The collision caused by Team Guyot with the leaders of Team 11th Hour Racing shortly after the start of the final leg in The Hague and the consequences of this have paralysed the Ocean Race. The most important team regatta in the world is stuck in a holding pattern in the eagerly awaited showdown. A purely sporting decision on the water is no longer possible in the battle for overall victory in the Ocean Race. Instead, an international jury will decide which team will win the 14th Ocean Race.
The overall Ocean Race victory is decided at the green table
The preliminary conditions suggest how the struggle for triumph at the green table could end. After six stages and before the final section from The Hague to Genoa, the US team 11th Hour Racing led the classification by two points ahead of Team Holcim - PRB. The Swiss should have been three places better than the Americans in the final leg. With only three boats left in the race, Team Holcim - PRB no longer even has the opportunity to do so.
Four days after the crash on 15 June, Charlie Enright's 11th Hour Racing team set off for Genoa on Monday evening with a repaired boat on its own keel. However, this was outside of the competition, after the Americans had officially abandoned the leg beforehand and initiated a lightning repair. In this way, they want to reach the destination port of Genoa in time to at least be able to take part in the final harbour race in Genoa on 1 July. When setting sail on the evening of 19 June, initial calculations indicated 30 June as a possible arrival time for 11th Hour Racing in the Italian final port.
11th Hour Racing and also Team Holcim - PRB affected
What crews, observers and fans have been waiting in vain for five days now is at least a date for the jury hearing and trial of 11th Hour Racing's application. It is about nothing less than making up for the chances of overall victory taken away by the crash. Team Holcim - PRB is also watching the situation with intense self-interest. The Swiss are indirectly affected because they can no longer win the race on the water, even with a final stage victory, as a result of the collision.
The outcome of the ocean marathon lies solely in the decision of the jury. An Ocean Race press release on 19 June stated: "The 11th Hour Racing Team has submitted an application for redress, a process that allows the World Sailing International Jury for the Ocean Race to award points to a team if it determines that the team was prevented from reaching its potential through no fault of its own." Experts believe that 11th Hour is most likely to be awarded compensation in the form of the average of the results achieved in the previous six legs.
Different maths lead to the same result in the Ocean Race
A look at the US team's performance since the start of the race in January reveals these placings: 2nd (4 points), 3rd (3 points), 3rd (6 points, double scored stage), 1st (5 points), 1st (10 points, double scored stage) and 1st (5 points). Taking into account that two stages were scored twice and calculating the average points for 11th Hour Racing, the US team could theoretically make up 4.1 points. And thus 37.1 points in the final standings. If the team currently leading on stage seven, Holcim - PRB, were to win the final stage, the Swiss team would score 36 points. In this scenario, 11th Hour Racing would win the Ocean Race.
Calculated differently, 11th Hour Racing would be in front at the end of a redress. If you take the pure results (2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 1st, 1st, 1st), the result would be an average of 1.83 as the placing that could be awarded to the Americans as the average of the places sailed. Rounded up, this would result in a second place for leg seven. In this scenario, too, 11th Hour Racing would be ahead in the final standings. As the Americans were leading by two points before the leg, which they were unable to compete in due to the fault of another team, experts assume that the trend of compensation will go in this direction.
"Why not crown both teams as winners?"
The basis for an application for redress and its success are the international rules for competitive sailing. Rule 62 states that a boat shall be granted redress if "the result or placing of a boat in a race or series has been or may be substantially prejudiced through no fault of her own". This is the case with 11th Hour Racing.
Furthermore, the question remains as to how Team Holcim - PRB will position itself in this case, as the Swiss team's chances have also been diminished by the crash over the barriers. They can no longer fight for victory on the water. This would not have been easy to achieve, as Benjamin Schwartz and crew would have needed a three-point lead to catch 11th Hour Racing. But it wasn't impossible either. One reader's comment on the yacht.de coverage was already solomonic: "Why not crown both teams winners?"
The Ocean Race triathlon at sea suffers from the wait for the jury trial
The fact that it takes so long to arrange a date for the jury trial is probably due to several factors. On the one hand, it always takes some time to get a high-calibre group of international experts together in one place. Secondly, however, it is very obvious that the organisers are doing everything they can to put the current stage and the "grand finale" in Genoa in the deserved spotlight. The efforts are understandable, but do not make the situation any better.
The three-way battle in the Ocean Race at sea between Team Holcim - PRB, Team Biotherm and Boris Herrmann's Team Malizia is suffering from the paralysing delay. The trio sailed off the Portuguese coast on Tuesday like a string of pearls, one behind the other. Team Biotherm was 18 nautical miles behind the leaders from Team Holcim - PRB at midday on Tuesday. The Malizians had a good 50 nautical miles to make up on the leading team after a tough lull on Tuesday afternoon.
We are waiting for the opportunity to attack them again" (Will Harris)
"We had a tough time in the channel and lost a few miles to the others, who were able to pull away. Now we're waiting for the opportunity to attack them again," said Malizia's co-skipper Will Harris.
Click here for the race report from 20 June:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
