Leg 4 of the 2023 Ocean Race saw 3 teams just 1 point apart, and horns were blowing loudly as Charlie Enright and the 11th Hour Racing Team earned full points for a Leg 4 win. Team Malizia took 2nd, and the 3rd place was a slow glide rather than a dynamic finish for Biotherm as the team struggled with light winds. With no pressure from other teams, the slow cruise to the finish line did not hamper progress.
In a repeat performance for Leg 5, 11th Hour Racing Team again triumphed with an early morning arrival into Arhaus, Denmark. The win placed the team at the top of the Ocean Race Leaderboard for the first time since the start of the competition. 2nd and 3rd went to Holcim-PRB and Malizia, respectively.
Leg 6, the race’s penultimate stage, sees vessels competing across 800 miles of Ocean, south to the Netherlands, and navigating tricky coastal waters. Currents and tides play a large part as yachts navigate thermal breezes and the option of 2 sailing routes to Kiel before once again passing Arhaus on the Skagen headland as the race heads back out to the North Sea.
As the most complex leg of the race, the battle was on, and the result was too close to call as the teams were racing in close proximity to each other. As the leg drew to a close, and teams tacking within meters of their competitor’s yachts, it was once again the 11th Hour Racing team that claimed victory just ahead of Holcim-PRB and Malizia.
With the seventh and final leg crossing a complex 2200-mile course, the race would finish for the first time in the Mediterranean to end in Genova, Italy. Crews faced tough decisions, unpredictable winds, strong tides, and rocky coastlines as yachts raced past Spain, Portugal, and the wild and windy Gibraltar Strait.
Overall, race standings were hotly anticipated during this final stage of the Ocean Race, but in a breathtaking twist of fate, Team Malizia snatched victory from the brink of the finish line in the heart-pounding climax of The Ocean Race’s seventh leg. Like a seasoned maestro, skipper Boris Herrmann and his crew orchestrated a daring move close to the shoreline at 0600 UTC on Tuesday, unleashing the hidden potential of a gentle coastal breeze.
With a surprising surge of speed, they boldly powered past Team Holcim-PRB, who had been the frontrunners for the majority of the leg, as well as moving confidently past Biotherm, to secure their second triumphant leg in The Ocean Race. Skipper Boris Herrmann exclaimed –
“Our journey has been an honor, a privilege to work with these remarkable souls. We’ve etched our names as sailors who’ve embraced the full lap of the planet. It’s an incredible feeling to clinch the Genova leg, a fitting finale to our wild adventure.”
Energy, Yann Riou – PolaRYSE, Armory Ross – 11th Hour Racing, The Ocean Race | Words: Emma Hersh
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