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:

1. Team Holcim-PRB, 86.6 miles to finish
2. Biotherm, 4.7 miles to leader

3. Team Malizia, 5.4 miles to leader

VO65
:

1. WindWhisper Racing, finished at 10:27:52 UTC
2. Viva México, 87.6 miles to finish
3. Team JAJO, 1.8 miles to leader
4. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, 2.7 miles to leader
5. Austrian Ocean Race - Team Genova, 22.5 miles to leader

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

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.

The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup Stage 3, Day 9 (Saturday 24 June) onboard with WindWhisper Racing Team | Credit: Tomasz Piotrowski/WindWhisper Racing Team/The Ocean Race

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:

1. Team Holcim-PRB, 316.5 miles to finish
2. Biotherm, 10.9 miles to leader

3. Team Malizia, 19.6 miles to leader

VO65
:

1. WindWhisper Racing, 186.7 miles to finish
2. Viva México, 142.3 miles to leader
3. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, 144.6 miles to leader
4. Team JAJO, 148.6 miles to leader
5. 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.

Team Holcim-PRB made a break for the Algerian coast overnight on Friday (23 June), leaving the close-quarters match racing they’d been having with Biotherm and Team Malizia since before Gibraltar.

At one point, they had gained nearly 100 miles of separation to the south — risky business in the light, shifting winds.

But surprisingly, when the boats converged on Saturday morning (24 June) off the Spanish coast, not too much had changed. Although Holcim-PRB had made a net gain of about five or six miles — important when the margins are so thin — it seems like scant reward for taking such a big risk.

By returning to the Spanish coast (not far off The Ocean Race start port of Alicante, fully completing the circumnavigation in the process!) skipper Benjamin Schwartz has consolidated what little gain he’d made and secured a more powerful protective position between Biotherm, Malizia and the finish in Genoa.

But as of Saturday evening that lead is being eroded, with the chasing boats within four (Biotherm) and seven (Malizia) miles respectively.

“We’re heading up the Spanish coast, less than 600 miles to go to the finish now,” said Alan Roberts from on board Biotherm on Saturday morning. “In theory we could do that distance in one day on an IMOCA. More likely it’s going to take us three! It’s not very fast sailing. Quite complex with a few more transitions between now and the finish.

“We’ve got Malizia just a few miles behind and to leeward of us. Team Holcim-PRB is to weather and forward of us. Last night they hitched out to the right pretty hard, sailing quick, and they’ve come back ahead of us, but probably not as far as they should have been…an interesting option from them…”

In the VO65 fleet, WindWhisper Racing Team continues to sail its own race towards the Grand Finale in Genoa, with a nice lead over all of the chasers.

Skipper Daryl Wislang’s team is nearly 175 miles to the east of the rest of the fleet with the Balearic Islands to port, racing in very different conditions to the others. And this is just about the only risk for WindWhisper — in these light, changeable conditions, they have to sail their own race and be confident they can get to Genoa faster.

When they arrive, the Grand Finale is fully prepared to offer some top Italian hospitality. Ocean Live Park in Genoa had a soft opening ceremony on Saturday morning before the official opening on Sunday (25 June).

Rankings at 1900 UTC, 24 June

IMOCA:

1. Team Holcim-PRB, 456.3 miles to finish
2. Biotherm, 3.7 miles to leader

3. Team Malizia, 7 miles to leader

VO65
:

1. WindWhisper Racing, 352.1 miles to finish
2. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, 132.1 miles to leader
3. Team JAJO, 136.5 miles to leader
4. Viva México, 147.1 miles to leader
5. Austrian Ocean Race - Team Genova, 162.7 miles to leader

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

It’s been a profitable 24 hours for Poland’s WindWhisper Racing Team, which has escaped from the rest of the boats racing towards the Grand Finale of The Ocean Race 2022-23 in Genoa and stretched out to a lead of over 150 nautical miles over its nearest pursuers in the VO65 fleet.

In the short term, however, the forecast isn’t in the team’s favour. The wind was expected to ease dramatically in the western Mediterranean over the course of Thursday (22 June) before shifting from the westerly that has pushed them into the Med to an east-northeasterly that they’ll need to fight to make progress toward Italy.

The calm patch will apply to the chasing boats as well, who may need to battle this transition along with unfavourable tidal current in the Strait of Gibraltar depending on their arrival. And a later arrival could mean tacking into a building headwind.

On the approach to Gibraltar, Team Holcim-PRB is leading the IMOCAs, but at 1800 UTC was in danger of losing miles to both Biotherm — just 2.4 nautical miles astern — and Team Malizia.

“It’s a good opportunity for us to catch up to the others,” said Malizia’s Will Harris looking ahead at the transition. “There will be a light wind area and maybe a chance for us to play a card and gain some miles if we find better wind. We’ll see what we find.”

The light and somewhat fickle winds are taking a toll on the crews. On the VO65 Team JAJO, currently battling with Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team and Viva México for second position in the VO65 Sprint, the night showed a loss, in very close-quarters racing.

“It’s been very painful,” admitted JAJO’s Jorden van Rooijen. “On the way to Gibraltar, we’ve been battling Mirpuri/Trifork all night. We had them seven miles behind us and now they just got a little bit of pressure, overtook us, a super-close battle, one boat length apart, and now they’re just in front of us.. So we have to get them back!”

That was before JAJO’s encounter with the one of the area’s now infamous orcas, responsible for a spate of attacks on boats since spring. Thankfully boat and crew — and orca — are unharmed.

Rankings at 1800 UTC, 22 June

IMOCA:

1. Team Holcim-PRB, 854.8 miles to finish
2. Biotherm, 2.4 miles to leader

3. Team Malizia, 14.6 miles to leader

VO65
:

1. WindWhisper Racing, 706.6 miles to finish
2. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, 145 miles to leader
3. Team JAJO, 145.8 miles to leader
4. Viva México, 146.7 miles to leader
5. Austrian Ocean Race - Team Genova, 157.8 miles to leader

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

As skipper Daryl Wislang pushed his WindWhisper Racing Team across the line of 37 degrees north latitude at 1004 UTC on Wednesday morning (21 June), his team prepared to turn east towards the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea.

By crossing this 37-degree latitude at the head of both fleets, Wislang’s team wins the Vasco da Gama Mirpuri Foundation Prize, celebrating the heritage of the great navigators of The Ocean Race. In this case, WindWhisper Racing Team navigator Aksel Magdahl will be given the award in Genoa.

While this milestone is in their wake, the team still has over 1,000 nautical miles to run to the finish line and very challenging, light conditions ahead.

However, they have built a nice margin and should be in good shape for the approach to the Mediterranean Sea with the four chasing boats in the VO65 class all at least 117 miles back as of Wednesday evening.

In the IMOCA fleet, Team Holcim-PRB is working hard to hold onto its lead as both Biotherm and Team Malizia keep nibbling at their advantage.

Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm is now within six miles, and Team Malizia has closed up as well, sitting some 40 miles behind.

The IMOCAs, starting behind the VO65s, are just starting to catch the trailing boats in the 65 fleet as the slow conditions haven’t allowed the best performance from these foiling marvels.

“Normally we have some good wind off the coast of Portugal, but now we don’t have wind…only about eight knots,” said Biotherm’s Mariana Lobato, the Portuguese sailor on the boat who was hoping for more exciting conditions off her home coastline. “Hopefully it comes soon so we can make it downwind, and fast, and have some fun!”

“It hasn’t been windy for very much time and now we’re back to the J0, the big headsail, in very light winds,” said Biotherm skipper Paul Meilhat.

“We’re trying to stay in a corridor with the maximum wind we can get,” said Nico Lunven on Team Malizia as his team put in a gybe overnight. “It’s still OK, the spinnaker is still flying… [On Wednesday] we should have more wind close to the shore with the sea breeze effect.”

Despite the light conditions, the Strait of Gibraltar passage is expected on Thursday (22 June) — proof that progress is being made, albeit slower than the teams would like.

Rankings at 1800 UTC, 21 June

IMOCA:

1. Team Holcim-PRB, 1,092.9 miles to finish
2. Biotherm, 5.6 miles to leader

3. Team Malizia, 40.6 miles to leader

VO65
:

1. WindWhisper Racing, 927.4 miles to finish
2. Team JAJO, 117.3 miles to leader
3. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, 119.6 miles to leader
4. Viva México, 153.3 miles to leader
5. Austrian Ocean Race - Team Genova, 166.4 miles to leader

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

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:

1. Team Holcim-PRB, 1,308.6 miles to finish
2. Biotherm, 8.1 miles to leader

3. Team Malizia, 27.5 miles to finish

VO65
:

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

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

The VO65s are still leading the charge south, towards Cape Finisterre and the coast of Portugal. But at the moment, ‘charge’ should be considered a generous description.

Boat speeds are often under 10 knots and the choice for the decision-makers on board is bleak — push south into lighter winds, or further west, away from the target.

“It’s looking very quiet, not so much wind…very slow,” was the succint summary from Nico Lunven on Team Maliza.

Elsewhere, Yoann Richomme, leading the navigation duties on the IMOCA furthest to the south — Team Holcim-PRB — offered up a more vivid description, even if the ultimate conclusion is the same.

“We are in the middle of the Bay of Biscay, going west — west! — to get away from some light winds between France and Spain,” he explained on Monday’s (19 June) boat feed. “Then we are going to try to go down south along the coast of Portugal. it will be light this afternoon, then a little bit windier as we turn south to go down but then Portugal looks very, very light.

“Right now we’re slow. It’s not looking good. Biotherm is about 55 miles north but we could lose quite a bit today I reckon. We have a bit of an advantage but I think the next hours and days will be very tricky.”

As Richomme predicted, that hard-won early advantage is now being eroded by both Biotherm and Team Malizia, as both boats are further west and holding onto the light winds a little bit longer.

The story is similar no matter which of the five VO65s or three IMOCAs you are racing on in this final leg of The Ocean Race. It’s a challenge to pick a route south that has enough wind to keep the boat moving consistently. Today, gambling on a spot further west seems to be paying.

“We chose to go quite far west to chase the remains of a low-pressure system,” said Aksel Magdahl, navigator on WindWhisper Racing Team, the leading team in the VO65 Sprint. “Fortunately, the fleet has more or less followed us which makes it more straighforward.”

As the boats press further south, they will eventually come to the southwestern tip of Portugal before making a left turn and heading towards Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea.

Extending off the tip of Portugal, along 37 degrees of north latitude, is the scoring line for the Vasco da Gama Mirpuri Foundation Prize which will be awarded to the first navigator in either class to cross this latitude. No scoring points are assigned here, but a prize will be presented in Genoa during the Grand Finale awards night.

Meanwhile, 11th Hour Racing Team is making good progress on its ‘race within a race’ to Genoa. After leaving The Hague on Sunday evening, the team is determined to arrive to Italy in time to participate in the In-Port Race.

“We are very tight on time but we will do everything we can to get to Genova to join the rest of the fleet for the Grand Finale of The Ocean Race,” said skipper Charlie Enright as his team left the dock on Sunday (18 June).

“We want to be there in time for the start of the In-Port Race on July 1, to give us the opportunity to compete in, and win, the In-Port Race Series. It’s a race within a race, and the countdown is now on.”

Rankings at 1600 UTC, 19 June

IMOCA:

1. Team Holcim-PRB, 1,600.8 miles to finish
2. Biotherm, 31.8 miles to leader

3. Team Malizia, 49.3 miles to finish

VO65
:

1. WindWhisper Racing, 1,453.1 miles to finish
2. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, 68.3 miles to leader
3. Team JAJO, 70.1 miles to leader
4. Viva México, 87.3 miles to leader
5. Austrian Ocean Race - Team Genova, 69.7 miles to leader

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

Both the IMOCA and VO65 fleets in The Ocean Race are finally free of the English Channel and into the more open waters of the Bay of Biscay/Celtic Sea/North Atlantic on Sunday (18 June).

The mission now is to leave the Bay of Biscay to port and run down the west coasts of Spain and Portugal before turning into the Mediterranean.

After a couple of days of very light winds, Sunday morning (18 June) brought a light to moderate breeze — but it was a south-southwesterly, which is generally the direction of travel, meaning choices would need to be made. Further west there is likely to be more wind, but it comes at a cost of extra miles. This tactical choice over the next 24-48 hours will be one to watch.

“We lost a bit on Biotherm overnight, but still have a good lead at the moment…so far, so good,” said Benjamin Schwartz on IMOCA fleet leader Team Holcim-PRB. His team dropped just over 10 miles in the early hours of Sunday, but have managed to stabilise now and are set up directly west of Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm team, and nearly 50 miles ahead of Boris Herrmann’s Team Malizia.

The VO65 fleet has pushed further west than the IMOCAs, especially the leader WindWhisper Racing Team which is earlier this morning was over 70 miles west of second-placed Mirpuri-Trifork and Team JAJO in third.

The challenge for WindWhisper skipper Daryl Wislang is to determine when there is enough west in the wind direction for them to tack and start making miles south. That time came at 0900 UTC and as of Sunday afternoon the team is making miles towards the goal.

“It’s definitely been a tricky time with very, very light winds,” confirmed Viva Mexico skipper Erik Brockmann, where his team is in a pack of four VO65s chasing the leader.

“The last days have seemed more like the doldrums with a little bit of everything mixed in. Now we finally have some breeze and have sailed all night and I think we are finally getting into the southerlies we have been expecting. Only WindWhisper has been able to get into the wind first [and get away] but we can see the others, so it should be a fun day today.”

Meanwhile, the two teams that returned to The Hague after the dramatic collision that marred the start of Leg 7 for the IMOCA fleet have given updates on their current status.

On Sunday morning, GUYOT environnement - Team Europe confirmed they would not be able to repair their boat in time to get to Genoa for the Grand Finale. Instead, the team has effected a temporary repair (no bowsprit) and will limp towards their home port of Les Sable d’Olonne where full repairs can be made.

“We wanted to finish this race and we put all our power towards that, but we try to go to Genova like this — no bowsprit, no downwind sails — we will arrive well after the stopover,” said skipper Benjamin Dutreux.

“We have spent the past six months with all the other teams. We have that link together now. There is no way we will miss the arrival of the boats in Genova. All of our team will be in Genova to welcome the boats. Whether our boat is there or not there changes nothing. This is a human story and we want to be there to share that with them.”

Dutreux repeated his regret for the incident and its impact on 11th Hour Racing Team and The Ocean Race.

Still in The Hague, Charlie Enright’s team is continuing to work around the clock on repairs to its boat with the goal of getting to Genoa for the Grand Finale.

“The time, the effort, the craftsmanship, the dedication is unbelievable,” Enright said dockside on Saturday afternoon (17 June) as he looked at the work happening on the boat. “I feel so lucky to have this level of dedication to the cause. When you get into situations like this you find out what you’re made of and I’m so proud of what we’ve seen so far.”

The team is expected to update on its plans to get to the Grand Finale in Genoa over the next 24 hours. Additionally, more information about the schedule for 11th Hour Racing Team’s Request for Redress with the World Sailing International Jury will be shared when it is available.

Rankings at 1400 UTC, 18 June

IMOCA:

1. Team Holcim-PRB, 1,693.9 miles to finish
2. Biotherm, 20.3 miles to leader

3. Team Malizia, 45.3 miles to finish

VO65
:

1. WindWhisper Racing, 1,641.3 miles to finish
2. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, 46.3 miles to leader
3. Team JAJO, 52.2 miles to leader
4. Austrian Ocean Race - Team Genova, 59.9 miles to leader
5. Viva México, 61.1 miles to leader

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

The five VO65s and three IMOCA boats racing to The Ocean Race Grand Finale in Genoa are battling light and challenging conditions as they work to exit the English Channel and begin the next phase of the race, in more open waters.

At 1000 UTC on Saturday morning (17 June), the VO65 fleet was tight and compressed together, approximately 50 miles west of the leading IMOCA, Team Holcim-PRB.

Team JAJO was nominally in the lead, over Mirpuri-Trifork Racing Team and WindWhisper, but in reality — with boat speeds below four knots — it was all about who would get the next puff wind, the next eddy of favourable current. That would prove to be WindWhisper, which as of Saturday evening is more than 30 miles ahead of the rest.

“It’s really light, it’s the first big transition of the race,” said Max Deckers on Team JAJO. “We’re expecting wind from the west at some point, but until then it’s just about using anything we get — looking for wind. That’s the main thing.”

The IMOCA teams are facing the same situation. They’ve set up slightly further east and south, Benjamin Schwartz and his crew on Team Holcim-PRB extending away from Biotherm (17 miles) and Team Malizia (36 miles).

“We have to find a way through these light winds in the English Channel to the Bay of Biscay,” said Malizia’s Will Harris.

But it’s tough, slow sailing. “We are waiting for some good wind,” was the lament from Marie Riou on board Biotherm.

And the forecast doesn’t offer much respite. Light to (at best) moderate south-southwesterlies are ahead, but this would also mean upwind sailing through the Bay of Biscay, which won’t be fast in terms of making miles toward the goal.

Perhaps it is good practice for the Mediterranean days ahead.

Rankings at 1800 UTC, 17 June

IMOCA:

1. Team Holcim-PRB, 1,805.1 miles to finish
2. Biotherm, 17.1 miles to leader

3. Team Malizia, 36.1 miles to finish

VO65
:

1. WindWhisper Racing, 1,787.5 miles to finish
2. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, 36.6 miles to leader
3. Austrian Ocean Race - Team Genova, 339.2 miles to leader
4. Team JAJO, 40.3 miles to leader
5. Viva México, 46.9 miles to leader

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