The Ocean Race Leg 3 Day 30: Team Malizia continues to head the leaderboard

by The Ocean Race 28 Mar 2023 17:19 BST 28 March 2023

Team Malizia continues to head the leaderboard in leg 3 of The Ocean Race after leading the fleet around Cape Horn.

On Tuesday it was 11th Hour Racing Team (12:55 UTC) and Biotherm (15:25 UTC) who took their turn passing the iconic landmark and joining the exclusive list of offshore sailors to have rounded the Horn.

Check out the photos and video from the roundings here.

The fleet has really split in two now, with Malizia fighting to fend off overall race leader, Team Holcim-PRB and 11th Hour Racing Team holding a slim advantage over Biotherm, but both are nearly a day behind the leading pair.

The Ocean Race 2022-23 Leg 3, Day 29 onboard Biotherm. Anthony Marchand and OBR Ronan Gladu trying to work in the cold weather - photo © Ronan Gladu / Biotherm / The Ocean Race

"It is nice to still be fighting against Biotherm," said Justine Mettraux on 11th Hour Racing Team, who rounded Cape Horn for the first time.

"There are still 2,000 miles not go after the Cape to Itajaí so still a lot to play for. It is nice to have a bit softer winds, despite it meaning the leaders are moving away from us. We are back to full main, big sails, and trying to get the most of the wind we have at the moment, but they are pretty unstable conditions with a lot of clouds.

"It is cold, though! Hard to dry anything but nice, beautiful lights, birds again because we are getting close to shore. We are seeing more Albatrosses and Petrels which is nice."

The Ocean Race 2022-23 Leg 3 Day 28 onboard 11th Hour Racing Team. Malama enjoys a rare Southern Ocean sunset - photo © Amory Ross / 11th Hour Racing / The Ocean Race

"It's been tough to have 11th Hour Racing pass us, but today is better - we're going to pass Cape Horn," Paul Meilhat said. "The boat is not 100% but it's not bad. We are really proud of the work we have done. One year ago we were putting layers in the boat mould and today we are racing past Cape Horn. Already this is a victory."

Nearly 400 miles north, Kevin Escoffier was getting back into race mode after celebrating his third rounding of the Horn.

"The main challenge is still to get to Itajai," he said. "The weather can change rapidly. Rather than looking for weather systems that move very quickly and that can change direction, we'd rather go on the northern route. Always protecting the boat and the crew."

The Ocean Race 2022-23 Leg 3 Day 29 onboard Team Holcim - PRB. The crew as they pass by Cape Horn - photo © Julien Champolion | polaRYSE / Holcim - PRB / The Ocean Race

Will Harris on Team Malizia is enjoying the burden of being in the lead, being chased by a Holcim-PRB team that has a perfect points record in the race to date.

"We've been sailing our own strategy," he said. "We're not at the point where we would match race them. There's still 5 or 6 days left in this leg - there's a lot that can happen so we have to sail our own race. The easiest way to finish ahead of them is to give ourselves an opportunity jump ahead by a few miles. We have to do what we think is right and play our own game."

The latest positions are on the Race Tracker.

Follow the racing at www.theoceanrace.com and www.eurosport.com/sailing

Team Malizia join legends row with Roaring Forties Trophy win

The list of boats and skippers who have won the Roaring Forties Trophy is as good as it gets.

When Team Malizia rounded Cape Horn with the lead in leg 3 of The Ocean Race, not only did they pass the iconic landmark with an important lead, but they added their names to a list of legends in winning the Roaring Forties Trophy.

The Ocean Race 2022-23 Leg 3 as Team Malizia is the first of the fleet crossing Cape Horn - photo © Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia / The Ocean Race

The trophy is perhaps the most interesting in the race, forged from a series of ever larger oval silver shapes, it looks like it could be a broken spar from the early days of the Whitbread Round the World Race, and with an Albatross - the symbol of the Southern Ocean - flying above a tormented ocean.

According to author, photographer and sailing historian Barry Pickthall, the trophy was commissioned by the Royal Naval Sailing Association in 1973 for the boat setting the best time on handicap across the Southern Ocean from Cape Town to Cape Horn. in 1974 it was presented to Ramon Carlin, the skipper of the winning boat in the 1973-74 Whitbread Round the World Race, Sayula II.

Since the end of corrected time racing, the trophy is now awarded to the team with the fastest time between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn.

The Ocean Race 2022-23 The Roaring 40s trophy awaits for the winner in Itajaí - photo © Sebastian Pinkham / The Ocean Race

Up until now, that has meant combining partial times on at least two race legs to get a result.

But in the 2022-23 edition of The Ocean Race, leg 3 is the longest in the history of the event, and for the first time the teams passed all three great Capes - Good Hope, Leeuwin, Horn - in one go.

In winning the Roaring Forties trophy, skipper Boris Herrmann adds his name and that of Team Malizia, to the impressive list of legends and icons who have previously won the trophy.

Malizia is the second German team - joining 2001-02 race winner illbruck - and Herrmann becomes the first German skipper, to claim the Roaring Forties Trophy.

Herrmann reflected on his fifth passage of the iconic Cape: "A short moment in the grey south but a big step for Team Malizia! It passes so quickly - we almost feel disturbed at first from our cocooned world that has settled upon us over the past weeks! The moment of cheering together to the camera arm in arm with this iconic rock behind releases a string of emotions for me and for all of us. The Horn looked beautiful today and after a few minutes it disappeared in the grey fog again! Back to our cocoon but elevated onto a new level."

Previous winners of The Roaring Forties Trophy: