The Ocean Race is a new world for IMOCA teams and not just on the water.
Neil Cox is at the frontline of The Ocean Race where IMOCA teams are learning the new world of the stopover game.
In the IMOCA GLOBE SERIES races, boats race from point-to-point and then return to base, or start and finish at the same port. The shore teams rarely work under acute time pressure with a race start – or re-start – just a few days away, when their boat needs to be in tip-top condition.
It is in this area that we are seeing the two worlds – the French school of solo and double-handed racing, and the more Anglo-Saxon tradition of the fully-crewed discipline with mid-race stopovers – coming together.
And someone who is seeing this at close quarters is The Ocean Race’s technical director Neil “Coxy” Cox – a straight-talking 54-year-old Sydneysider who has been running shore teams or race operations with the event for more than 20 years.
Coxy knows better than anyone that getting the shore team element right in this race is critical to success. The five IMOCA teams are all making the leap, but some are better resourced than others when it comes to all-important shore team support.
After the 14,000-mile marathon from Cape Town, this stopover is fundamental to each team’s fortunes in this race. Cox says the condition that the boats leave Brazil, as they set sail for Newport, will go a long way to determining the eventual outcome.
To put the shore team workload in Itajai into perspective, Cox points out that with the Volvo 70s and VO65 fleets, the boats would get a full service after every 10,000 miles.
“These boats have just done 14,000 miles in one leg, so pretty much everything needs to be serviced.”
One team that is in a race against the clock to repair their damaged foil ahead of leg 4 is the Biotherm team of technicians.
The team has moved the foil project to a composite materials facility near Itajaí where specialists are grinding back the damaged material to find the ‘good’ part, which will be built up layer by layer with new carbon fibre.
Once completed, the repaired area should be as good as new.
But it is time-consuming work and the new lamination needs to happen in stages. The race is on!
Next IMOCA start is Leg 4 to Newport USA, Sunday 26 April 2023.
Ed Gorman for IMOCA
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