It is still a far cry from traditional Roaring 40s weather, but at least one critical element has returned – the wind. Biotherm, 11th Hour Racing Team and Team Malizia are all finally on the move after a frustrating period of unusually light, warm, and calm conditions. While the unusual weather suited Team Malizia as […]
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: Unstoppable!! IMOCA sailors facing up to tough challenges in The Ocean Race
In this edition of The Ocean Race, Kevin Escoffier’s Team Holcim-PRB has selected Sia’s “Unstoppable” as its team song for dockout and stage ceremonies, and early into Leg 3 it has never seemed more appropriate. After winning Legs 1 and 2 of The Ocean Race, the Holcim-PRB crew have now built a solid lead just four days into the Leg, escaping with a […]
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The Ocean Race: Holcim PRB leads fleet east while GUYOT environnement turns back to Cape Town
It’s been a busy 24 hours in The Ocean Race, with the fleet pushing east at pace, trying to hold on to the strong winds of a southern latitude low pressure system. Team Holcim – PRB is making the best of it, but the news of the day centres around GUYOT environnement – Team Europe who have […]
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The Ocean Race: GUYOT environnement – Team Europe will suspend racing and return to Cape Town
This morning at 0730 (local time) / 0530 UTC, while the boat was racing in winds of 20-25 knots on Leg 3 of The Ocean Race, the crew on board heard two consecutive noises. After an inspection of the boat, they discovered abnormal movements in the hull bottom in the living area. After a discussion […]
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The Ocean Race: Breeze on as fleet encounters first southern weather system
The wind has arrived for leg 3 of The Ocean Race as the five IMOCA teams settle into higher latitudes and begin to criss-cross to the east, hooking into the first big weather system of the leg. After a day of light winds and adverse current on Monday, the winds will be welcome. But they come […]
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The Ocean Race: Where did the wind go? It’s coming!
After beating upwind into the teeth of a gale on Sunday evening, things have slowed down for The Ocean Race fleet – now back up to a full complement of five racing boats – on Monday morning. The five IMOCA crews are bumping into a small ridge of high pressure and the light winds associated […]
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The Ocean Race: Wild start to Leg 3 from Cape Town
It was an extraordinary ‘stop-go’ type of start to Leg 3 of The Ocean Race in Table Bay as the five-boat IMOCA fleet set out on their 12,750 nautical mile adventure towards Itajaí in Brazil. The race started with two and a half laps of an inshore course to give the crowds lining the Cape […]
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The Ocean Race: Team Holcim – PRB wins in Cape Town
Team Holcim – PRB (SUI) led the Cape Town In-Port Race presented by V&A Waterfront from start to finish in Cape Town. With the South African sun blazing down on the race course and the southerly breeze blowing 15-18 knots, conditions could not have been better for some fast and tactical competition. A three-lap configuration […]
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The Ocean Race: How to Follow the Cape Town In-Port Race
The Cape Town In-Port Race presented by V&A Waterfront is the second event in the In-Port Race series for The Ocean Race 2022-23. It follows the opener in January in Alicante, Spain where Team Malizia won the race, with 11th Hour Racing Team and Biotherm taking the other podium positions. The leaderboard is here. In addition to being […]
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Team Holcim – PRB wins Leg 2 of The Ocean Race with key breakaway in final hours
Skipper Kevin Escoffier and his Team Holcim – PRB have won Leg 2 of The Ocean Race from Cabo Verde to Cape Town after a tense battle through the final miles of the race. At sunrise on Sunday morning, four teams were in the fight for the leg win, with Biotherm, 11th Hour Racing Team and […]
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The Ocean Race: A dogfight to the finish in Cape Town
With just 250 nautical miles left to race (as of noon UTC on Saturday) the results of Leg 2 remain as uncertain as ever with the top four boats within just five miles on the advantage line, as they race in light, flukey, changeable conditions. And the fifth placed boat remains the fastest in the fleet having made […]
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White-knuckle racing for The Ocean Race fleet
For nearly 4700 nautical miles, the five IMOCA teams competing in leg 2 of The Ocean Race have been dueling south from Cabo Verde towards a finish line just off the V+A Waterfront of Cape Town. Overnight Wednesday night the race shifted into a speed contest to the northeast as the one by one the fleet […]
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The Ocean Race: Pointing at the finish line
Team Malizia is leading the way on Thursday as the five IMOCA teams gybed away from the ice exclusion zone along 45-degrees south latitude overnight, turning to race towards the Cape Town finishing line. Climb on board the leader – Team Malizia – as they battle with their watermaker and work to protect their lead There […]
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The Ocean Race: Roaring towards Cape Town
It’s been a productive and fast 24 hours for the IMOCA fleet in The Ocean Race as the teams are diving south towards an ice exclusion zone and into the Roaring 40s, named for the area south of 40-degrees latitude where low pressure systems circle the continent of Antarctica unimpeded by land masses. Sailors in […]
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The Ocean Race: Hurry up to slow down
Today’s report is from IMOCA It’s been a long, exhausting but also thrilling second leg of The Ocean Race and the pattern is not going to change in the final stages, with the five IMOCA crews bracing themselves for one last push to Cape Town. But the routing is far from straightforward, with the boats having […]
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The Ocean Race: 11th Hour Racing Team and Team Malizia win the weekend
The American-flagged 11th Hour Racing Team pushed into the lead on leg 2 of The Ocean Race over the weekend. Skipper Charlie Enright and his crew held their nerve over an early decision to take a westerly routing on the descent down the Atlantic and the choice paid dividends on Saturday afternoon and overnight into Sunday. […]
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The Ocean Race: Making the turn
It was near midnight UTC on Saturday night when boats in The Ocean Race fleet started to make their first significant move to the east towards Cape Town. Within an hour, all five teams had gybed to the east and pointed their bows towards Africa. It’s a very close race now with 11th Hour Racing, Team […]
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The Ocean Race: Around the outside
“Around the outside” is a trope that gets pulled out at one point or another on every edition of The Ocean Race. It refers to a tactical option on the race course where a boat, or boats, sail a longer route in more favourable conditions to make a pass on the leaderboard. Today it’s appropriate […]
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The Ocean Race: Differing views
Credit to GUYOT environnement – Team Europe who have regained the lead on the race tracker as well as their position as the most southerly boat in the fleet. In a race south, that’s a good thing…. or is it? Two of the three boats positioned about 120 miles to the west – Team Holcim-PRB and […]
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The Ocean Race: East is least
One day can make a big difference in The Ocean Race. In fact, just a few hours can turn what had been a winning hand into something doubtful. That’s been the case for GUYOT environnement – Team Europe, who gambled on an easterly line-up for the doldrums and appeared to have made a big gain in […]
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The Ocean Race: Back on track
After hitting the speed bump of the doldrums, the five IMOCA yachts competing in The Ocean Race are now eating up the miles on the race south to Cape Town. Watch the content from on board the race boatsFollow the positions on the race trackerDefying conventional wisdom that says ‘west is best’ for a doldrums crossing, […]
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The Ocean Race: Racing into the South
As January comes to a close, so does one chapter of leg 2 of The Ocean Race. The fleet has burst into the southern hemisphere, crossing the equator overnight and escaping the calms of the doldrums. Follow the latest positions on the race tracker Follow the latest stories ‘from the boats’ GUYOT environnement – Team Europe […]
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The Ocean Race: Nervous times
It’s been a difficult 24 hours for the entire fleet as the five IMOCA teams become fully engulfed in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, better known as the doldrums. The light, fickle winds, random storm cells and clouds that bring sudden puffs of wind along with rain and thunder and lightning, mean days and nights of uncertainty. […]