further east than Holcim-PRB.

For a short time early this morning (Wednesday 15 March), that put Kevin Escoffier’s Team Holcim-PRB and Boris Herrmann’s Team Malizia neck and neck.

But from a tactical standpoint, most observers would say Escoffier still has the stronger position. The further south one is, the shorter the distance to Cape Horn as in reality the route for this part of Leg 3 is a long, gentle arc to the right around Antarctica. That means the southerly position is the inside lane on the track.

Nevertheless, it’s been a strong couple of days for Malizia since the scoring gate, and the pressure is on with only 26 miles separating the boats as of 1900 UTC.

The IMOCA fleet is now racing in 25-knot northwesterlies, directly south of New Zealand — and another big speed bump lies ahead, with a ridge of high pressure and light winds that the boats will push against.

That will be an advantage for Biotherm and 11th Hour Racing Team as the fleet is forecast to compress and the lighter conditions towards the end of the week allow for much needed repairs.

But until then, it is full speed ahead to the east.

Leg Three Rankings at 1900 UTC, 15 March

1. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to finish, 6,331.1 miles
2. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 26 miles
3. Biotherm, distance to lead, 103.2 miles
4. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 120.1 miles

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

Following the distribution of points at the scoring gate on Sunday (12 March), the IMOCA teams contesting Leg 3 of The Ocean Race 2022-23 are now consolidating their positions and working through job lists to keep the boats in racing condition.

On Monday evening (13 March), 11th Hour Racing Team revealed the latest challenge for their crew to overcome: a badly torn mainsail, along a load-bearing seam of the sail at the first reef point.

“We can’t use the full main or the first reef because of the rip,” explained Jack Bouttell moments after it happened. “It’s quite hard to repair on board, nearly impossible I think, because of where it is in a structural part of the sail.”

But given more time to assess and reflect, skipper Charlie Enright confirmed this team would attempt to do just that — make a repair and keep racing.

“We did just stop and take a look at the yacht and assess and we made the decision as a group to get the boat to Brazil for some TLC as we have a number of things hampering our performance at the moment,” Enright said.

“We talked about stopping, whether in New Zealand or Tasmania, but ultimately decided that we feel safe in proceeding. Given the weather ahead of us there will be some [competitive] opportunities but we’re really racing ourselves right now. We’ll see what the future brings…”

He’s likely referring to another compression in the fleet that is in the current weather forecast and fleet routings to come towards the end of the week.

As happened in the days before the scoring gate, the leading boat will bump into a high-pressure ridge with lighter winds and the trailing boats will bring more wind with them. The lighter conditions could be an opportunity for more effective repairs as well.

The Biotherm team is facing issues, too, having discovered damage to a longitudinal frame that helps support to the structure of the boat.

“There is a longitudinal frame that has cracked over a span of three meters, so we are looking into how to fix it with the shore team,” said skipper Paul Meilhat in a French interview. “It seems not to be a key structural frame so we’ll have to fix it, but it’s no big deal. It shouldn’t affect the rest of the race and we might only lose a little bit of time. We’re fixing this be we keep going forward — normal but not pushing it too much.”

Team Malizia also had work to complete on Monday. “We noticed that the foil ram had come loose on the port side — we think from all the shaking around as we pushed full speed to the scoring gate had taken a toll,” said co-skipper Will Harris.

“Rosie and Boris spent a few long hours taking the ram off and cleaning up the thread and screwing it back together in a way that it won’t happen again. We also noticed the starboard side was close to coming off as well. So eight hours of hard work but we managed to fix it and we can carry on in a strong place.”

At the front of fleet, Team Holcim-PRB has generally been a bit quieter about sharing equipment problems they may be facing. But certainly, based on performance, whatever challenges they have aren’t slowing the team down.

A view of the tracker today will reveal the leader has a strategy of staying south, short gybing down the ice exclusion zone in the Furious 50s at about 52 degrees south latitude. But skipper Kevin Escoffier will be looking over his shoulder — the forecast shows the fleet coming together by the end of the week, making for close racing in the second half of Leg 3.

Leg Three Rankings at 1800 UTC, 14 March

1. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to finish, 6,838.2 miles
2. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 61.5 miles
3. Biotherm, distance to lead, 129.7 miles
4. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 146.6 miles

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

It’s back to work on Monday (13 March) for the IMOCA sailors in The Ocean Race 2022-23.

Following record-breaking conditions on Saturday (11 March) and the Leg 3 scoring gate on Sunday (12 March), the workaday grind sets in again with Cape Horn still nearly two weeks away.

In case you missed it, on Saturday all four boats blasted past the existing 24-hour distance record for IMOCAs. Subject to ratification by the World Speed Sailing Record Council, the new mark is now held by Team Holcim-PRB, who topped out at 595.26 nautical miles, just a shade off the Race record of 602 nautical miles set by Team AkzoNobel in the last race.

The record-breaking runs were spurred on by highly motivated crews pushing each other hard towards the Leg 3 scoring gate as well as near-perfect winds and a relatively flat sea state.

On Sunday evening UTC, Kevin Escoffier’s Team Holcim-PRB would be first across the 143 degrees east longitude line, collecting another five points and expanding his lead on the points table.

“From the start in Cape Town to this scoring gate I think we’ve done very well to keep the other boats behind us,” Escoffier said. “We’ve also had an amazing 24-hour record. So I’m very happy with the boat, very happy with the crew…and I think we deserve to enjoy, but now it’s back to work.”

Team Malizia was able to sail past 11th Hour Racing Team in a close quarters racing on Sunday to grab second place and earn four points at the gate.

“I am so happy, so relieved that we managed to come away with second place,” said co-skipper Will Harris. “It has been such a fight to even still be in the race after having to fix the mast a week-and-a-half ago and not being sure we could continue, and now we are here crossing the line in second.

“This has been some of the closest offshore racing I have ever done; we crossed 11th Hour Racing within only 200 metres. It is a big relief that we have crossed the line second, we have proved our potential, I can sleep well tonight and then look forward to the Pacific. I am really so happy!”

On the other side of that result in close racing, 11th Hour Racing Team skipper Charlie Enright knew on Sunday he had his hands full trying to fend off Malizia: “These conditions really suit them [Malizia]. We’ve been doing a nice job, but it’s hard. We’ve been sailing for 5,000 miles and it’s going to come down to these last couple hundred.”

11th Hour Racing Team would collect three points at the gate to retain second place on the overall leaderboard, but now just a single point ahead of Malizia.

Fourth across the gate, for two points, was Biotherm — but nearly immediately, Paul Meilhat’s team vaulted back up the Leg 3 tracker rankings.

The team had been too far behind Malizia and 11th Hour Racing Team to engage in a match race for the scoring gate finish and was therefore able to take a longer tactical view, positioning themselves more favourably further to the south. As Malizia and 11th Hour Racing Team gybed after the gate to get to a similar southerly position, Biotherm was suddenly back in the game.

“We are a bit disappointed of course, as one day before the finish they both got in front of us,” Meilhat said. “But on the other side, we are learning a lot and improving our speed all the time. I always remember that we have been the last boat to launch and so we aren’t at the same level of preparation, so the positive thing is we have sailed across the Indian Ocean and now we have the Pacific ahead of us and this is why we do this race.“”

Meilhat went on to say the favourable wind conditions are forecast to last for a couple more days before the fleet bumps up against a high pressure system with much lighter conditions — the next speed bump on the way to Cape Horn.

A special Leg 3 scoring gate show is available on discovery+ and the Eurosport app in Ireland and other European territories.

Leg Three Rankings at 2000 UTC, 13 March

1. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to finish, 7,191.1 miles
2. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 100.8 miles
3. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 143.2 miles
4. Biotherm, distance to lead, 154.8 miles

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