Hell at sea... with a crew!
The five sailboats competing in the race around the world The Ocean Race (ex-Volvo Ocean Race) set off on Sunday from Alicante (Spain) for a journey of 60,000 km around the world which should last 6 months.
Under a radiant sun, the five Imoca - monohulls of the Vendée Globe - participants set sail at 4:10 p.m. towards the Strait of Gibraltar, where tough conditions await them on Monday, with a headwind and a rough sea, according to forecast.
“
The key to this race will be to find the balance between the speed and the reliability of the boat and that we will be able to measure in the first 48 hours.
The conditions are good at the end of the route, but the first two days you will have to be very careful
, "said American Charlie Enright, skipper of the 11th Hour team, on Sunday, before boarding his "
flying
" boat.
.
The longest sailing race on the planet, The Ocean Race, born in 1973 under the name of Whitbread Round the World Race, gave for the first time in its history the leading role to the latest generation Imoca, all equipped with foils, these side appendages that allow the boat to rise above the water.
“
We're going to have to set off in a Vendée Globe spirit.
Save energy for later.
There are many of us on board, so we separated the tasks.
I am responsible for my crew, that brings additional pressure
,” explained Benjamin Dutreux (Guyot Environnement-Team Europe).
Three other boats are at the start, without any favorite emerging at this stage: Team Malizia skippered by the German Boris Herrmann, Biotherm helmed by Paul Meilhat and Holcim-PRB skippered by Kevin Escoffier, who has already competed in the race at two times.
On board, each crew is made up of 5 sailors, including at least one woman.
From Alicante, the competitors will first go to Cape Verde and, according to the first routings, this first stage should be completed in 5 to 6 days.
They will then go to Cape Town (South Africa), Itajai (Brazil), Newport (United States), Aarhus (Denmark), The Hague (Netherlands) before completing their epic in Genoa (Italy) at the beginning of July.
The 3rd stage between Cape Town and Itajai is the longest with a journey of nearly 25,000 km to be covered in the inhospitable South Seas.
The start of this race, which usually takes place every three years, has been postponed twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The last edition, contested in 2017/2018, was won by the Dongfeng team (China), led by the French skipper Charles Caudrelier, after 126 days of racing.
