Charlie Enright’s American crew 11th Hour has taken the overall lead in The Ocean Race after winning Monday’s 5th leg between Newport (USA) and Aarhus (Denmark).
After an Atlantic crossing of 3,438 miles (6,300 km) and eight days at sea, Charlie Enright‘s crew aboard 11th Hour won the fifth leg from Newport (USA) to Aarhus (Denmark).
The American team won after just 7 days 8 hours and 49 seconds of sailing, nearly 4 hours ahead of Kevin Escoffier and Charles Caudrelier’s Holcim-PRB, followed five minutes later by Boris Herrmann’s Team Malizia.
With this victory, the 11th Hour Racing Team takes the overall lead with 28 points. Team Holcim-PRB remains in contention for overall victory with 27 points, while Team Malizia has 24 points and Biotherm 13 points, well ahead of Guyot Environnement – Team Europe, which dismasted on the leg between Newport and Aarhus.
“It’s great to be at the top of the rankings”, said the American skipper. “It’s more important to be in the lead in July than now, but it’s a first step in the right direction.”
🧭 3433 𝙣𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨
11th Hour Racing Team skipper, @Enright_Charlie, on what it means to become overall race leaders after back-to-back wins! 🥇@11thHourTeam | #TheOceanRace ⛵ pic.twitter.com/VbIkFSFqb9
— Eurosport (@eurosport) May 29, 2023
A Frenchman on board
A luxury teammate on the American boat, Charlie Dalin from Le Havre won the leg alongside Enright.
“I’m super happy with this victory here in Aarhus, on the occasion of my first participation in The Ocean Race. It was extremely fast, it feels like I left Newport two days ago. It was really great to sail so intensely”, explained Charlie Dalin, second in the last solo Vendée Globe and currently preparing for the next one, scheduled for 2024.
🎙️Premiers mots de @CharlieDalin à l’arrivée de la Leg 5 de @theoceanraceFR
« On peut naviguer à des rythmes très élevés. Les mêmes manœuvres prennent 8 fois moins de temps que quand je suis en solitaire. C’était une super expérience, à refaire. » pic.twitter.com/DeWKwiQvrP
— IMOCAGlobeSeries (@ImocaGS) May 29, 2023
Kevin Escoffier second
Kevin Escoffier, who set a new record for distance covered in 24 hours (640.91 miles) during this express leg, got back into the race, but it wasn’t enough to take victory.
“I think we sailed as fast and as well as the others”, commented the former Vendée Globe castaway. “We ran into a few problems. At first, we had to trust our new mast, then we broke the 24-hour record, but it wasn’t enough. The new IMOCAs are pretty extreme, fast but not very comfortable. I can tell you that covering 640 miles in 24 hours is really not comfortable… But by finishing in second place, we still have a chance of winning The Ocean Race.”
The sixth and next leg, from Aarhus (Denmark) to The Hague (Netherlands), via Kiel (Germany), starts on June 8.
Read also >THE BIG START OF THE 2022-2023 OCEAN RACE HAS BEEN LAUNCHED!
Featured photo :© Press
