March 24, 2023. Itajaí, Brazil Just when they were beginning to wonder if this was going to be a relatively benign second half of the voyage around the bottom of the world, the Southern Ocean still has a sting in its tail. Now 26 days since they departed Cape Town, and for the past week […]
The Ocean Race
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The Ocean Race: Lining up for the Horn
The teams have the end of the hardest part of the longest leg in the history of The Ocean Race in sight. An epic drone ‘movie’ from Team Malizia On Friday afternoon UTC, the most iconic of landmarks to offshore sailors – Cape Horn – lies just over 1000 miles to the east. But those […]
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The Ocean Race: Big conditions ahead on the way to Cape Horn
For 50 years of The Ocean Race, sailors have considered the Southern Ocean leg, the racing that takes place between Cape Town and Cape Horn, deep in the southern latitudes, as the biggest milestone in the event. Rounding Cape Horn marks the end of the southern conditions, where deep low pressure systems follow one after the […]
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The Ocean Race: From Point Nemo towards Cape Horn
The Ocean Race fleet passed Point Nemo just after 17:30 UTC on Tuesday afternoon, leaving the most remote and isolated place on the ocean in their wake. It likely didn’t feel as isolated as it usually would. All four boats passed the waypoint within a span of 23 minutes and at the head of the fleet, Team Malizia just […]
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The Ocean Race: Back up to speed
The four IMOCAs pushing east through the southern latitudes of the Pacific Ocean are seeing better speeds today, following a weekend of light winds. Racing along the ice exclusion limit at 52-degrees south, the teams are in 15 to 25 knots of wind, and average speeds are back up near 20 knots. And it is still incredibly, impossibly close racing – […]
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The Ocean Race: All lined up with one way to go
On Saturday it seemed as if the race couldn’t get any closer. By Sunday morning UTC that was proved wrong. Today, all four teams are lined up on a 13 mile line extending north to south, but separated by less than 3 miles on the leaderboard. All this after three full weeks of racing. The reason for the close […]
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Sail Newport: The Ocean Race Fleet back in Western Hemisphere
The past week has been one of the milestones for the sailors in The Ocean Race. Record-breaking 24-hour runs, the passing of the scoring gate, and the halfway point of the 12,750-nautical mile leg to Brazil highlighted the fleet’s final days in the Eastern Hemisphere, as Kevin Escoffier’s Swiss-flagged Holcim – PRB led the fleet […]
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The Ocean Race: Steady progress towards Cape Horn
Team Holcim PRB retains its lead on Thursday, as the fleet compresses to within 100 miles. As per the forecast yesterday, the leader is slowing slightly and the trailing boats are nibbling into the lead, but little has changed in the big picture over the past 24 hours. “We knew that everyone would close up on us from behind […]
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Another shot of resilience for 11th Hour Racing Team
By 11th Hour Racing Team March 15, 2023. Cape Town, South Africa After 16 days at sea, we’re approaching the halfway point of Leg 3 of The Ocean Race – the world’s longest and toughest sporting event. The only US entry, 11th Hour Racing Team, is holding its own against the rest of the fleet […]
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The Ocean Race: Speed bumps ahead
Near midnight UTC overnight on Tuesday, Team Holcim-PRB made yet another gybe to the south, looking to stay close to the ice exclusion zone. Its nearest competitor – Team Malizia – continued pushing to the east, and for the first time since the start and the Cape of Good Hope, over two weeks ago, there […]
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The Ocean Race: Repairs and racing along the ice limit
Following the distribution of points at the scoring gate on Sunday, teams are now consolidating their positions and working through job lists to keep the boats in racing condition. On Monday evening, 11th Hour Racing Team revealed the latest challenge for their crew to overcome – a badly torn mainsail, along a load-bearing seam of […]
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The Ocean Race: Back to the grind
It’s back to work Monday for the IMOCA sailors in The Ocean Race. Following record breaking conditions on Saturday and the leg 3 scoring gate on Sunday, the workaday grind sets in again with Cape Horn still nearly two weeks away. In case you missed it, on Saturday all four boats blasted past the existing 24 […]
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The Ocean Race: Speeding to the East
There has been more of the same in The Ocean Race on Friday – but in a good way. All four teams are clicking down the miles, racing to the east in fast reaching conditions. The wind is up, the water is still (relatively) flat, and the miles keep sliding away under the keel. The fleet continues […]
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Record highs and record lows for 11th Hour Racing Team
March 9, 2023. Cape Town, South Africa It’s week 2, Leg 3 of The Ocean Race – the world’s longest and toughest sporting event – and the only US entry, 11th Hour Racing Team, has passed the remote Kerguelen Islands, and soon they’ll be passing to the south of Australia. It has been a week […]
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Two months until The Ocean Race fleet bears down on Newport
By Sail Newport About two months from today, in early May, The Ocean Race fleet will be bearing down on the Leg 4 finish in Newport. Or, perhaps, the first finisher will be safely tucked away at Fort Adams State Park. Whatever the result, the fleet’s arrival for its lone North American stopover is coming […]
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The Ocean Race: A long reach east towards Tasmania
With all four teams sailing deep into the Roaring 40s, the full fleet is finally in what the sailors would consider to be more typical Southern Ocean conditions, with strong winds from a series of low pressure systems propelling them relentlessly east. The leader, Team Holcim-PRB, has made a dive to become the boat furthest […]
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The Ocean Race: Tense times in the south
It’s an interesting day in The Ocean Race with quick moving weather making for a day of transitions in the southern latitudes. The big winner over the past 24 hours is second placed Biotherm, who have gained over 30 miles on Team Holcim-PRB. See on board Biotherm with Sam Davies At the other end of the […]
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The Ocean Race: Making Miles
As Team Holcim-PRB continues to set the standard, racing at speed towards the first scoring gate at 143 degrees east longitude, three other boats are – finally – in fast pursuit. Biotherm, 11th Hour Racing Team and Team Malizia needed to dive as far south as the edge of the ice exclusion zone to find the wind, […]
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The Ocean Race: Start your engines
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 […]
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The Ocean Race: 11th Hour Racing Team in second place; the battle of attrition has begun
By 11th Hour Racing The frenetic start out of Cape Town has set the tone for the first few days of Leg 3 of The Ocean Race 2022-23, the 12,750 nautical mile monster rollercoaster ride through the Southern Ocean. As of 1500 UTC, on Thursday, March 2, Newport, Rhode Island-based 11th Hour Racing Team currently […]
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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 […]