Wednesday has dawned with a beautiful morning in Newport, Rhode Island. It’s a cool, crisp, spring day, with bright sunshine and clear blue skies. HOW TO FOLLOW THE ARRIVALS IN NEWPORT Unfortunately for the trio racing towards the finish line off Fort Adams State Park, the high pressure system clearing the sky today also brings light winds. […]
The Ocean Race
About The Ocean Race
Since 1973, The Ocean Race has provided the ultimate test of a team and a human adventure like no other. For nearly 50 years, it has kept an almost mythical hold over some of the greatest sailors and been the proving ground for the legends of our sport.
The 14th edition of The Ocean Race will start from Alicante, Spain on 15 January 2023, and will finish in Genova, Italy early in the summer of 2023. The race will visit nine iconic cities around the globe over a six-month period (Alicante, Spain - Cabo Verde - Cape Town, South Africa - Itajaí, Brazil - Newport, RI, USA - Aarhus, Denmark - Kiel Fly-By, Germany - The Hague, the Netherlands - Genova, Italy) and will feature a leg with the longest racing distance in the 50-year history of the event - a 12,750 nautical mile, one-month marathon from Cape Town, South Africa to Itajaí, Brazil. The fleet of mixed crews will pass all three great southern Capes - Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin, Cape Horn - non-stop, for the first time.
Along with five confirmed foiling IMOCA teams racing around the world, six one-design VO65 boats will race on three legs with an option to compete for a new trophy within The Ocean Race called The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup.
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The Ocean Race: GUYOT environnement – Team Europe dismasted in strong winds as 11th Hour Racing Team leads towards home port
The GUYOT environnement – Team Europe crew is safe and working on a jury rig after dismasting in a fierce north Atlantic storm overnight Monday night on the closing stages of Leg 4 from Itajaí, Brazil to Newport, Rhode Island. At 0243 UTC, while the team was racing in fourth place in gale force winds […]
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The Ocean Race: GUYOT environnement – Team Europe has dismasted, all onboard are safe
GUYOT environnement – Team Europe has dismasted in the north Atlantic, just over 600 miles east of Newport, Rhode Island. The team on board reports all crew are safe and are working to secure the boat. The team has been racing through challenging conditions, with gale force winds gusting above 30 knots. We will have […]
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The Ocean Race: Brutal hours ahead for the fleet
As the leading boats get within 600 miles of the finishing line off Newport, Rhode Island, the crews are preparing for a brutal afternoon and evening at sea. There is a weather front approaching with southwest winds forecast at 40 knots, gusting as high at 50 knots. If this weather comes through as predicted, it will […]
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The Ocean Race: Battling towards the finish
The competition level is high as 11th Hour Racing Team and Team Malizia duel towards the finish. “11th Hour Racing Team is just a few miles away and we’re doing everything we can to get ahead of them,” said Malizia skipper Will Harris. “The fight is still on. It’s been an intense fight for the last six […]
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The Ocean Race: Strange days at sea
While the IMOCA fleet is making progress towards the finishing line at Newport, Rhode Island on Saturday, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. 11th Hour Racing Team has now grabbed the lead back from Team Malizia as Charlie Enright’s squad squeezed ahead by about 5 miles on the leaderboard as they continue to tick down the miles towards their home port, […]
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The Ocean Race: Opportunity knocks
Team Malizia and 11th Hour Racing Team remain locked in a battle that appears destined to last until the finish line off Newport, Rhode Island is in sight. On Friday morning (UTC), first Malizia and then 11th Hour Racing Team put in successful gybes as the wind shifted south. The transition immediately showed as a benefit […]
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The Ocean Race: Malizia into the lead as teams speed north
The German-flagged Team Malizia has moved into the lead on leg 4 of The Ocean Race as skipper Will Harris and his crew charge north, marching nearly in lockstep with the previous leader, 11th Hour Racing Team. Conditions are favourable for high-speed sailing; reaching across the easterly wind in 15-20 knots of pressure, with a moderate, but building, […]
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The Ocean Race Europe will take place in 2025
As the current edition of The Ocean Race heads back into the northern hemisphere, race organisers are already looking ahead to the next major event in the 10 year planning cycle – The Ocean Race Europe 2025. Following the success of the inaugural event in 2021 – The Ocean Race Europe was among the first major international […]
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The Ocean Race: Bursting through the tropical squalls
On the race course on Wednesday, the top three teams are clustered together within 50 miles on the leaderboard, with 11th Hour Racing Team now leading Team Malizia and Biotherm. GUYOT environnement – Team Europe is further behind. Boat speeds are averaging near 22-24 knots and 24-hour runs are now near 500 miles. Tradewind sailing […]
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The Ocean Race: A dogfight the whole way up
On Monday evening (UTC) Team Malizia led 11th Hour Racing Team across the equator, as The Ocean Race returned to the northern hemisphere. But the margin was slim – just over two minutes separated the leading pair. “Hopefully we’re going to cross in first… by about 200 metres I would say,” said Will Harris from […]
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The Ocean Race: Rounding the corner, with the doldrums ahead
The USA lies to the north and Brazil is now in the wake of the four teams racing towards Newport, Rhode Island as the fleet has rounded the northeastern corner of Brazil. The next transition will be to cross what appears on the forecast to be a fairly benigh doldrums – the teams are far enough to […]
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The Ocean Race: Charging north towards the doldrums
Modeerate easterly tradewinds have provided a speedy 24 hours of racing for the four IMOCAs charging north towards the doldrums. 24 hour distance runs have nearly doubled (although are still far off a record-setting pace) as the wind has settled in around 12-14 knots. The result is a drag race directly north, where the teams […]
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The Ocean Race: Desperately seeking tradewinds
The four boats racing north are in a challenging position. The wind is very light and unstable. The result? 24 hour runs of less than 180 nautical miles. That might be a good day on a 35 foot cruising yacht, but it’s not what these IMOCAs were designed to do. One look at the tracker tells you […]
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11th Hour Racing Team leads close quarters racing, while Holcim-PRB heads for Rio
It’s been a long speed contest for the four IMOCA racing to the northeast, away from the Brazilian coast. For over 24 hours they had been racing close to the wind on port tack, heading offshore. As The Ocean Race meteorologist Christian Dumard notes: “Very shifty and unstable unpwind conditions…” But over the next 48 hours, […]
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The Ocean Race: Team Holcim-PRB has dismasted – all crew safe
Skipper Kevin Escoffier has reported his team is safe after dismasting during leg 4 of The Ocean Race. Team Holcim-PRB was racing approximately 20 miles off the coast of Brazil in moderate winds and sea state. The dismasting occurred just after 0500 UTC (0200 local time) on 27 April, on the fourth day of leg […]
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The Ocean Race: The inside track
The five IMOCAs in The Ocean Race fleet are short tacking up the coast of Brazil, squeezed between the land to the west and an exclusion zone to the east. With the wind coming from the north-northeast, which is the desired direction to sail towards, it means a lot of tacking and close quarters manoeuvering. The racing […]
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The Ocean Race: Hunting the breeze
It hasn’t been a straightforward start to leg 4 of The Ocean Race as the IMOCA teams zig-zag away from the coast of Brazil, seeking favourable conditions to the east, whilst keeping an eye on the overall goal of making miles north. Follow all the content from the boats here There’s also big picture weather […]
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The Ocean Race: Leg 4 opens with a drag race
It was GUYOT environnement – Team Europe sailor Annie Lush who said the opening days of Leg 4 would be a “trim off” and this is how it has come to pass. She was referring to the probablity the teams would be closely lined-up, drag racing one boat next to the other. Sail trim and […]
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11th Hour Racing Team and Malizia to duel for top spot on In Port leaderboard
The Itajaí In Port Race takes place at 1410 local time in Brazil on Friday afternoon (1710 UTC). HOW TO FOLLOW THE ITAJAÍ IN PORT RACE The forecast is for light winds, which could make for challenging and changeable racing on a course set near the currents from the Itajaí-Açu River. After two In Port […]
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Crew changes mark start of second half of The Ocean Race
Crew rotation is proving to be a big feature in this edition of The Ocean Race. For Leg 4, some big crew changes are afoot, for two of the teams in particular. We’re pretty much at the half-way stage of the race, with approximately 55% of the points still remaining, so if you’re going to […]
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The Ocean Race: Indigenous voices lead calls for the ocean’s rights to be recognised
Speaking earlier today at The Ocean Race Summit Itajaí, Santa Catarina, Brazil, Eunice Kerexu -Secretary of Environmental and Territorial Indigenous Rights of the Indigenous People Ministry of Brazil- warned that indigenous rights and better governance are critical for the success of ocean protection initiatives. “We have a lot of respect for the ocean,” said Kerexu, who spoke […]
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The Ocean Race: Stories of resolve and resilience as 11th Hour Racing Team and Biotherm finish in Itajaí
As skipper Charlie Enright put it, this wasn’t the finish they wanted, but it was a massive achievement all the same. He was referring to a third place result in Leg 3 for 11th Hour Racing Team, who battled increasing amounts of damage to their boat from the first moments after the start in Cape Town all the […]
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The Ocean Race: Biotherm battling for third
The podium battle promises to push the two teams still racing up the coast to the very end with Biotherm and 11th Hour Racing Team racing within less than 15 miles of each other on the leaderboard. It’s slow but steady progress to the north with Biotherm set up to the west of 11th Hour […]
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The Ocean Race: Duel remains for leg 3 podium position
With leg 3 winner Team Malizia and second-place finisher Team Holcim-PRB safe in Itajaí, the battle on the water for third place has closed up dramatically over the past 24 hours. Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm crew has realised an incredible gain on 11th Hour Racing Team over the past 24 hours, making up nearly 100 miles on the […]