The 2023 race featured two types of boats, the innovative IMOCA's and the battle-proven VO65's.
The big new feature of the 60-foot IMOCA
class was the use of hydrofoils, that can lift the boat partially above water and dramatically increase speed.
The crew
(4 sailors and one onboard reporter) had to hunker down in a cockpit to protect them from being swapped overboard. Steering these
beasts is pretty complex and is mostly done by autopilot.
Conditions on board were basic, noisy and bumpy, but still sailors
lined-up for this F1 of sailing.
5 IMOCA's competed in 7 legs around the world, starting in Alicante, Spain in January
2023, and finishing in Genova, Italy in June 2023.
Leg number 3 covered a record 24.000 km of non-stop sailing from
Cape Town, through the rough and desolated seas of the Southern Ocean to Cape Horn and then up to Itajai, Brazil. Here was
time for much needed repairs.
Originally the VO65 were slated for the full Ocean Race, but lack of sponsors forced the organization to change the plan and create the Ocean Race VO65 Sprint, a new competition for 6 boats that covered only legs 1, 6 and 7, including the in-port races.
In the end it was 11th Hour Racing that won the IMOCA race, thanks to the 4 points awarded by the International Jury after GYOT impaled 11th Hour at the start of leg 7.
WindWhisper convincingly won the VO65 Sprint Cup .
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