- The French lead the charge with L’Esprit d’équipe FR (85) holding first in IRC. Pen Duick VI FR (14) first in line honours. Top two steam ahead reaching trades as the rest struggle!
- After two weeks of racing north along the coast of Brazil, slow, challenging conditions prove frustrating. The 13-strong fleet split into three packs.
- Watermakers, fridges, flogging sails and fishing occupy the crews.
- Race statistics – almost 30% of OGR sailors are women!
Former Whitbread Round the World Race winner L’Esprit d’équipe FR (85) takes first in IRC in Leg 4 of the Ocean Globe Race. The three-time Whitbread entrant, skippered by Lionel Regnier, and supported by LES SABLES D’OLONNE his home town is finally showing what she’s capable of and storming ahead alongside another French legend Pen Duick VI FR (14), who is leading in line honours – just! A double whammy for the French.
It’s been a slow, challenging two weeks of racing up the Brazilian Coast for the entire fleet, but L’Esprit d’équipe’s decision to take the most Easterly route is paying off – for now. And, the crew are clearly delighted to finally be topping the fleet.
“After 2 weeks of racing, L’Esprit d’équipe is at the forefront. A second youth for this boat full of history.” tweeted L’Esprit d’équipe.
West and just five nm ahead of L’Esprit d’équipe, is Pen Duick VI FR (14). Marie Tabarly and her Pen Duick VI crew took line honours in Punta del Este, so it’s not a title she’s going to hand over easily. Tabarly explained how she views the race to date:
“In fact, a race in 4 legs is a bit like a horse-eventing competition. The first leg, the descent of the Atlantic. Equivalent to the dressage event. Finesse, rigor. No adrenaline or great danger, but a lot of precision and technique. The second and third legs, the great South. The Cross Country. Where we gallop like crazy at 550 meters per minute, jumping huge fixed obstacles, where the trust between rider and horse is paramount. Adrenaline pumping, the event is long, intense, and dangerous.
Finally, the last event, show jumping. Mobile obstacles that can fall, to test the freshness, respect, and concentration of the horse after the other 2 events. For us, it’s the ascent of the Atlantic, with all its pitfalls and after 7 months at sea. Really full of traps: Cabo Frio, the Atlantic cold front, the Doldrums, the Azores anticyclone, the Bay of Biscay. The air is hot, the sails worn, their usage ranges are therefore different. The guys are tired too. To be taken into account in the decisions.” – MARIE TABARLY, SKIPPER OF PEN DUICK VI.
The crew of Pen Duick VI sailing the much-loved 73ft Bermudan Ketch were keen to get back on the water and recommence their personal battle against Translated 9 ITL (09) who they see as their love/hate on-the-water nemesis. Translated 9, a Swan 65, formerly known as ADC Accutrac when sailed in the 1977 Whitbread, retired from Leg 3 after stopping in the Falkland Islands for essential repairs after discovering hull damage. They currently sit 3rd in IRC for leg 4 and 5th in line honours – something they will certainly want to improve on – another yacht that doesn’t like not being on top!
The French Swan 53, Triana FR (66) skippered by Jean d’Arthuys, ranks a provisional 1st in the combined IRC results but has been struggling since the start of Leg 4 continually falling into windless holes. One of the smallest yachts in the fleet, she is currently 10th in IRC and line honours!! For Triana’s crew, who have impressed everyone with the performance in previous legs, their current slow progress is proving difficult to swallow. At the time of writing Triana was wallowing just 5nm ahead of White Shadow ES (17) and just 15nm ahead of Explorer AU (28) the last boat in the fleet – not somewhere they are used to being!
RACE STATISTICS
- Number of sailors to take part in the OGR: 243
- Number of women: 71
- Number of French: 110
- Number of Finnish: 38
- Number of British: 22
- Number of Nationalities: 26
- New Cape Horner: 137
- Round the Worlders: 81
- Youngest sailor – 17 years old
- Oldest sailor – 73 years old
And as part of the OGR Notice of Race each yacht has their waste weighed on arrival into port.
Here are the average figures for waste in each stopover!
- Plastic – 224.5 KG
- Metal – 161.5 KG
- Paper – 38.5 KG
- Glass – 83.5 KG
- Card – 8KG
- Mixed-Recycling – 248 KG
- Non-Recycling – 80 KG
Total – 844 KG
If you are interested in becoming a statistic for the 2027 OGR, it’s never been easier and there are currently at least 10 teams waiting to join the second edition of the OGR. There are seven OGR yachts, up for sale at present. These include Translated 9 Swan 65, the Baltic 55 Outlaw, White Shadow a Swan 57, Sterna a Swan 53, current IRC leaders L’Esprit d’équipe and Godspeed a Swan 51. At least four of the current fleet including EXPLORER are planning to do it all again in 2027. ( For those interested in exploring the details of the boats, our YouTube channel features a series of #OGR2023 Boat Tours)
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