Kevin Escoffier's Team Holcim - PRB has secured a half-time victory on the double scored third leg of the Ocean Race. On day 15 of the "monster leg" from Cape Town to Itajaí in Brazil, the team flying the Swiss flag was the first boat to reach the halfway finish line at 143 degrees longitude east at 18:45:38 German time. Another five points will be transferred to the Holcim - PRB team account. This is now filled with a maximum of 15 points as the leg progresses.
Ocean Race fan Kevin Escoffier expressed his satisfaction accordingly: "The rhythm of the last few hours was set by the massive push to the scoring gate and the first points for stage three. We had built up a big lead at the start of the leg, but the others caught a favourable weather front. There was almost a restart a few days ago. But we managed to maintain a small lead, which we were determined to keep for the scoring."
With top speeds of up to 35 knots to the first finish line of the royal stage
Holcim - PRB reached the halfway finish line almost 140 nautical miles ahead of Team Malizia. Boris Herrmann's crew fought their way up to second place in the final phase of the first half of the leg after the repair marathon a week ago with high speeds of up to 35 knots. The German racing yacht is expected to reach the halfway finish line off Tasmania on the night of 13 March. The last calculated arrival time was 2am. On the way to the scoring gate, Team Malizia fought a thrilling duel with the US team 11th Hour Racing, which was overtaken on Sunday.
Amory Ross, onboard reporter for the 11th Hour Racing team, noted in the final sprint to the line: "After overtaking Biotherm the night before, Malizia did the same to us. They seem to be able to carry more sail and maintain their height. That probably has to do with their hull shape."
"Mālama" stumbles with a capital sun shot
Experienced circumnavigator and reporter Amory Ross continued: "While we have to avoid drilling the bow into the waves, they can sail a deeper course at the same speed. We've watched them come down to us, round our bow, and then sail further south." Not mentioned is the capital sun shot of the "Mālama", which briefly caused the 11th Hour Racing Team to stumble. Team Malizia's sailors had a good view of the mishap.
"We're sailing neck and neck with 11th Hour," said Boris Herrmann, while the fans at home held their breath on this Sunday evening. His crew mate Rosalin Kuiper said: "I'm proud to be on this boat. We can see that second place is realistically possible. We have to get our boat to the finish quickly and safely." With second place at the halfway stage, Team Malizia could pick up four points and move up to third place in the overall Ocean Race standings with nine points behind Holcim - PRB (15 points) and 11th Hour Racing (10 points).
A flawless record and a marvellous 24-hour record
The half-time winners from Team Holcim - PRB scored full points for the third time in a row with five points - an unblemished record. In addition, Kevin Escoffier, Sam Goodchild, Abby Ehler and Tom Laperche set a fabulous 24-hour record of 595.26 nautical miles, which has yet to be ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSR). In the past high-speed days, all four boats in the race have completed more than 572 nautical miles in 24 hours at least once.
In the Southern Ocean, the journey continues relentlessly even after reaching the halfway finish line. There are still more than 7,500 nautical miles to go to Itajaí and Cape Horn to pass. At the end of the queen's stage, points packages worth the value of an "easy" stage are distributed once again.
Neck and neck: Team Malizia and 11th Hour Racing fought a fierce duel for second place at the halfway point of the third stage:
"Paranoia" or "mindset"? Click here for "Malizia - Seaexplorer" on board! The podcasts from the new series "End of Watch" provide powerful insights into the life, work and mind games of Boris Herrmann's crew at sea:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
