The spectacular start of Ocean Race 2022-2023 has begun!
The biggest marathon of the seas has started. Enter the competition, the Imoca sailboats, the true Formula 1 of the seas. They will take part in a race that will last several months and cover no less than 60,000 kilometers in the world’s most hostile waters.
Fifty years after its first publication, it’s gone Ocean Race 2022-2023 was launched this Sunday, January 15, from the port city of Alicante in southeastern Spain at around 4:10 p.m. 14th edition of the Ocean Race, formerly the Whitbread Round the World Racethen the Volvo Ocean Race, fielded five crews on their boats Imoca, these 60-foot monohull sailboats. They will compete in a race covering a distance of 32,000 nautical miles or about 60,000 km.
At the sound of gunfire that symbolized the start, the Biotherm sailboat, skippered by Paul Meilhat, took the lead of the race ahead of four other crews. The Imokas headed to Cape Verde to conclude the race in Genoa, Italy before filming in Cape Town, South Africa, Itajai, Brazil, Newport, USA, Aarhus, Denmark, and The Hague, Netherlands. Sailboats equipped with foils, those lateral appendages that allow the boat to rise above the water, will have to combine speed and balance to face the harsh conditions of the oceans over the next six months. According to forecasts, they should reach the Strait of Gibraltar today, where wind and rough seas await them.
New race format
For this new edition, the event changed its formula and changed the boat to choose the 60-foot Imoca (from the abbreviation “International Monohull Open Class Association”, the governing body for this category of boats). These sailboats, the real Formula 1 of the seas, were on the run during the Vendée Globe or, more recently, during the Route du Rhum, where they constituted the “open” category, i.e. the prototype of each boat. differs from the competitor.
“This is the first opportunity to see these boats [les Imoca] maximize your potential as a crew”– said Phil Lawrence, who has been the race director since 2016. “It’s going to be interesting because although they behave very well, the performance potential of the boats is huge”.
The Ocean Race 2022-2023 edition features a fleet of ships. Malizia teamskippered by German Boris Herrmann, 11th Hour Racing Team and its captain Charlie Enright and three teams led by the French: Guyot Environment – Team Europe With Benjamin Dutreux and Robert Stanjek, Biotherm Directed by Paul Meilhat and Holcim-PRB skippered by Kevin Escoffier, who has competed twice in the race.
The triennial Ocean Race offers a showdown at the top this year as five contenders have the potential to win the Imoca Trophy. The Dongfeng team (China) led by French skipper Charles Caudrelier won the last edition, which was contested in 2017-2018, after 126 days of competition.
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