WindWhisper Racing Team won the final leg of The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint into Genova, beating the rest of the fleet by a massive margin.
The Polish boat crossed the finish line in just six knots of breeze at 10:27 UTC with a leg time of 10 days 23 hours 17 minutes.
With the rest of the fleet still to cover more than 100 nautical miles in very light winds, WindWhisper could win the leg from The Hague to Genova by more than 18 hours.
With skipper Pablo Arrarte (ESP) unable to take part in the final leg, it was left to previous race winner Daryl Wislang (NZL) to take up the skipper’s role. “It’s an amazing feeling to arrive here, happy to be part of the team, and I was lucky enough to take the handlebars for the last leg.”
For the VO65s, the fight now is for second place on Stage 3 and on the overall ranking for the VO65 Sprint. Team JAJO is two points clear of Austrian Ocean Racing / Team Genova on the overall leaderboard.
But with the four VO65s spread out over just 15 miles, it’s a wide open race still.
In the IMOCA class, it is Team Holcim-PRB at the head of the fleet.
After enjoying some strong outflow winds off the coast of France overnight, the team is now back in the slow lane, in winds near 5 knots, with 100 miles to go to the finish line.
Looking ahead there are still some shifts and changes to navigate before the finish.
Biotherm, just behind, confirms it’s not going to be straightforward.
“Still long to reach Genova… “ said Paul Meilhat. “Really complicated from here until the finish line. Probably there will be a convergence of the fleet and then it might open up, some might choose the coast, some offshore. Many possibilities but we will make the final choice tonight.”
