Jun 28, 2023
The Ocean Race is coming to an end. Once all the boats, in both categories, have crossed the final finish line in Genoa, there is only one race left. This weekend, at the beginning of July, the last in-port race will take place and the trophy ceremony will culminate an incredible final ceremony.
The VO65s were the first to cross the finish line, the WindWhisper Racing Team has come in first place and won the last leg of The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint in Genoa, beating the rest of the fleet by a huge gap, namely 100 miles.
The Polish boat has had a spectacular Ocean Race, winning all the legs of this round the world race, three out of three, so it is the clear winner of its category and will receive the prize it so richly deserves.
As for the IMOCA class, there were surprises and excitement until the last minute. The boats arrived at the finish line early on Tuesday afternoon with an unexpected surprise: 24 hours earlier, the leader of the fleet was Team Holcim-PRB, followed by Biotherm.
However, early Tuesday morning, Team Malizia skipper Boris Herrmann and his crew bravely took the lead as they approached land and caught a light breeze along the coast. This allowed them to easily overtake Team Holcim-PRB, who had led most of the leg from The Hague to Genoa, as well as Biotherm, and win their second leg in The Ocean Race.
So, Team Malizia found a way to take a last minute victory in Leg 7 of The Ocean Race.
"I am very happy and very proud of this team. It has been a privilege to work with all of them," noted skipper Boris Herrmann, reflecting on the end of his round-the-world race. "We have the largest number of sailors who completed the full race and Rosie is the only woman to have sailed the full circumnavigation of the planet."
After the arrival of Malizia, the wind dropped almost completely, leaving Biotherm and Holcim-PRB to fight it out for second place. In the end, it was Biotherm that took second place on stage 7, an unfortunate result for the Holcim-PRB team after leading for most of the stage.