The Hague - IMOCA - In Port Race Day

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IMOCA In Port Racing is today - Tuesday - with a race start at 1740 local time (1540 UTC)

VO65 In Port Racing is tomorrow - Wednesday -with a race start at 1740 local time (1540 UTC)

 ** IN EUROPE AND ASIA WATCH LIVE ON EUROSPORT 1 OR EUROSPORT/DISCOVERY DIGITAL CHANNELS FROM 1700 CEST
 ** IN (MOST) OTHER TERRITORIES WATCH LIVE ON YOUTUBE (GEOBLOCKED WORLD FEED) FROM 1730 CEST

1820 local time --- Report:

The Hague served up some of the best racing conditions the IMOCA fleet has seen in this edition of The Ocean Race on Tuesday afternoon. Bright sunshine and strong winds approaching 20 knots made for fast and furious foiling for the In Port Race.

Benjamin Dutreux’s GUYOT environnement-Team Europe hit the starting line at top speed, on the foils, and he was able to sail directly over the top of Team Holcim-PRB and poke in front of 11th Hour Racing Team for good measure.

With the flying IMOCA boats leaping out of the water on their foils, and the sailors just on the edge of control, it was a fast reach to the first mark. At one point, it looked like Dutreux might not be able to lay the mark, but he was just able to squeeze up and take the inside track around mark 1, just seconds ahead of 11th Hour Racing Team.

Boris Herrmann’s Team Malizia was close behind and with an early gybe took the inside lane to pass 11th Hour Racing Team.

Meanwhile, Dutreux extended away to build his lead on the first lap of the race course.

Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Team was able to regain second place from Malizia just before the end of lap 1 while Biotherm and Team Holcim-PRB exchanged positions further back.

On the second lap of the race course - extended slightly in the strong winds - Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm began to make a charge, pushing into Team Malizia and putting the pressure on the German team, but Boris Herrmann and his crew held their nerve and position.

Over the rest of lap 2, Benjamin Dutreux and his crew sailed a flawless race in the challenging conditions to cross the finishing line and earn their first win of The Ocean Race. After their emotional comeback from a dismasting in Aarhus, this will be a popular result in The Ocean Race famliy, a just reward for a team that has shown remarkable resilience in getting onto the start line time and again after numerous setbacks.

“It’s nice, so nice,” said Dutreux moments after crossing the line. “Great team spirit. It was very much about pushing hard and concentrating. It’s great, I am happy to bring a win for all of the team.”

“We’re happy. We raced very calm, very clean,” said Annie Lush from the winning boat. "It’s really nice to get a win. We know the others are pushing hard as these results really count for some of the other teams, so it’s good to know we can still be faster than them even when the others are pushing that hard."

The second place finish for Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Team puts them in a very strong position on the In Port Race leaderboard. This will give the American team additional comfort heading into the final leg of The Ocean Race, as the In Port series standings act as a tie breaking mechanism for the overall race leaderboard.

“That was super intense, it was windy and we had some serious jockeying for position at the start with Holcim PRB,” Enright said. “The start was in 20 knots, and by marks 1 and 2 it was nearly 25 knots!! The whole team did a great job today. We got really close to the starting line but we were able to get over the top of Holcim-PRB and put it away early. Malizia got around us but we got them back and added another point on them on the scoreboard as well."

Team Malizia held off Biotherm for third place, leaving Team Holcim-PRB in fifth, a disappointing result for Benjamin Schwartz and his crew, after a good start.

“These In Port races are so much fun,” Boris Herrmann said. “We didn’t have an ideal start but we recovered to second, but then we left just a little gap and 11th Hour Racing Team squeezed inside us and held on (for second place).”

“We had a good start, but got frozen out by the others,” Holcim-PRB skipper Schwartz said. “When you lose the foils like that on a reaching start there isn’t much you can do. Of course it's not the result we wanted but we managed to get around the race course with a new crew so we can be happy with that and now we focus on the next leg."


IMOCA In Port Race - The Hague

1. GUYOT environnement - Team Europe - 5 points
2. 11th Hour Racing Team - 4 points
3. Team Malizia - 3 points
4. Biotherm - 2 points
5. Team Holcim-PRB

Full leaderboards are here

1812 local time --- And just like that - it's over... A famous win for Benjamin Dutreux's GUYOT environnement - Team Europe!!! 

1755 local time --- After one lap of the race course, Dutreux and his GUYOT environnement-Team Europe have extended slightly while Team Malizia took and inside lane to pass 11th Hour Racing Team, before Charlie Enright returned the favour tacking inside to regain the lead at the end of lap one. Behind, Team Holcim-PRB and Biotherm have been racing neck and neck, and Paul Meilhat's Biotherm has just made the pass on the inside. 

1745 local time --- Team Holcim-PRB fell off the foils just after the start and have dropped nearly all the way back... but an amazing start and first leg from GUYOT environnement - Team Europe. Fast foiling conditions as they just squeeze up and hold on to lead 11th Hour Racing Team to the first mark.

1740 local time --- Wind is around 15 knots and racing underway. Off the starting line it's GUYOT environnement, Holcim PRB and 11th Hour Racing Team on the line with speed. 

1735 local time --- Different opinions on the race course leading into the start - GUYOT and Holcim-PRB with a reef in the mainsail. The others are full mainsail.

1730 local time --- The Race Committee has the wind at 15-17 knots now... Foiling weather for the IMOCAs. And remember, the VO65 In Port Race is at the same time tomorrow. 

1715 local time --- The wind on the race course is around 12 knots... The boats are in the race area... 20 minutes to warning signal.

1625 local time --- First report in from the Race Committee with just over one hour to the start of the IMOCA In Port Race in The Hague:
Course axis is 290-degress based on wind direction of 020. Length of the first leg is 1.5 nautical miles. Wind speed is 10 knots. Planning on a 2 lap race.

1530 local time --- As the IMOCA crews prepare to depart from Ocean Live Park for the race course area, the Race Committee advises the forecast is for winds approaching 20 knots. If that comes to pass, this will be one of the windier In Port Races we've had to date.

1400 local time --- The wind is building and the teams and guests participating in the morning pro-am speed trials had a great experience, which is a good early indicator for this afternoon's IMOCA In Port Race.

1200 local time ---  Wow, wow, wow... Just a perfect day in The Hague for racing. The IMOCA fleet will have their In Port Race at 1740 today, the VO65s are on the same programme tomorrow. 
Warm and sunny again here today, but most importantly, the wind is up as well. Forecast is for 12-16 knots northeast winds - which would make for outstanding racing.