the fleet of The Ocean Race is hell-bent on breaking records. The fifth stage of the regatta is being dizzying and it is that The absolute record for the distance covered in 24 hours in a monohull has been broken once again. Team Holcim-PRB set it at 640.9 miles, but in the last few hours Team Malizia has raised the bar. The German boat, which is sailing in third position, found favorable conditions (running at 25 knots and relatively flat waters), she did not miss them and the new mark is located at 641.13 nautical miles. The data must be ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council to be official, but they far exceed the previous mark of 618.01 miles set by the Comanche 100-foot maxi in 2015.
“Congratulations to the whole team, it’s all a bit incredible and despite the doubts about celebrating it in a big way, we are super happy and we only feel good vibrations”, affirmed Team Malizia skipper Boris Herrmann. “It’s great to see that the boat can sail so well. We’ve had exceptional conditions, flat seas, steady wind from the right direction, the right angle for so long… Sometimes the waves would shorten a bit and we would go down to 18 knots and get a bit bogged down but most of the time the boat sailed perfectly and was flying between 27 and 34 knots, all in a very relaxed manner. In a way, we didn’t feel like pushing ourselves and we didn’t think we were going to break the record, so we were pretty relaxed for the most part, except for the last three hours, when the excitement for the possibility of breaking the record mounted. . And then there was an epic, fun, exciting moment”he added.
The speed that the first three boats in the fleet are carrying has even caused the day of arrival in Aarhus to be brought forward. The forecasts now are that they will complete the fifth stage between this Sunday and Monday. Currently, the 11th Hour Racing Team is the leader, but Team Holcim-PRB, second, is just two miles behind. Team Malizia is third, less than 20 miles behind. All three are climbing up the west coast of Scotland and about to turn east, rounding the upper UK and heading towards Denmark. The fourth boat in the fleet, the Biotherm, continues its private race and it is almost 600 miles from the head. Her skipper, Paul Meilhat, and her crew are in good spirits, but a full day late so their arrival would not be until late Tuesday.