Displaying items by tag: The Ocean Race
Simon Fisher has been named the 10th recipient of the Magnus ‘Mange’ Olsson Prize, awarded annually to an individual who has made an impactful contribution to the sport of sailing.
Certainly this description fits Simon Fisher — known to all as SiFi — who has competed in The Ocean Race six consecutive times, beginning in 2005-06, and has won the race twice, including the latest edition with 11th Hour Racing Team. He is the only navigator in race history to earn this achievement.
During his 20-year career in the race, SiFi has seen it evolve from the Volvo Open 70 class through the one-design VO65s — where he won the race in 2014-15 with skipper Ian Walker on board Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing — and now again to the flying, foiling IMOCAs.
“My greatest accomplishment was probably winning the 2014-15 Ocean Race, as it was both the realisation of a childhood dream and the result of many years of hard work and experience,” SiFi has said. “I’m also proud of the fact that I have managed to dip my toe into many different areas that our sport has to offer, and I always enjoy new experiences and challenges.”
For over 10 years, Fisher has been a director of Diverse Performance Systems, which provides onboard systems for racing and performance cruising boats as well as superyachts where his vast experience as navigator has benefitted many projects.
Traditionally, the role of navigator is among the most important on a boat competing in The Ocean Race, and their decisions on race strategy, alongside the skipper, are critical to the success of a campaign.
But the work starts long before the race begins in terms of analysing historic weather patterns and working up an accurate performance profile of the competing race yacht to feed into the navigation routing software. SiFi is among the best in the world at this.
During this latest edition of The Ocean Race, SiFi embraced the leadership role his team was taking on sustainability via 11th Hour Racing, with a keen interest in the onboard science data programme, which feeds real-time data from the boat back to researchers on shore. One of the many uses of this data is to improve weather forecasting, which as a navigator is one of the core inputs needed to provide fast and efficient routing.
“It’s such an honour to be recognised by the Magnus Olsson Memorial Foundation for this award,” Fisher said. “I had the opportunity to cross paths with Mange a few times early in my career at The Ocean Race and he never failed to make an impact with his positivity, enthusiasm and pure joy at the prospect of going to sea and racing around the world. His attitude was infectious — you couldn’t help but smile when you were around Magnus.”
The Magnus Olsson Prize is awarded annually to an individual who has made an impactful contribution to the sport of sailing — and previous recipients include The Ocean Race winners Torben Grael, Grant Dalton, Carolijn Brouwer and Stan Honey along with Olympic sailing legends like Sir Ben Ainslie, Peter Burling, Martine Grael, Santiago Lange and Pelle Petterson.
The 10th Magnus Olsson Prize will be presented to Simon Fisher together with a scholarship to young sailors at a Mange-style dinner ceremony in Stockholm on Tuesday 22 August. Several past winners and scholars will attend celebrating the essence of enthusiasm, passion, and determination that Mange brought to the sport of sailing — the very foundation of the Mange Olsson Memorial Foundation.
Iconic coastal cities around the European continent are expressing their interest in hosting the IMOCA fleet along The Ocean Race Europe route in 2025, organisers say.
The Ocean Race Europe is a north-south European offshore race scheduled to take place in 2025, ahead of the 2026-27 edition of the round-the-world race.
It will start in the Baltic Sea, sail across the North Sea and the Atlantic, through the Strait of Gibraltar, and finish in the Mediterranean — with up to five stops along the way in addition to the start and finish ports.
Following The Ocean Race’s announcement in May of the next major event in the 10-year planning cycle, European coastal cities from countries north, south, east and west are submitting their proposals to be a stopover Host City for this world-class event.
Under the banner of “Connecting Europe: Racing to restore our ocean and waters” — inspired by the EU mission aimed at protecting and restoring the health of our ocean and waters through research and innovation, citizen engagement and blue investments — the event is scheduled to begin in the late summer of 2025.
The advanced foiling offshore IMOCA class will compete in The Ocean Race Europe, crewed by the best men and women in the sport racing alongside each other on each boat.
“The 14th edition of The Ocean Race has just come to a close and we are already looking forward to seeing the IMOCA fleet back in the water,” said Richard Brisius, race chairman of The Ocean Race. “Following the success of the first event in 2021, The Ocean Race Europe will connect the continent bringing world-class sailing and Racing with Purpose to help protect and restore the ocean.”
Stopovers will welcome the fleet on a Thursday or Friday and visitors and partners will enjoy departures on Sunday. Start and finish ports will offer a longer event period.
Bringing the core pillars of the race’s sustainability programme, each of the stopover cities will host an Ocean Live Park, the dedicated race village where visitors can experience the event up-close and learn about how to protect the ocean. Activities will include learning workshops for children, high-level summits and opportunities to help people understand the race's onboard science programme.
Proposals arriving from cities all over Europe are being carefully evaluated by The Ocean Race and a maximum of five will be selected among the bidding venues. The selected cities will be announced in February 2024.
The Ocean Race 2022-23 featured more female sailors than in any of the previous events in the race’s 50-year history.
Overall, across the five IMOCAs taking part in the round-the-world race and the six VO65s taking part in the The Ocean Race Sprint, there were 39 female sailors, making up 28% of the competitors overall and 98 male sailors, making up 72%.
This is a third more than the previous edition and continues the upward trend of more women sailing in the Race. In 2014-15 18% of competitors were female, while in the last edition (2017-18) the figure rose to 21%.
While each IMOCA is required to have at least one female competitor onboard the four-strong sailing team, and three of the 10 sailors onboard VO65s are required to be female, Biotherm exceeded the quota, with two men and two women sailing in three of the seven legs.
The French IMOCA team also had a female onboard reporter (OBR) for several legs, as did Team Holcim-PRB, while Viva México had a female onboard reporter on all their legs and Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team for Leg 2. This marked another record for the race, which had only one female OBR in the last edition and two in 2014-15.
The Ocean Race organisers say they also made strides in the race for greater equality in sailing off the water, with other traditionally male-dominated roles seeing an increased number of women.
Following a big push to bring gender balance to the race official roles, the current edition had an international jury of 11 members, composed of six women and five men. This figure is significantly higher than elsewhere in the industry, with certified international sailing judges only consisting of around 15% women.
‘We are sailing in the right direction, but more needs to be done to break down barriers and create pathways into the sport for women’
Richard Brisius, race chairman of The Ocean Race said: “Making sailing more inclusive is one of the most important things we can do to secure the future of the sport. We’re delighted to have a record percentage of female competitors in the race and more females taking on traditionally male-dominated roles.
“We are sailing in the right direction, but more needs to be done to break down barriers and create pathways into the sport for women. Just as we have set an industry benchmark in driving more female participants in the sport, we need to move the dial on diversity and leave a legacy in which the sport becomes much more accessible to all.
“Coming together as an industry and working collaboratively is the only way that this can be achieved. For the race, we will continue to work with our host cities and local and national sailing federations to create pathways and opportunities. We also need greater commitments and action across the industry.”
Holcim-PRB sailor and co-founder of The Magenta Project, Abby Ehler said: “I have participated in four editions of this race and The Ocean Race 2022-23 has taken a step forward in terms of inclusivity. I have genuinely felt part of a team, and not a token gesture to a rule. This in my mind says a lot and shows that change is happening. Men and women competing side by side in a team is now being normalised — we are one of many, rather than the first, or the only.
“I do believe that the rules around crew diversity help to increase female participation and inclusion and I hope this continues with the pathways and opportunities ensuring that crew diversity occurs organically without the need for a rule.”
During this edition, The Ocean Race teamed up with logistics partner GAC Pindar, The Magenta Project and World Sailing Trust to host a series of panel discussions and networking events aimed at driving greater diversity and equality in sailing. The four events, held in three continents, featured local and international voices from across the maritime industry, with the final ‘On the Horizon’ session being held on Friday (30 June) during the Grand Finale in Genoa, Italy.
The Ocean Race was the first round-the-world crewed race with female sailors, with 13 women competing in the first edition in 1973. For the 2017-18 edition, the race introduced a rule requiring all teams to include at least one woman.
The Ocean Race 2022-23 Concludes in Style With In-Port Race Wins for 11th Hour Racing and Team JAJO
The last day of racing in this 14th edition of The Ocean Race took place at the Grand Finale in Genoa on Saturday afternoon (1 July).
Sunny skies, very light and shifty winds and enthusiastic crowds on shore and on the water were the order of the day as this six-month round-the-world odyssey came to a close.
It was a day of celebration as well as competition with the afternoon and evening set aside for awards night and prize-giving ceremonies.
11th Hour Racing Team skipper Charlie Enright was delighted to be able to deliver a race win after all the effort it had taken to get his IMOCA Mãlama repaired after it was hit by GUYOT environnement - Team Europe soon after the start of Leg 7 in The Hague.
“Our shore crew worked night and day for three days straight to be able to get us back on the water and able to take part in this Grand Finale In-Port Race,” he said.
“To be able to compete — and win the race today in Genova — we couldn’t ask for a better way to complete our lap of the planet and to show our thanks to everyone who has supported our campaign for the past few years.”
The race win ensured 11th Hour Racing Team would take the double victory — a win in the offshore round-the-world race as well as the In-Port Race Series.
There was very little wind for the scheduled start of the IMOCA In-Port Race and after a brief delay, the start got away at 1415 hours local time.
All four boats were late to the start, but Team Malizia was first to cross the line and take the early lead in just three knots of wind.
Team Holcim-PRB started further to windward and seemed well placed initially. But as the fickle breeze shifted further to the right, the Swiss boat looked increasingly stranded. After poor starts from Biotherm and 11th Hour Racing Team, the French and American teams started to close the gap on the early leader, Team Malizia.
By Mark 1, Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm had closed the gap on the lead and was overlapped with Boris Herrmann’s boat. The black German boat managed to hold on to the lead but now the chase was on, with Biotherm in hot pursuit and Charlie Enright’s crew on 11th Hour Racing Team not far back in third. Benjamin Schwartz and Team Holcim-PRB were struggling to stay in touch with their rivals, the green boat a long way back in fourth place.
Around Mark 2, Malizia rounded up on to the breeze and were on port tack upwind. Biotherm tacked away from the leader to create a split and see if the French boat could find anything better than the Germans.
Eventually the Germans tacked too and on the next cross, Meilhat had closed distance on Herrmann. However, Germany was still in the lead as the fleet drifted upwind, battling to keep the boats moving in almost no breeze.
Meanwhile, 11th Hour Racing Team decided to keep things simple, leaving the tacking duel to the front two while Enright kept his boat tracking on port tack on the city side of the race course. Hooking into more breeze on their side of the course, it looked like the Americans would move into the lead as their boat speed touched six knots, their rivals still looking slow further out to sea.
With the wind showing little sign of improving, the race was shortened at Mark 3. Now the outcome of the race would be decided on a port-starboard convergence between the Germans and the Americans to see who would cross ahead.
In the end, it was 11th Hour Racing Team who eased across the finishing line to steal the race win from Team Malizia, who had led for so long but had to settle for second. Biotherm held on for third place, which was good enough to lift the French to third overall ahead of Team Holcim-PRB in the In-Port Series.
The Ocean Race In-Port Series Final Leaderboard (IMOCA):
- 11th Hour Racing Team - 29 points
- Team Malizia - 25 points
- Biotherm - 19 points
- Team Holcim-PRB - 17 points
- GUYOT environnement - Team Europe - 10 points
The VO65s took to the race course first on this last day of The Grand Finale in Genova, in light winds of three to six knots.
As the seconds counted down to the start, all five teams were looking late on their time-on-distance judgement. Bearing in mind how an extra metre at the start can turn into hundreds of metres of advantage further along the race track, it was a missed opportunity for everyone.
Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team (DEN/POR) was looking in a solid and safe position at the windward end of the line and accelerated up to speed nicely.
WindWhisper Racing Team (POL) has tended to dominate the pin end of the line but this time skipper Pablo Arrarte was beaten to the punch by Team JAJO (NED). Jelmer van Beek looked vulnerable initially, but he had the advantage of being the most leeward boat.
This enabled van Beek to turn away from the breeze by an extra couple of degrees, breathing extra power into the sails on a day when every ounce of additional oomph was vital.
Team JAJO began to stretch its early advantage, as WindWhisper Racing Team started to slip into the backwash of the big VO65 rig ahead of them.
The Dutch led around the first mark, followed by Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team whose windward start had served Roberto Bermúdez de Castro and his crew well. Next around were Austrian Ocean Racing/Team Genova but finding a better puff of wind behind them were Viva México who capitalised on a deeper downwind angle to get inside rights at the next turning mark.
Erik Brockmann’s team gybed the Mexican boat nicely on the inside of Gerwin Jansen and the Austrians and México sneaked into third place as they set out on the third leg of the course.
Meanwhile, WindWhisper had struggled to find clear air on the first leg out of the start, and really struggled to get around the first mark. The Polish team furled its headsail as it luffed up towards the breeze in a desperate bid to avoid hitting the mark. Arrarte and company did indeed avoid the mark but now had to play catch-up. There was a slim possibility of the dominant Polish team losing their In-Port Race crown to Team JAJO if Arrarte failed to finish inside the time limit.
With the wind looking unlikely to improve and, if anything, get even lighter, the race committee shortened the race course after 30 minutes of competition. Team JAJO finished exactly 60 seconds ahead of Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, with the Mexicans third, Austria fourth and WindWhisper bringing up the rear but well inside the time limit.
This means WindWhisper narrowly retains the top of the In-Port leaderboard despite Team JAJO closing the points gap.
Jelmer van Beek was rightly happy with Team JAJO’s performance which all stemmed from that accurately executed start at the pin end of the line: “A light and tricky day and not much breeze, but we had a really good start. They say you’re only as good as your last race, and we won the last race! It’s nice to finish like this. Time for a holiday now but I love this race, it was a great experience.”
Paolo Mirpuri, founder of the Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team, was on board his VO65 for the race and enjoyed the experience: “We had a very good start, the teamwork went well. We managed to keep it close and very happy to get second place today.”
Erik Brockmann was delighted to get another podium finish for Team México in Genova: “Even though it was light it’s always intense. We managed to maintain our position and to overtake a boat and got another podium in Genova. Couldn’t be happier to finish The Ocean Race like this.”
The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint In-Port Series Final Leaderboard:
- WindWhisper Racing Team - 19 points
- Team JAJO - 17 points
- Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team - 12 points
- Viva México - 10 points
- Austrian Ocean Racing powered by Team Genova - 8 points
- Ambersail 2 - 0 points
After racing around the world and overcoming challenge after challenge, 11th Hour Racing Team was confirmed as winners of The Ocean Race 2022-23 on Thursday morning (29 June).
While the team celebrated ashore and afloat, they would need to wait a few more hours before joining together to toast their incredible achievement.
But finally, just after 1730 local time in Genoa, the 11th Hour Racing Team IMOCA, Mālama, eased into the port and arrived at Ocean Live Park to a thunderous welcome and an incredible prize-giving moment.
Just hours earlier the World Sailing International Jury had awarded the team four points of redress, based on an average of their strong results in the race to date, following the incident just minutes into the start of the final leg on Thursday 15 June when the boat was involved in a collision with GUYOT environnement - Team Europe.
The crew were notified by satellite phone on Thursday morning as their boat made up the last miles towards the northeastern Italian port after repairs to its extensively damaged hull.
The final leaderboard sees 11th Hour Racing Team three points clear of Team Holcim-PRB in second place, with Team Malizia in third, Biotherm fourth place and GUYOT environnement - Team Europe in fifth.
“I’m absolutely ecstatic,” said skipper Charlie Enright. “This race takes everything out of you — emotionally, mentally and physically. I’m incredibly proud of our whole team who have worked tirelessly for three years to get to this point. There have been highs, some incredible highs, but also lows that have knocked us all, but they were all worth it to hear this news today.”
Speaking from onboard Mālama as the team delivered the boat to Genoa, Enright added: “When we launched our campaign in 2019, we never could have anticipated that it would finish in this way. Any sailor will tell you that they want to win races on the water and not in the jury room, and after winning three legs back to back we felt exceptionally strong and confident going into the final leg.
“We are pleased with the jury’s decision, although we wish we had had the chance to battle it out for this final leg on the water as Holcim-PRB have been exceptional competitors and pushed us all the way.
“To be the first US team to be lifting this trophy is an exceptional honour, and to be sharing the message and showcasing action and innovation for ocean health has made this a truly impactful, global campaign. It’s not the way I would have drawn this up, but the victory is sweet all the same.”
Featured in Mālama’s crew at various stages were Cork sailor James O’Mahony and Kerry offshore veteran Damian Foxall, the latter of whom declared to Afloat.ie: “Munster just won The Ocean Race!”
In another achievements of note, 11th Hour Racing Team is the first US-flagged team to win The Ocean Race — and sailor Francesca Clapcich arrived in Genoa on Thursday afternoon as the first Italian sailor to win the race.
“It feels pretty surreal still - it hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Clapcich said. “It’s been a lifetime dream to firstly be part of the race, and now to win the race, and so it feels very special. The first time for an American team and the first time an Italian sailor has won the race — it means a lot to me. I’m Italian, and I live in the US — it’s both of my worlds colliding together.”
Team navigator Simon Fisher added: “I’ve done this race six times now, and it has consumed almost 20 years of my life. It’s nice at this stage of my career that I can be involved with a campaign that’s trying to do something more than ‘just’ be competitive and has a positive impact on the sport, the wider community, environment, people, and planet. That’s really important to me.
“Winning is important, and it is what we all strive for, but personally for me, I hold a lot of value in winning the right way and doing things the right way. And so, to win The Ocean Race with 11th Hour Racing, a team like this, with such a great group of people and a positive mission, is really incredible.”
A milestone in the journey towards a Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights is being reached this week in Genoa, Italy as two years of efforts to drive support for a declaration, and expert input on what it should include, enter the final leg.
On Tuesday (27 June), The Ocean Race Summit Genova — the penultimate event in a series of high-level discussions — examined how recognising the inherent rights of the ocean could be vital to its protection.
The summit will be followed on Thursday (29 June) by the final stage of the Genova Process, where draft principles on ocean rights will be completed, before being shared with members of the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Started in March 2022, the Genova Process is an initiative that has gathered together at dedicated ‘Innovation Workshops’ over 150 experts, policymakers, business leaders, lawyers, indigenous peoples, scientists, NGOs and other stakeholders to develop principles on ocean rights that could form the basis of a potential Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights.
Opening Tuesday’s event, The Ocean Race chairman Richard Brisius drew parallels between the extreme and difficult conditions experienced during the round-the-world race and the fight to protect the ocean.
“Just as Genova marks the end of a gruelling and exhilarating race for our sailing teams, it also marks the final stage of another significant feat of teamwork: the Genova Process,” he said. “Armed with the expertise and support gathered across four continents, we will have a strong proposition for members of the UN General Assembly that could help to secure a healthy ocean in our future.
“Our ambition for the ocean’s rights to be recognised don’t end there, but this is a significant moment in our race to protect our blue planet.”
The Ocean Race and the government of Cabo Verde — with support of US-based Earth Law Center — are leading discussions with governments to increase formal support at the UN and national levels.
Additionally, local governments have also formally supported the idea, including stopover city Itajaí and the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil; the stopover city of Newport, Rhode Island as well as the House of Representatives of Rhode Island; the first-ever Danish stopover city of Aarhus; Kiel in Germany; and The Hague.
Mayor of Genoa, Marco Bucci also signed a declaration of support on behalf of the city. “Today we are bringing Genova to the world: not only through an international sport competition, but also through a challenging fight to protect our oceans,” he said.
“The scientific research and the cultural heritage that the sea provides us are the foundations of the Genova Process and we are proud that it is named after our city. This is an essential step towards a Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights, an essential way to set the rules agreed among the countries to help protect our ocean and help a thriving ocean. Genova is a port city but above all, it is a city of the sea, giving us even more reasons to fight to preserve it.”
Genoa, Italy’s top maritime city and the Mediterranean’s largest commercial port, is the host city for the Grand Finale of the 2022–23 edition of The Ocean Race — the first time that the around-the-world race has culminated in the Mediterranean.
Antonio di Natale, marine biologist, special advisor on ocean rights to the secretary-general of the Genova Aquarium Foundation and a key player in the Genova Process said: “We would like the ocean to have a voice, supported by the comprehensive framework that the main life support system of the planet deserves.”
Also highly supportive of ocean rights was Kestutis Sadauskas, deputy director-general of DG MARE in the European Commission, who acknowledged that the European Union shares the race’s ambition to protect and restore the ocean by 2030: “We are all in the race against time. If we do it together, if we do it with a sense of urgency and responsibility, we will definitely succeed.”
Earlier in the day, Lily Xu Lijia, Olympic sailing gold medallist at London 2012 in the Laser Radial class as well as broadcaster and presenter for The Ocean Race China Show said: “All nations should be part of the global conversation to protect ocean rights. China is a key player, given its reliance on the ocean and the fact that a Chinese-sponsored team, Dongfeng Racing won the last edition of the race. The nation has already shown commitments to reduce marine plastic pollution with the single use plastic ban. There is still scope for enhancing public awareness.”
Cecilia Zorzi participated live on the Austrian Ocean Racing Team powered by Team Genova boat before arriving into the city on Tuesday afternoon and said: “As sailors we must protect the ocean. We really need to be aware, to care, to do all we can to preserve it, to defend it, to tell the stories to the people on land. We are the people who must give the ocean a voice.”
The Ocean Race Summits are a key part of The Ocean Race’s multi-award winning ‘Racing with Purpose’ sustainability programme developed in collaboration with 11th Hour Racing, a premier partner of The Ocean Race.
Alongside the high-level support for a Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights, the public are being asked to show their support for giving the ocean a voice by signing the One Blue Voice petition, which has gathered almost 30,000 signatures. The petition will be presented to global leaders in New York, alongside the principles on ocean rights, to show that citizens around the world demand accelerated ocean action.
Team Malizia found a way to grab a last-minute win in Leg 7 of The Ocean Race 2022-23, saving the best for last.
On the waters off the finish port of Genoa, skipper Boris Herrmann and his crew boldly grabbed the leg lead in extremely light and variable conditions at 0600 UTC on Tuesday morning (27 June), by virtue of heading close to shore and picking up a gentle breeze by the land.
This allowed them to ease past Team Holcim-PRB — who had led for the majority of the leg from The Hague to Genoa — as well as Biotherm, and secure their second leg win in The Ocean Race.
“I’m very happy and very proud of this team. It’s been a privilege to work with all of them,” said Herrmann, reflecting on the end of his round-the-world race. “We have the most sailors who completed the full race and Rosie [Rosalin Kuiper] is the only female to do the whole lap of the planet.”
“It’s incredible to finish the leg to Genoa in first place,” said Kuiper. “I still can’t believe it. We have done a lap around the world, pushing ourselves day in and day out and to finish like this is so special… It’s been a crazy adventure and we had such a good time. We will miss each other and miss being out at sea together.”
Following the finish of Malizia, the wind nearly died completely, leaving Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm and Benjamin Schwartz and his Holcim-PRB crew to play a very downspeed chess match to get to the finish line.
At the end, it was Biotherm who were able to glide across in second place on Leg 7, leaving Team Holcim-PRB to claim third place in the IMOCA fleet — an unfortunate result after leading for so much of the leg.
“It was a really close race even if only with three boats,” said Meilhat once his team reached the dock. “Congratulations to Malizia — they took a risk during the night and it worked. We knew from the start that it would all come down to the last moments in front of Genova and this is how it happened.”
On the other hand, third place was a disappointment for Team Holcim-PRB. “It could have been better as unfortunately we are finishing third today,” Schwartz said on final approach to the line. “Biotherm and Malizia, we couldn’t cover them at one point and they managed to escape and here we are after leading the race for the last 12 days and finishing in the last position of the group, so it’s a bit disappointing. But we are happy to be here in Genova and it was a great leg, we really enjoyed it, so we have to remember this too.”
The two other IMOCA teams in the fleet, 11th Hour Racing Team and GUYOT environnement - Team Europe, were forced to retire from racing shortly after the start, following a collision.
And this means the overall leaderboard for the IMOCA fleet in The Ocean Race remains provisional, awaiting the Request for Redress that has been filed by 11th Hour Racing Team after being hit just after the start by GUYOT environnement - Team Europe, who acknowledged responsibility for the incident.
The World Sailing International Jury will hear the eedress request on Thursday (29 June). With today’s results, Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Team is just one point behind Team Holcim-PRB, so any award of redress of one point or more will give the team overall victory in The Ocean Race.
In the VO65 fleet, the first boat to finish in Genoa on Tuesday — just minutes ahead of Malizia — was Team JAJO, with skipper Jelmer van Beek sliding home just over 24 hours after WindWhisper Racing Team won the VO65 Sprint Cup.
“We always said this leg was going to come down to the very end, the last night, and I’m so proud of the team for pulling it off because every day was a battle,” Van Beek said. “In the end we were on the right side of it. We’re really happy!”
The second-place finish into Genoa ensures Team JAJO has locked up second place in the VO65 Sprint leaderboard.
Viva México then had their best result of the VO65 Sprint, a third-place podium finish that was a long time coming, with the dying breeze prolonging their day.
“It’s been an amazing leg for Viva México,” said skipper Erik Brockmann. “We are happy with a podium finish and to be in Genova is an amazing feeling.”
Behind them, the light conditions also enveloped Austrian Ocean Racing powered by Team Genova and Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team — both boats were declared as having reached the finish line by the race management team some two hours later, at 1530 and 1545 UTC respectively.
Rankings at 1700 UTC, 27 June
IMOCA:
- Team Malizia, finished at 11:17:51 UTC
- Biotherm, finished at 12:54:23 UTC
- Team Holcim-PRB, finished at 13:31:49 UTC
VO65 :
- WindWhisper Racing, finished on 26 June at 10:27:52 UTC
- Team JAJO, finished at 10:50:43 UTC
- Viva México, finished at 13:35:39 UTC
- Austrian Ocean Race - Team Genova, finished at 15:30:00 UTC
- Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, finished at 15:45:00 UTC
Follow both fleets’ progress via the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.
WindWhisper Racing Team Wins Stage 3 Into Genoa to Take The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup
WindWhisper Racing Team won the final leg of The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint into Genoa on Monday morning (26 June), beating the rest of the fleet by a massive margin.
The Polish boat crossed the finish line in just six knots of breeze at 10:27:52 UTC with a leg time of 10 days, 23 hours, 17 minutes and 52 seconds.
With the rest of the fleet still to cover some 80-plus nautical miles in very light winds on Monday afternoon, WindWhisper could win the leg from The Hague to Genoa by more than 18 hours.
With skipper Pablo Arrarte (ESP) unable to take part in the final leg, it was left to previous race winner Daryl Wislang (NZL) to take up the skipper’s role. “It’s an amazing feeling to arrive here, happy to be part of the team, and I was lucky enough to take the handlebars for the last leg,” he said.
Even though it always looked like a healthy lead entering the Mediterranean, the fickle nature of the breeze meant Wislang and the crew were never able to rest on their laurels.
“The biggest challenge is trying to cover someone that far behind because the other boats were in completely different weather,” the skipper said. “Ultimately we decided we couldn’t cover them and chose to sail the fastest way we could to the finish. There was no option to get back to the coast with the other guys.”
The biggest responsibility for such big decisions always rests with the navigator, so Aksel Magdahl (NOR) rightly earns a lot of credit for his brave choices on the race course.
“We had a tricky choice to make in the Mediterranean because the other boats were more than 100 miles behind,” said Magdahl, who chose to keep on looking forwards rather than play a more traditional, defensive game of covering the opposition. “We decided to go towards the coast of Algeria to take the fastest route. We thought the other option to cover the other boats would be slow for us. So we went for what we thought was our fastest option and it worked out well for us.”
Magdahl also wins the navigator’s award, the Vasco da Gama Mirpuri Foundation Prize for first boat to pass the line of 37 degrees North latitude. That was largely down to a very good call to break away from the fleet in the English Channel, one which absent skipper Pablo Arrarte had been watching with great interest from ashore.
“The guys made a big strategy call. The fleet was in light pressure and the big breeze was coming, and they stayed further north and the big pressure reached them first. That was the important moment to break away from the fleet.”
From there the team never looked back, leading into the Strait of Gibraltar by a healthy margin.
For Phil Harmer (AUS), today’s victory is extra special as it happens on his 44th birthday. The two-time winner of the race was pleased to be back on board the VO65 and to have come through the Strait of Gibraltar at night, thereby avoiding the orca whales that paid a little bit too much attention to some of the other VO65s.
“I think the orcas were asleep when we went through the strait,” he laughed. “We went through in stealth mode, managed to give them the slip, so we were lucky to get through unscathed.”
Crew member Liz Wardley has a special connection with this particular VO65, having led the five-month refit of the boat that she had already managed in its previous guise as Team AkzoNobel.
“It feels amazing to be here now,” she said. “We had such a big lead into the Med and there was always the option that the others could catch us, so that was stressful. We did Leg 1 well, we did Leg 6 well, and now to win Leg 7 by more than a hundred miles is pretty cool. And finished in front of the IMOCAs, too, so a double win.”
While Pablo Arrarte and Daryl Wislang’s WindWhisper Racing Team are enjoying some Genova hospitality after being the first arrival and winning The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint, seven boats remain at sea, fighting through light winds to get to the finish.
In the IMOCA class, it’s Team Holcim-PRB at the head of the fleet. After enjoying some strong outflow winds off the coast of France overnight, the team is now back in the slow lane, in winds near five knots, with just under 90 miles to go to the finish line.
“Last night we had very welcome wind — 20-25 knots of wind — and this was wonderful as the boat loves wind and we love the boat when it is flying so we were happy,” said Ambrogio Beccaria, the Italian sailor on the Holcim-PRB boat, overnight. “And we still have some good comfort on board, it’s steady and nice sailing.”
Looking ahead, there are still some shifts and changes to navigate before the finish.
“We are now heading north to the next transition,” said Holcim skipper Ben Schwartz early on Monday afternoon, joking that they are placing bets on the arrival time on board. “Ahead of us is a transition to a southwesterly wind, and this is the wind that could bring us to Genova…hopefully.”
Biotherm, just behind, confirms it’s not going to be straightforward.
“Still long to reach Genova…” said Paul Meilhat. “Really complicated from here until the finish line. Probably there will be a convergence of the fleet and then it might open up, some might choose the coast, some offshore. Many possibilities but we will make the final choice tonight.”
Team Malizia also enjoyed the breezy conditions last night. “It’s so good,” said Will Harris. “We’re doing about six- times the speed [30 knots] we’ve done for most of this leg!”
For the VO65s, the fight now is for second place on Stage 3 and on the overall ranking for the VO65 Sprint. Team JAJO is two points clear of Austrian Ocean Racing - Team Genova on the overall leaderboard. But with the four VO65s spread out over 20-odd miles, it’s a wide open race still.
“The game is to stay focussed on all the little details,” said JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek.
“I think we are all going to be together again,” said Gonzalo Infante, the navigator on Viva México. “And we just need to work out how to escape!”
Given the forecast, the ETA for the remaining boats is very uncertain, but the best estimate remains Tuesday morning (27 June) local time.
Rankings at 1600 UTC, 26 June
IMOCA:
- Team Holcim-PRB, 86.6 miles to finish
- Biotherm, 4.7 miles to leader
- Team Malizia, 5.4 miles to leader
VO65 :
- WindWhisper Racing, finished at 10:27:52 UTC
- Viva México, 87.6 miles to finish
- Team JAJO, 1.8 miles to leader
- Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, 2.7 miles to leader
- Austrian Ocean Race - Team Genova, 22.5 miles to leader
Follow both fleets’ progress via the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.
Genoa Getting Closer But Still Some Challenging Miles Ahead for The Ocean Race Fleets
If there wasn’t already enough urgency to get to Genoa quickly, Ambrogio Beccaria is more desperate than ever. Not only is the Italian crewman on Team Holcim-PRB keen to reach his home country as soon as possible, vital provisions on the IMOCA are running very low. “Dude, there is no more Nutella,” he complains to colleague Yoann Richomme. “The others have eaten it all.”
With just five souls on board, the Nutella thief shouldn’t be too difficult to unmask. But then there is the small matter of maintaining focus to stay ahead of their rivals in The Ocean Race, which is proving anything but straightforward in a trickier-than-usual Mediterranean Sea.
Late on Friday night (23 June), skipper Benjamin Schwartz took Holcim-PRB on a trip over to the Algerian coastline in search of some night-time trickle of breeze from the top of the African continent. Meanwhile, Biotherm and Team Malizia decided to stay in European waters as they worked their way up the Spanish coast.
“Well we weren’t expecting our two colleagues to choose a different route than us,” Schwartz said. “They are doing a coastal route along the Spanish coast whereas we have decided to go to Algeria. I don’t know what they saw that we haven’t seen that would make us go towards land, so now we don’t have a choice anyway.”
As it turned out, any concerns about allowing a big split to develop didn’t prove too dangerous. Holcim-PRB bounced off the Algerian coast and tacked back over towards Spain and reconverged ahead of their rivals. Holcim-PRB crew Annemieke Bes commented: “We were happy with the strategy in the end. We were stressed as there was a huge lateral gap. Anyway, it was good to try to catch the thermal winds a bit earlier.”
While not as extreme as WindWhisper Racing Team’s breakaway at the front of the VO65 fleet, there are similarities in the way the leaders of the respective fleets have ploughed their own route out to the east.
But as WindWhisper’s navigator Aksel Magdahl explained, it didn’t feel like they had another option at the time: “We sailed east towards the coast of Algeria, and there was a big split. We sailed east of Mallorca, the other boats sailed west. We thought if we had stayed west we’d stop in no wind and they would catch us up. It felt there was no other option than to go east, even if it’s uncomfortable to do it.”
The pack that stayed close to the Spanish coast got so close to Alicante earlier this weekend that you might have started to wonder if the sailors were thinking the race was due to finish in the same place it started six months earlier. But no, the slow boat race continued past The Ocean Race HQ further up the Iberian coast, going past Barcelona and towards the south of France.
None of it is easy sailing, not even for an old veteran like Roberto ‘Chuny’ Bermúdez de Castro, the skipper on VO65 Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team. “Sailing through this Mediterranean short wave period, the boat is jumping too much, but we’re pushing really hard with the Mexicans and Austrians and the IMOCA fleet, tacking upwind,” he said.
“It’s interesting to see Windwhisper taking the option to go more east, go outside the Balearic Islands. It will be interesting to see what happens. There’s still a lot of difficult weather before arriving to Genova. The Mediterranean is always tricky, but this time even more than usual.”
With the forecast for light and variable winds between where the fleets are and Genoa, the ETAs still have a high degree of uncertainty. But WindWhisper is expected on Monday 26 June, with the remaining race boats finishing on Tuesday 27 June.
Rankings at 1600 UTC, 25 June
IMOCA:
- Team Holcim-PRB, 316.5 miles to finish
- Biotherm, 10.9 miles to leader
- Team Malizia, 19.6 miles to leader
VO65 :
- WindWhisper Racing, 186.7 miles to finish
- Viva México, 142.3 miles to leader
- Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, 144.6 miles to leader
- Team JAJO, 148.6 miles to leader
- Austrian Ocean Race - Team Genova, 156.1 miles to leader
Follow both fleets’ progress via the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.
A fleet of ocean thoroughbred yachts which have previously taken part in past editions of the Whitbread Round The World Race, the Volvo Ocean Race and The Ocean Race have assembled in Italy ahead of the 50th Anniversary Legends Regatta taking place in the city of Genoa from Saturday 24 June to Sunday 2 July.
This unique gathering of some of the world’s most iconic ocean racing yachts of the last several decades takes place as part of the Grand Finale, the concluding stopover of the 2022-23 edition of The Ocean Race.
The legends fleet came together in Genoa on Saturday to prepare to compete in two days of racing: the 50th Anniversary Legends Regatta on Tuesday 27 June and the Legends Coastal Race Genova – Portofino – Santa Margherita on Friday 30 June. And they will be at the heart of the event’s Legends festivities taking place during The Ocean Race’s week-long celebration.
As well as being able to enjoy the beauty and spectacle of the Legends yachts as they race in the Gulf of Genoa and along the Italian coastline, visitors to the event will be able to take a close-up tour of the yachts during the Open Boat programme taking place this weekend as well as on Wednesday/Thursday (28/29 June) and next Sunday (2 July).
The seven competing yachts in the 50th Anniversary Legends Regatta all previously raced around the world in a previous edition of The Ocean Race — originally known at its inception in 1973 as the Whitbread Round The World Race, and then the Volvo Ocean Race from 2001 to 2018.
A competitor in the inaugural 1973-74 race, Tauranga — skippered by Eric Pascoli (ITA) — was one of several Italian entries in this first edition of the race, and finished 10th in the overall classification.
The Gurney 54 Sloop B&B Italia, was skippered by Italian Corrado di Majo (ITA) in the 1977-78 edition when it finished ninth overall.
In the 1981-82 edition the Italian yacht Rolly-Go, skippered by Italian sailing legend Giorgio Falck, saw crew member Paolo Martinoni (ITA) successfully rescued after falling overboard in the Southern Ocean.
The maxi yacht New Zealand Endeavour is best remembered as the winner of the 1993-94 edition. On board was New Zealand yachtsman Grant Dalton who went on to compete in a total of five more races.
One of the first of the Volvo Open 70 designs introduced for the 2005-06 race, the Swedish entry Ericsson 1 team finished fifth in the overall classification.
The VO70 Kosatka raced in the 2008-09 race, skippered by Austrian Andreas Hanakamp. Forming a partnership with Whale and Dolphin Conservation, it became one of the first teams in the history of the race to rally behind an environmentally friendly message. Sailing under the slogan ‘We Sail For the Whale’, their campaign called for the creation of 12 new marine protected areas for whales and dolphins by 2012.
The VO70 Telefonica Blue finished third in the 2008-09 race while skippered by Dutch ocean racing legend Bouwe Bekking, before being rebranded as Team Sanya for the 2011-12 edition when it finished sixth skippered by Mike Sanderson (NZL).
Joining the Legends fleet in Genoa will be the five-strong fleet of VO65 boats — each of which took part in the 2015-15 and 2017-18 editions of the race. The VO65s also arrive in the city at the end of third and final stage of the inaugural edition of The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint, encompassing The Ocean Race 2022-23’s first, sixth and seventh legs.
As well as this vast array of ocean-racing yachts representing The Ocean Race’s 50-year legacy of around-the-world racing, many skippers and crew from the race’s past editions will also be joining the celebrations in Genoa.
The Legends attendee list includes two race-winning skippers: Paul Cayard (USA), who won the 1997-98 Whitbread Round the World Race on the Whitbread 60 EF Language; and Ian Walker (GBR), who became the race’s first British winner aboard Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s VO65 Azzam in the 2014-15 edition.
Also in attendance will be husband-and-wife Lisa and Neal McDonald. Each have led teams in the 2001-02 Whitbread Round the World Race — Lisa as skipper of the all-female British-flagged Amer Sports Too and Neal as skipper of the Swedish entry Assa Abloy.
Additional attendees include Sir Chay Blyth (GBR), skipper of Great Britain II in the inaugural Whitbread Round the World Race; Bruno Dubois (CAN/BEL), skipper of the Belgian entry Rucanor Sport in the 1989-90 Whitbread Around the World Race and team director of The Ocean Race 2017-18-winning Dongfeng Race Team (CHN); Dawn Riley (USA) who skippered the all-female Whitbread 60 Heineken in the 1993-94 Whitbread Round the World Race; Austria’s Andreas Hanakamp, skipper of Team Russia’s VO70 Kosatka in The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09; Jean-Michel ‘Jimmy’ Viant, skipper of Japy-Hermés in the 1997-98 Whitbread Round the World Race; and four-time participant Guillermo Altadil (ESP).
Attending as a special guest will be British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who in 1968 became the first person to sail around the world singlehanded when he won the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. As legend has it, Sir Robin’s remarkable achievement is what sparked the idea for a fully-crewed race around the world — an idea that came to life as the Whitbread Round the World Race.