Blasting Towards The Horn

Lining up for the Horn

Cape Horn is just over 1000 miles away, but they will be hard-earned miles...
The teams have the end of the hardest part of the longest leg in the history of The Ocean Race in sight.






On Friday afternoon UTC, the most iconic of landmarks to offshore sailors - Cape Horn - lies just over 1000 miles to the east.

But those miles won't come easily. Gale force winds and 6-8 metre seas are on the menu...

Close together, far from home



The Ocean Race is still racing close together as they approach the most isolated place on the planet

The four IMOCAs charging towards Cape Horn are approaching Point Nemo on Tuesday.



Defined as the most isolated, remote place on earth, Point Nemo is a spot in south Pacific Ocean, 2,688 kilometres from the nearest land. In fact, the closest sign of civilisation is the International Space Station, orbiting...

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 racing remains a stubbornly persistent ridge of high pressure and its light winds that is...

Steady progress towards Cape Horn
As four IMOCAs march past the halfway point of leg 3 in southern latitudes, GUYOT environnement - Team Europe starts sailing towards Brazil to rejoin the next leg...




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...

Repairs and racing along the ice limit

The race continues while each team battles to keep boats operating in racing trim




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...

Record breaking day for IMOCA fleet in the deep south
As the fleet races towards the scoring gate, records are being broken...







It's been a record-breaking day in The Ocean Race as the four IMOCAs racing through the south are pressing hard to gain position - and points - at the leg 3 scoring gate.

Conditions have certainly been favourable for making big mileage - long hours of daylight, a near perfect wind angle and speed (around...

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 to compress slightly, closing the race up with the leg 3 scoring gate fast approaching. The ETA is now Monday morning UTC.





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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.









At the other end of the spectrum, 11th Hour Racing Team appear to be in danger of dropping off the back of a weather system and are making a noticeable dive to the south,...

Doubt creeps in



470 miles would appear to be a solid lead, but there is hope for the chasing pack
Waking up Monday with a 470+ nautical mile lead, one week into leg 3, would appear to be an enviable position for Kevin Escoffier and his Team Holcim PRB.

But the challenge of a big lead is in how best to cover your opposition, who are sailing in an entirely different weather system and have the benefit of seeing where you are. Looking at the forecast, there...

Day 2 - Leg 3 | The night we lost a sail.





all images ? Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia


At approximately 19:00 UTC on 28 February 2023, our crew was sailing in big waves with good wind conditions when they dropped the C0 sail in the water.


The team quickly assessed that it had become unhooked and thus was the reason for it falling. This is something that our shore team and sailing team are discussing further to fully understand...

Breeze on as fleet encounters first southern weather system



The Ocean Race 2022-23 - 28 February 2023, Leg 2 Strong winds on Day 2 onboard GUYOT environnement - Team Europe.? Charles Drapeau / GUYOT environnement - Team Europe
As The Ocean Race fleet heads further south, conditions change dramatically



[VIDEO]https://youtu.be/OZNoph75HeQ[/IMG]

The wind has arrived for leg 3 of The Ocean Race as the five IMOCA teams settle into...

Where did the wind go? It’s coming!!


A fast and furious start sequence out of Cape Town has given way to light winds as the fleet attempts to work to the south and the promise of stronger conditions




https://www.theoceanrace.com/en/racing/tracker




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...

Team HolcimPRB (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 on the rectangular race course would test every team’s boathandling skills on these IMOCA boats, which are not designed for turning tight corners...

TEAM HOLCIM - PRB WIN LEG 2 OF THE OCEAN RACE



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 the Holcim - PRB crews racing in lockstep in light and changeable conditions.

Team Malizia was some 20 miles to the...

Roaring towards Cape Town

The fleet has pushed south into the Roaring 40s and close to record-breaking speed runs...





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.



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