11th Hour Racing Team and Malizia will duel for top spot on In Port leaderboard
by The Ocean Race 21 Apr 2023 18:48 AEST
Course for In Port race in Itajaí, Brazil © TOR
The Itajaí In Port Race takes place at 1410 local time in Brazil on Friday afternoon (1710 UTC). The forecast is for light winds, which could make for challenging and changeable racing on a course set near the currents from the Itajaí-Açu River.
After two In Port races (Alicante and Cape Town), the leaderboard has 11th Hour Racing Team and Team Malzia equal at the top with 8 points. Team Holcim-PRB, the winner in Cape Town, is three points further back.
The In Port Racing stands on its own as an event in The Ocean Race, but its leaderboard is important - this is the tie-breaking mechanism on the overall race scoreboard, so results here matter.
Teams have had two days on the waters off the bustling Ocean Live Park in Itajaí, giving guests a taste of IMOCA sailing in the pro-am speed trials.
Biotherm, returned early on Wednesday for an unscheduled crane lift after snagging debris around their keel, but were back in the water later the same evening, none the worse for wear. And after an inspection and some minor work the team was on the course again Thursday.
The two days of action in the pro-am speed trials served as a welcome return to competitive sailing after the longest stopover in the Race.
"The In Port Race Series is important as a tie-break, but whenever we are on the water we want to race and we care about where we finish," says 11th Hour Racing Team sailor Simon Fisher. "We take it pretty seriously. To be honest, even in this pro-am sailing, we all want to do well.
"It could be a tricky day," he continued, looking ahead at the expected conditions on Friday. "There is a lot of output current from the river and in the forecast there is a reasonable sea breeze forecast but it might be a bit late in building so it could be an interesting day."
How to follow the racing: www.theoceanrace.com/en/how-to-follow
In Port Race Series Leaderboard going into the event:
1 - 11th Hour Racing Team - 8 points
2 - Team Malizia - 8 points
3 - Team Holcim - PRB - 5 points
4 - GUYOT environnement - Team Europe - 4 points
5 - Biotherm - 3 points