With Cape Horn still nearly two weeks away the IMOCA teams are now consolidating their positions and working through job lists to keep the boats in racing condition.
In case you missed it, on Saturday all four boats blasted past the existing 24 hour distance record for IMOCAs, subject to ratification.
Team Holcim-PRB set 595.26 nautical miles, just a shade off the Race record of 602 nautical miles set by Team AkzoNobel in the last race.
On Monday evening, 11th Hour Racing Team revealed the latest challenge for their crew to overcome – a badly torn mainsail, along a load-bearing seam of the sail at the first reef point.
Skipper Charlie Enright confirmed this team would attempt to make a repair and keep racing:
As happened in the days before the scoring gate, the leading boat will bump into a high pressure ridge with lighter winds and the trailing boats will bring more wind with them.
The lighter conditions could be an opportunity for more effective repairs as well.
The Biotherm team is facing issues too, having discovered damage to a longitudinal frame that helps support to the structure of the boat.
“There is a longitudinal frame that has cracked over a span of three meters, so we are looking into how to fix it with the shore team,” said skipper Paul Meilhat in a French interview.
“It seems not to be a key structural frame so we’ll have to fix it, but it’s no big deal. It shouldn’t affect the rest of the race and we might only lose a little bit of time. We’re fixing this be we keep going forward – normal but not pushing it too much.”
At the front of fleet, Team Holcim-PRB has generally been a bit quieter about sharing equipment problems they may be facing.
But certainly, based on performance, whatever challenges they have aren’t slowing the team down.
The Ocean Race Leg 3 – IMOCA – DTL nm – SPEED kt
1st Team Holcim – PRB 0.00 – 17.70kt
2nd Team Malizia 70.79nm – 23.00kt
3rd Biotherm 134.30nm – 20.00kt
4th 11th Hour Racing Team 149.64nm – 20.70kt
5th GUYOT environnement – Team Europe RETIRED
Related Post:
Team Holcim-PRB lead at leg 3 Scoring Gate after record-breaking run
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