The Ocean Race Atlantic: Day Eight Report

The final day of a thrilling Ocean Race Atlantic and for Francesca and her crew on 11th Hour Racing - Alberto Bona, Elodie-Jane Mettraux, Will Harris, and onboard reporter Julien Champolion -  the battle for the podium and the win is going right down to the line.

In the approach to the Traffic Separation Scheme off Ushant, 11th Hour Racing was neck-and-neck with Paul Meilhat’s United by the Ocean fighting for second place behind leader DMG Mori Global One, when the boat experienced its first major technical issue of the race.

The mechanism that allows the crew to set the rake of the port foil [the angle at which the foil tilts backward or forward relative to the hull] had failed, meaning they were not able to adjust it to the optimum angle for maximum speed. Sorting it out and making running repairs meant they had to slow down, costing them valuable miles. 

At one stage 11th Hour Racing had slipped to more than 10 miles behind United by the Ocean, but the good news this morning is that Francesca and her crew are fighting back against both the boats ahead of them. 

Taking a course slightly further offshore than DMG Mori, both chasing boats are cutting the deficit in stronger breeze, with United by the Ocean less than two miles behind DMG Mori and 11th Hour Racing just a couple of miles further back but travelling much faster.

Behind the top-three, Team Malizia, skippered by Boris Herrmann and which has been contending with its own foil issue, is not out of the game and was less than 20 miles behind DMG Mori as this gripping transatlantic race entered its final act.

Naturally, Francesca sounded disappointed that she and her team had had to take their foot off the gas to sort out their first major technical issue of the race. “We had to slow down and basically we cannot move the rake, so we have a fixed rake on the foil and that’s it until the finish,” she explained. “It is definitely not ideal, especially trying to keep up with the pace of the boats in front, and with Malizia coming back pretty quickly.”

But the 11th Hour Racing skipper was also able to put a philosophical spin on this setback. “It is what it is,” she said. “It’s part of the game. We haven’t had a lot of issues until now. So we are just managing it. We had to slow down a couple of times to fix it. We are back up to speed, but of course the boats in front are a few miles ahead unfortunately.”

Francesca was still looking ahead for opportunities in the final miles of the race when the breeze will soften ever further as the boats close on the finish line off Lorient. “We know that it is going to become pretty tricky and tight, so we will need to manage that. I think it is really not over until the finish line - between the currents and managing the last few miles of the race is going to be pretty nerve-wracking,” she said.

“We are still trying to keep our watch system in place,” she continued. “We need to make sure everybody’s rested. Probably the last six hours of the race will be a bit more full-on, with all hands on deck. But until then we are trying to get maximum rest to be able to push the boat as fast as we can.”

And she summarized the determination of everyone onboard to finish as strongly as possible: “We are not going to give up until the end. To be honest, I would rather fight to be on a podium and have a race like this, where it is extremely motivating with all the boats so close together, as opposed to sailing on your own for days. 

“This has been really fun,” she continued, “not only for you guys watching, but for us too and we have collected really valuable data about the boat and for me personally for the next races. So it is a big push after 3,000 miles and we are still within a few minutes of each other. It’s pretty crazy … so we will see what happens.