As the fifth leg of The Ocean Race 2022-23 approaches, Team Holcim-PRB skipper Kevin Escoffier and his crew have a total of 19 points — with a one-point lead over Leg 4 winner 11th Hour Racing Team and second-placed Malizia, who are tied at 18 points.

And with double points up for grabs in the upcoming leg, which begins next Sunday 21 May, the team is fighting to ready the IMOCA boat following its devastating dismasting just days out of Itajaí.

One thing that should boost Escoffier’s and morale alike is the return of Charles Caudrelier as part of a handpicked crew of transatlantic specialists intimately familiar with the boat.

The skipper of Dongfeng Race Team (who won the race in 2017-18) and recent Route du Rhum victor will serve as navigator alongside British sailors Abby Ehler and Sam Goodchild, while Yann Riou will take charge of photo and video production as onboard reporter.

“My idea was to reunite the core of the crew,” Escoffier says. “Sam Goodchild will be returning after sailing on his IMOCA and has had a little rest. Abby is coming back in great shape and as motivated as ever.

“As for Tom [Laperche], he has embarked on his own project and was no longer available. So, I called upon Charles Caudrelier, who will be the navigator on board. I chose Charles because he is someone I know very well, who is highly motivated, and who has great experience in The Ocean Race. We communicate well together, and he can contribute a lot in terms of performance on the boat.

“I think we both have a passion for technology and performance. We are also fully dedicated to the sport, and that is something I greatly appreciate. We have started working on the weather and discussing pilot settings, polars [etcetera].”

Abby Ehler and Sam Goodchild have each already competed in two legs of The Ocean Race aboard Holcim-PRB, including the third leg in the Southern Ocean.

Both are enthusiastic about returning to the blue and green monohull. Ehler’s experience with three previous circumnavigations and Goodchild’s extreme motivation will undoubtedly be valuable assets for this leg.

“They are two very good sailors who have already impressed me with their qualities and skills in the previous legs,” the skipper says. “For me, they are among the pillars of the crew. Together, we have completed three-quarters of the circumnavigation in terms of mileage.”

Escoffier is determined to perform well again after the setback in the fourth leg: “We are taking a fresh start, and although we didn’t finish the last race, our lead was comfortable enough to keep us in the lead of The Ocean Race.

“While the upcoming leg is important, I know that there are still 50% of the points to be earned until the finish in Genoa in July. So, we are only halfway through the race. And the pace is only going to accelerate. I know this from experience, so we need to stay focused.”

Leg 5, which covering 3,500 nautical miles across the north Atlantic, promises to be intense once again. Beyond the double points, the demands of this return journey to Europe will require the crew to be fully in sync with the boat and execute a perfect strategy in order to hope for a leading position in Denmark.

“I expect it to be cold,” Escoffier says. “It’s a leg we don’t often do. I have already done several transatlantic crossings in this direction, but always to arrive in France. Going to Denmark will take us through the north of the British Isles. That completely changes the game in terms of weather strategy, and that’s something new for me. We will have to play around the ice limit, not far from Newfoundland. It’s going to be a very interesting leg.”

#vor – Birthday boys Charles Caudrelier and Ian Walker were planning to dampen each other's celebrations as Leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race continued to go down to the wire on Friday.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Walker/GBR) held a tiny 7.3-nautical mile (nm) advantage at the head of the fleet at 0040 UTC with Dongfeng Race Team (Caudrelier/FRA) and MAPFRE (Xabi Fernández/ESP) leading the chasing pack.

The leading trio have around 300nm still to sail to complete the 5,264nm leg from Sanya to Auckland and are expected to arrive in the port known as the 'City of Sails' on New Zealand's North Island around 2100-2400 local time on Saturday/Sunday (0900-1200 UTC).

Walker celebrated his 45th birthday on Thursday and Caudrelier his 41st a day later, but neither was in the mood to celebrate anything just yet although the Frenchman had a double reason to mark the day – Dongfeng Race Team's Volvo Ocean Race campaign was launched exactly a year ago as well.

Instead, they were desperately trying to eke out some kind of advantage before the nail-biting final day. It's a leg which has seen the fleet sail through the South China Sea from February 11 and battle all the way through the Pacific Ocean, exchanging the lead on several occasions.

According to Caudrelier, arch-rival Walker has so far received the better of the gifts from the weather gods in the last 24 hours.

"This morning I woke up a 41-year-old onboard this boat, leading Leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race" he wrote in his daily blog from the boat. "I'm spoiled.

"Yesterday, it was Ian Walker's birthday; we exchanged some nice, fun emails about our receptive gifts. Tonight we've been the victims of a cruel squall, which destroyed in 30 minutes the three days of effort we've made to catch up and overtake Ian and his men.

"Without wind for 30 minutes, we went backwards against the swell while Azzam sped up to 18 knots, three miles from us.

"That was his gift. I'm waiting for mine before the end of the leg."

The pair look destined to be the closest of rivals throughout the nine-month, 38,739nm race, which will be decided over nine legs in all before the conclusion in Gothenburg, Sweden on June 27.

They are currently one point apart after three stages with Leg 3 winners Dongfeng Race Team narrowly holding the upper hand. It is by no means, however, a two-horse race – or leg.

MAPFRE (Xabi Fernández/ESP) could well be cast in the role of party spoilers on Saturday night. They lay just 0.7nm behind Dongfeng Race Team and were quite capable of catching one, if not both, of the leading boats and claiming their first leg win of the race.

Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA), Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED) and Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) looked likely to be contesting the minor placings (see panel above) although a late, windless 'park-up' near the finish could yet lead to a surprise.

Auckland is no stranger to thrilling finishes – there are still strong memories here of the 1989-90 race's showdown between Peter Blake's Steinlager 2 and Grant Dalton's Fisher and Paykel, which the former won in the last couple of nautical miles.

New Zealand Prime Minister, John Keys, was among the many who are looking forward to the conclusion of such a memorable leg.

He opened the Race Village on Friday after the local Maori people, the Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, officially 'loaned' the Auckland Viaduct Basin area to Race CEO, Knut Frostad.

"Lots of families and friends will come, lots of tourists will come. To have come all the way from China on such a long leg and to have such a small gap separating the teams shows you how well matched they are. And that makes it really exciting," said Keys.

#VOR - Record-breaking British yachtswoman Dee Caffari has confirmed her membership of Team SCA competing in this year's Volvo Ocean Race.

Writing on her website on Monday 17 March, the offshore specialist broke her radio silence since the New Year, saying she "had a lot of ground to cover" as one of the last women selected via the team's trials in Lanzarote, "especially compared to the girls that had been training as part of the team for the past year."

But now that the honorary Royal Navy commander and non-stop round-the-world record holder is officially part of the all-women squad preparing for October's first in-port races, she says its time to "move onto the next phase of training", putting in the miles on the new VOR 65 yacht with greater intensity.

In other VOR news, French sailing stalwart Charles Caudrelier has been named skipper of China's Dongfeng Race Team.

Instrumental to the success of Groupama in the last Volvo Ocean Race, the 40-year-old has called his appointment "a key step as a sailor and as a man".

Commenting on the challenges of leading the first all-Chinese crewed team in VOR history, Caudrelier said: “I’ve seen it on my skipper and friend Franck Cammas in the last race: being a skipper is a huge responsibility and it’s demanding from a human point of view. 

"But I’ve learned from my past experiences and I want to take these skills further.”

The VOR website has more on the story HERE.