For its 14th edition, the prestigious race in stages highlights the IMOCA, monoccques of the Vendée Globe. Five crews compete until July.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
Fifty years after its first edition, the longest sailing race on the planet is back. For its fourteenth edition, The Ocean Race – Name to date of an event which has successively called Whitbread Round The World Race and Volvo Ocean Race – launched, Sunday January 15 in Alicante (Spain), its marathon of the seas ‘will complete in July after seven trying stages.
For the first time of this event around the world with stopovers, which revealed or confirmed exceptional skippers (the New Zealanders Peter Blake and Grant Dalton and the American Paul Cayard, in particular), the Imocas will be the main actors. Equipped with foils, these appendages which allow them to “fly”, the famous monoccos of the Vendée Globe and their crews of five sailors on board – of which at least one woman – will fight a merciless battle through the most inhospitable seas of the globe.
“This is the first opportunity to see these boats [the Imoca] navigating their crew potential as much as possible,” said Phil Lawrence, director of the race since 2016. “It will be interesting because, even S ‘They behave very well alone, the performance potential of the boats is enormous “.
Known for their solo performance, during the Vendée Globe, or more recently from the Route du Rhum, how will the 60 -foot (18 meters) monocoques exploited by a whole crew? “We all have different assets and with this boat, it will be a question of finding how to use them as well as possible and also making everyone hold in the cockpit”, had fun Annie Lush (Guyot Environnement-Team Europe), Former British Olympic Navigator, who disputes the test for the third time.
“Find the balance between the speed and reliability of the boat”
“The key to this race will be to find the balance between the speed and reliability of the boat and that, we will be able to measure it in the first 48 hours,” completed the American Charlie Enright, one Skippers in the running.
Party of Alicante, Sunday, the competitors will first go to Cape Verde, before aiming for Cap (South Africa), Itajai (Brazil), Newport (United States), Aarhus (Denmark), The Hague (Netherlands) and to complete their journey to Genoa (Italy).
larger, longer and one of the most coveted sailing races, The Ocean Race covers 32,000 nautical miles (60,000 km), and will see a fleet composed of Team Malizia skipped by the ‘German Boris Herrmann, of the American team 11th Hour Racing Team and its skipper Charlie Enright, and three French teams-Guyot Environnement-Team Europe led by Benjamin Dutreux, Biotherm barred by Paul Meilhat and Holcim-Prb Skippée by Kevin Escoffier, who played the race twice.
In the last three editions, two have been won by tricolor skippers, Franck Cammas on Groupama in 2011-2021 and Charles Caudrelier at the bar of the Chinese boat Dongfeng in 2017-2018.
If the event has redesigned its formula – changing boats -, and repeatedly postponed departure due to the crisis linked to the COVVI -19, they are still only five to start – six other crews will participate in vor 65, another type of boat, in stages 1, 6 and 7. “Sportingly, they wanted to go get the Imoca to have more boats. We can be disappointed with the number, but I hope that this first will attract other competitors, “admitted Kevin Escoffier (Holcim-PRB) before departure.
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On the starting line, the five Imoca in the race are able to win at the end of this journey in steps through seas. “It is a race that is so long and trying that the key lies a lot in humans, commented Paul Meilhat. We live in a small space and difficult conditions for six months. We have to help each other in the test And above all have fun “. Sunday, the five flying boats of The Ocean Race were ready for takeoff.