The Ocean Race: Ramming, breakage and drama shortly before the finish in Itajaí

It didn't seem far to redemption. Yesterday, the leaders of The Ocean Race - Boris Herrmann with Team Malizia and Kevin Escoffier with Team Holcim -PRB - were just two metres away from the finish of the queen's stage in Itajaí, as close together as they had been for weeks. 11th Hour Racing" and "Biotherm" also sailed swiftly towards the final 1,000-mile mark.

But then it came, the last great storm front, the last difficult test. And how! And with what force!

"We had 50 knots," said Kevin Escoffier to his on-board reporter. "When you look outside, everything is white." A pan later, Julien Champolion's camera shows the foaming South Atlantic. And a look at the faces of the crew shows all the tension. Tom Laperche, at 25 the youngest on board, looks like he has aged 15 or 20 years.

This morning, as Malizia and Holcim sail clear of the worst of the fast-moving storm off the Brazilian coast, just one day before the finish, the list of damage is almost as long as the list of competitors.

The worst hit was Paul Meilhat's "Biotherm", which hit an unidentified object in the water with its port foil. The impact damaged the solid carbon fibre wing as well as the lower foil bearing and the hull, causing the boat to take on water.

However, the situation was under control, the team said, and the crew was unharmed. A jag in the course line indicates the problem. Biotherm" is currently sailing on the intact bow and towards a light wind zone.

It is just the latest in a series of technical setbacks that the French boat and its sailors have had to put up with. The mainsheet deflection tore out of the deck at the start and the bearing balls of the sheet carriages flew overboard. One of the foils was torn on arrival in Cape Town, and a ring bulkhead was subsequently laminated in. However, due to a lack of budget, "Biotherm" was the only Imoca to remain in the water at the time and was not craned ashore.

The technical team will probably have the longest job list to complete in Itajaí. Paul Meilhat seems certain to finish fourth, as he will hardly be able to fight for the podium against "11th Hour Racing", which has also been counted out. Their lead over "Biotherm" was already 90 nautical miles this morning.

Boris Herrmann and his crew did not escape unscathed in the storm either. And they have much more at stake, namely victory. They are currently around 30 nautical miles ahead of "Holcim - PRB", which was still sailing within sight and AIS range yesterday. Before the low struck with full force, the fractional zero, one of the four space sails on the German boat, tore.

Boris had no choice but to roll it up and knock it off. As the Masthead Zero is also missing from the inventory, which would be important for the foreseeable light-wind final phase, Team Malizia now only has the Code 3 and the Jib Zero for rough courses. It's going to be tricky, but anything is still possible. Shortly beforehand, he had expressed his will to win in the video:

This is the final push! Push push, push!"

Kevin Escoffier also had to pay tribute to the low yesterday. After a loss of current at the helm, his boat lay on its side for several minutes, the mast almost horizontal to the choppy sea. A video shows the skipper and crew struggling to regain control of the boat.

The scenes were played out in one of the heaviest gusts, and afterwards Escoffier could tell how tense he was, how much the storm that came in like an assault was draining man and material over the last few miles.

At times, "Holcim" only sailed under a storm jib, as a batten in the main broke in the incident, so the crew had to take it down completely and saw a replacement batten to length. Tough times, even for the superior leader in The Ocean Race.

Meanwhile, the arrival of the heroes is being celebrated today in Itajaí's Ocean Race Park as if it were carnival. This is the declared aim of the Brazilians: to stage the most exuberant, most beautiful, best-attended stopover of the 2023 race. And there is no doubt about it.

One boat is already moored at the floating dock, which was anchored near the estuary especially for The Ocean Race: "Guyot Environnement - Team Europe". It looks like it did at the start in Alicante - race-ready! And the crew is too - rested because of the forced break due to the cancellation of the third leg and the repairs in Cape Town. Skipper Benjamin Dutreux and foreshipman Phillip Kasüske left no doubt yesterday that they will be a force to be reckoned with from now on.