The Ocean Race leader racing time

The overall leader of The Ocean Race 2023 is on the clock. Following a collision at the start of Leg 7 on June 15, 11th Hour Racing Team’s damaged boat got a quick makeover and left The Hague, The Netherlands on June 18 en route to the final port of Genoa, Italy. Here’s an update from onboard media reporter Amory Ross on June 22, 2023:

If we can get to Genoa by the in-port race on July 1st we can rejoin the competition, hopefully to go and win the series which we currently lead. If we cannot guarantee our arrival by then, we would miss that race and also the final race awards ceremony that night.

But we are at the mercy of the wind gods. Si Fi (navigator Simon Fisher) is constantly downloading new weather and running the routes. We are watching our ETA like a hawk, and it’s hovering on June 30th. There is no margin for delay.

This means we at some point have to decide whether we roll the dice and enter the Med, where the wind gets predictably fickle and our options get more limited, or whether we accept that being late and missing the grand finale isn’t really an option. The latter would have us park the boat and get to Genoa another, faster way.

That’s it really. While the fleet race each other, we race the calendar.

In some ways it’s helping distract us, and in other ways it’s helping keep us competitive. Nobody has lost the urge to push the boat hard. In the interim though, we are prioritizing good company and enjoying the last onboard memories of this incredible adventure that is soon coming to an end.

A redress hearing for 11th Hour Racing team is scheduled on June 29.

Race details – Route – Tracker – Scoreboard – Content from the boats – YouTube

IMOCA Overall Leaderboard (after 6 of 7 legs)
1. 11th Hour Racing Team — 33 points
2. Team Holcim-PRB — 31 points
3. Team Malizia — 27 points
4. Biotherm — 19 points
5. GUYOT environnement – Team Europe — 2 points

In Port Race Overall Leaderboard (after 6 of 7 races)

IMOCA: Name, Design, Skipper, Launch date
• Guyot Environnement – Team Europe (VPLP Verdier); Benjamin Dutreux (FRA)/Robert Stanjek (GER); September 1, 2015
• 11th Hour Racing Team (Guillaume Verdier); Charlie Enright (USA); August 24, 2021
• Holcim-PRB (Guillaume Verdier); Kevin Escoffier (FRA); May 8, 2022
• Team Malizia (VPLP); Boris Herrmann (GER); July 19, 2022
• Biotherm (Guillaume Verdier); Paul Meilhat (FRA); August 31 2022

The Ocean Race 2022-23 Race Schedule:
Alicante, Spain – Leg 1 (1900 nm) start: January 15, 2023
Cabo Verde – ETA: January 22; Leg 2 (4600 nm) start: January 25
Cape Town, South Africa – ETA: February 9; Leg 3 (12750 nm) start: February 26
Itajaí, Brazil – ETA: April 1; Leg 4 (5500 nm) start: April 23
Newport, RI, USA – ETA: May 10; Leg 5 (3500 nm) start: May 21
Aarhus, Denmark – ETA: May 30; Leg 6 (800 nm) start: June 8
Kiel, Germany (Fly-By) – June 9
The Hague, The Netherlands – ETA: June 11; Leg 7 (2200 nm) start: June 15
Genova, Italy – The Grand Finale – ETA: June 25, 2023; Final In-Port Race: July 1, 2023

The Ocean Race (formerly Volvo Ocean Race and Whitbread Round the World Race) was initially to be raced in two classes of boats: the high-performance, foiling, IMOCA 60 class and the one-design VO65 class which has been used for the last two editions of the race.

However, only the IMOCAs will be racing round the world while the VO65s will race in The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint which competes in Legs 1, 6, and 7 of The Ocean Race course.

Additionally, The Ocean Race also features the In-Port Series with races at seven of the course’s stopover cities around the world which allow local fans to get up close and personal to the teams as they battle it out around a short inshore course.

Although in-port races do not count towards a team’s overall points score, they do play an important part in the overall rankings as the In-Port Race Series standings are used to break any points ties that occur during the race around the world.

Held every three or four years since 1973, the 14th edition of The Ocean Race was originally planned for 2021-22 but was postponed one year due to the pandemic, with the first leg starting on January 15, 2023.