The Ocean Race Europe fleet left Cascais and a lift of 40 knots awaits them in Gibraltar

Cascais

Updated:07/06/2021 08:48h

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The second stage of The Ocean Race Europe has started from Cascais (Portugal), where the 12 crews representing nine countries participating in the event compete in a stage of about four days that will take them to Alicante.

The seven VO65 monotypes and the five foiled IMOCA 60s that make up the Ocean Race Europe fleet set sail from Cascais at 1:00 p.m. local time and have some 700 miles ahead of them on this second stage.

The 12 crews of the Ocean Race Europe are made up of European sailors from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Lithuania, Holland, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden, as well as internationals from Australia. Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States.

After arriving in Cascais on Wednesday, June 2 from Lorient (France), after the dispute of the first stage the sailors had only a few days to recover before returning to battle on Saturday, in a coastal regatta as part of the Mirpuri Foundation Sailing Trophy, a trophy organized by the Clube Naval de Cascais.

In just a few hours, the teams had to quickly shift their mindset from coastal racing to ocean sailing to tackle what meteorologists predict will be a wild and windy journey to Alicante.

The second stage route will see the fleet pass through Portugal’s capital Lisbon, and then continue to gain south to Cape San Vicente, the most southwestern point in Europe.

Here ships will veer southeast towards the Strait of Gibraltar, the narrow and heavily congested passage that separates the Iberian Peninsula from Morocco and marks the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea.

The conditions in the Strait of Gibraltar are expected to be fierce, as the forecast marks a lift with peaks of 40 knots for Monday, when the Ocean Race Europe boats are expected to pass, which they will face a upwind very hard.

Once in the Mediterranean, the most direct route is along the Spanish coast until arriving in Alicante. However, depending on the prevailing weather conditions, crews may choose to navigate a longer route in hopes of finding better winds that allow them to get there earlier by compensating for more miles with higher speed.

Willy Altadill faces the stage after winning the coastal with the Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team in the VO65. “Yesterday was a very good day, we needed it. Leaving here we will go straight to San Vicente and in the Gulf of Cádiz things begin to get complicated, in Gibraltar there will be tough conditions, 35-40 knots, which are always a little more there. Then we will have the typical transitions to Alicante, although it is likely that everything will be decided at the last moment as we saw when we arrived in Cascais “.

For his part, Sinbad Quiroga was prepared for everything with Sailing Poland. “It will be a very tight stage because I think there will be an accordion effect at the end. I am looking forward to arriving in Spain and eating a good paella “he said with humor.

“The wind starts to rise a lot in the Strait of Gibraltar”said the renowned French sailor Sébastien Josse, who competes aboard the IMOCA 60 CORUM L’Épargne (FRA) leading the classification of his class before the start of the stage. “We have two options in the Strait: one is to stay in the north on the coast to our left. We may have to do a lot of tacking, but with less wind. The second option is to cross the Strait and go to Morocco, but we have a very strong wind, 40 knots, although we would have to do fewer maneuvers. Then the wind seems to drop completely, but we still don’t know what conditions we will have. “

After proving that the old sports saying of never giving up often works after he achieved surprise victory in the VO65 class in the first stage, The Austrian Ocean Race Project skipper Gerwin Jansen said his young crew is going to give it their all. as always on the way to Alicante. “We enjoyed the victory as we should”, Jansen said. “But we have also tried to lower expectations a bit. It’s not entirely normal for the youngest team to win like this in the first stage. “.

After a short delay to allow the wind to stabilize, the IMOCA 60s were the first fleet to start the second stage, with a quick stretch to the northwest to a mark that marked the exit from Cascais, where Thomas Ruyant’s LinkedOut was the first to arrive.

About two miles from the start, the 11th Hour Racing Team was involved in a collision with a small motor boat that was at anchor. There were no injuries on either vessel, and the powerboat returned to port under its own power and unaided. 11th Hour Racing also returned to port, having withdrawn from the race, to assess the damage.

“We have been able to confirm through the regatta management that all the crew of the motor boat are fine and we sent our support team to accompany them to the marina, although they were able to arrive without help and by their own means. I can also confirm that all the members of our crew are fine “said Charlie Enright, the skipper of the 11th Hour Racing Team. “We take full responsibility for what happened in the water. We have returned to the marina and we are evaluating exactly what happened to our ship. We have suffered some damage to the port foil. We are working with the ground team and the design team to see what impact it has on our participation. “

After spending approximately two hours on the ground, the team confirmed their intention to start again on Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the seven VO65s made up a spectacular sight as they lined up on the first leg. To show that their victory in the first stage was no accident, the Austrian Ocean Race Project took the lead of the VO65s out of Cascais.

Before leaving the Cascais dock, Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team skipper Yoann Richomme (FRA) passed the baton for the Relay4Nature initiative to Chris Nicholson (AUS), skipper of AkzoNobel Ocean Racing.

The Relay4Nature is an ocean relay that aims to encourage world leaders to increase their ambition to preserve nature, human and ocean rights in all policies and actions and to unite for better ocean governance.

On the first stage from Lorient, the Relay4Nature witness was aboard the 11th Hour Racing Team (USA), which handed over the baton to the Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team by Swiss crewmember Justine Mettraux.

According to the latest weather models, the teams are expected to complete the second stage in four days, so they are expected to arrive in Alicante on Thursday, June 9.

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