11th Hour won the fourth stage of the Ocean Race from Itajai (Brazil) to Newport in the USA. The team won an exciting duel with Malizia.
He had announced big things and kept his word: “Me and the team come from Newport and we really want to win this stage,” skipper Charlie Enright from 11th Hour Racing said confidently shortly before the start of the fourth section.
On Wednesday at 2:41 p.m. local time (8:41 p.m. CEST), the US team crossed the finish line in front of the sailing stronghold on the east coast of the United States to the cheers of their compatriots under a bright blue sky. Several small sailing boats accompanied the winners on their journey to the berth, while ship’s horns provided the appropriate background noise. The 11th Hour from Itajai to Newport took a good 17 days and two hours.
Malizia narrowly beaten – Herrmann proud
In an exciting duel, the Americans saved a small lead over Team Malizia to the finish. The German boat, which was steered by Will Harris on this section, maintained contact with 11th Hour on the last day of the regatta in initially weak and later increasing winds, but was unable to overtake the Americans and finished a good half hour later.
“I’m really proud of my team. Whether first or second on this stage – that’s no indication of how the race will end in the end,” said team skipper Boris Herrmann, who had taken a break and the race in his hometown of Hamburg had followed: “Now it’s getting really exciting and we will attack again from May 21st.”
The fifth and doubly rated transatlantic stage to Aarhus in Denmark starts on May 21st.
Field moves together in the overall standings
In the overall standings, 11th Hour improved to second place with 18 points and is only one point behind Holcim. Third, Malizia also has 18 points.
The stage had a bitter end for the team Holcim, who had been outstanding up until then: four days after the start in Brazil, the mast of skipper Kevin Escoffier’s boat broke. Replacements could not be found in time, so Holcim had to give up the stage and didn’t get any points.
Emergency rig and diesel for Guyot
A similar fate befell Team Guyot. The mast of the team led by Robert Stanjek from Berlin, who had been plagued by bad luck, also broke on Tuesday morning.
Team Guyot, which is in the race with the oldest boat of the five participants, had to give up the third stage due to hull damage.
Now the crew is struggling to somehow get to Newport and salvage a point for the overall standings. On Wednesday there were two successes: The emergency rig made from the remains of the broken mast is standing and allows the damaged racing yacht to at least sail a little.
In addition, the captain of a passing tanker helped the team out with seven large canisters of diesel. After the Guyot radioed the tanker, the tanker stopped and lowered the canisters into the water in the dark with a crane and a red warning light.
Stanjek and Co. fished the fuel out of the sea and can now look forward to 150 additional liters of fuel. The one carried would not have been enough to reach the US coast motorized.
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NDR Info | 05/11/2023 | 14:00 clock
