14
Aug 23
Best of The Ocean Race: Leg 3, the Southern Ocean
The Ocean Race came to an end at the beginning of July and the team is taking a well-deserved rest but this doesn’t mean that you have to miss us over the summer! We have prepared a series of photo articles that we will share one by one in the coming weeks - so that you can relive the last 6 months of incredible racing around the world with some of the most memorable images!
by Hélène Katz
Sailor's kiss: In the middle of the crowd during the Sailors Parade in Cape Town, Rosalin kisses her boyfriend before embarking on a 35-day challenge in the Southern Ocean.
© Ricardo Pinto / Team Malizia
Time for goodbye hugs: The start of Leg 3 was a particularly emotional one, as the team set sail for a long journey in the most remote areas of the world, on a boat they had spent months building and perfecting to perform well in the tough conditions of the Southern Ocean.
© Ricardo Pinto / Team Malizia
And go! Malizia - Seaexplorer was off to a flying start in Cape Town, leading almost all of the inshore section of Leg 3.
© Ricardo Pinto / Team Malizia
After an emotional departure in sunny Cape Town, the crew raced onboard their Malizia - Seaexplorer yacht for the longest leg in The Ocean Race’s 50-year history with 12,750 nautical miles to sail through the Southern Ocean towards Itajaí, Brazil.
© Ricardo Pinto / Team Malizia
Day 2 of a leg expected to last for between 35 to 40 days, and the crew is already struggling with the loss of a headsail. As they were sailing in big waves, the C0 sail dropped in the water. The crew quickly assessed that it had become unhooked and this was the reason for it falling.
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
The albatross, king of the Southern Ocean. And after seeing it for the first time, a sailor's favourite animal.
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
The bad news came in: On day 3 of Leg 2 at approximately 12:00 pm UTC, the sailing crew noticed a crack to the top part of the mast. They were safe and immediately notified the shore team of the issue as Rosalin climbed up the mast to take photos of the damage in order to assess the situation. The crack was 30 cm long and had ripped a vertical line in the top of the mast just above the first reef and where the fractional head sail would sit.
© Rosalin Kuiper / Team Malizia
After a moment of despair and contemplating whether they had to return to Cape Town, the crew managed to lift their spirits and start a mammoth task: Completing a gruelling mast repair at sea expertly elaborated by the technical team. Team Malizia really showed their true spirit in giving it their all... with a smile.
© Will Harris / Team Malizia
Will volunteered to go up the mast and start preparing the area. Little wind helped the progress, however, there was a messy sea state and swell impacting the boat, with over three metre waves making the repair a challenge. Will had to sand away the damaged area with a Bosch power tool in order to create a flat surface that the carbon laminate sheets will be applied to. The process took hours, with him being thrown backwards and forwards against the mast. Once back down, Antoine took this iconic photo of Will covered with carbon dust from head to toe!
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
The team started to prepare the materials inside the boat, collecting everything they needed from the spares bags inline with the shore team's instructions. Nico was focused on keeping the boat on course and managing the surroundings and Antoine was documenting everything. Boris was the one coordinating all the departments and crucially communicating with land and our tech team (the fountains of knowledge) whilst Rosie was preparing the laminate. Questions had to be agreed in advance, who was going up, who was mixing the resin, who would wet out the fibre, do they have everything they needed.
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
Over 12 hours, Team Malizia had been working hard on getting all the repairs managed whilst not being able to sail at full force. From 08:45 UTC on day 5, Rosalin spent two and a half hours up the mast in a rough sea state with about 20 knots of wind in order to finish the repair. She sanded away some of the repaired area and then went about fixing the new lock to the halyard, not an easy job dangling at 28 metres. Once the repair was sanded, Rosie then carried out a tap test on the mast which she filmed in order to send a video and photos of the repair to the shore team. The noise that came back sounded very equal and clear, the laminate appeared thick, even and strong, all the team very very positive about the repair.
© Rosalin Kuiper / Team Malizia
Team Malizia pulled a tremendous effort and managed to catch up with the other boats. On day 14, as they approached the scoring gate south of Australia, the team moved into 2nd place with the scoring gate forcing the teams to ramp up their speed, driving hard towards the imaginary line which held so many points. In doing so, Team Malizia passed incredibly close to 11th Hour Racing and continued to drag race with them for the whole of day 14.
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
Finally, Team Malizia crossed the halfway scoring gate in second place at 23:44 UTC on 12th March 2023! The line which formed directly down from Cape Otway contained half of the points for the whole leg. For crossing in second place behind Team Holcim-PRB, the team earned a respectable 4 points. The fight was then on to reach the finishing line in Itajai Brazil!
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
The tough life of an onboard reporter! Antoine getting shots of Will on deck in the Southern Ocean.
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
After 21 days of sailing in the most remote area of the world, Team Malizia met their competitors Biotherm. A rare and enjoyable moment of 2 boats, 10 crew members meeting in the middle of nowhere captured by Antoine with his drone.
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
Navigator Nico working hours and hours on the computer trying to interpret the weather files and elaborate the best strategy which he would discuss with the rest of the crew.
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
Is this the Southern Ocean? Malizia - Seaexplorer blasting at full speed around Antartica on a very sunny day 26 of Leg 3 of The Ocean Race.
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
On 26th March, Rosalin suffered a head injury after she fell from her bunk when the boat turned and slammed unexpectedly in heavy sea conditions. She was sleeping when the boat wiped out due to a large wave off the South American coast near to Cape Horn. Rosalin was thrown from her bunk and hit her head just above her right eyebrow. She never lost consciousness and the crew were quick to come to her aid as it was clear she was bleeding badly from her eyebrow. It was later confirmed that she had a concussion and needed to rest, whilst the team monitored her and sailed as fast as possible to Itajaí.
© Team Malizia
First to round Cape Horn! Team Malizia managed to overtake Team Holcim-PRB, and having closed a 500+ nautical mile gap to the leaders, they passed the infamous Cape Horn in the lead, earning them the Roaring Forties Trophy (fastest from Cape of Good Hope to Cape Horn). Crossing the waypoint also marked the end of the Southern Ocean and a return to the Atlantic.
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
On the crossing Team Malizia celebrated their first place after 29 days 4 hours and 8 minutes, earning them the Roaring Forties Trophy (fastest from Cape of Good Hope to Cape Horn which they completed in 27 days 17 hours and 31 minutes). This didn’t give the team any points, but it had a lot of meaning within itself. The team had sailed 10,000nm to reach this point, which also marked the end of the Southern Ocean and a return to the Atlantic, with Itajai still nearly 2000nm away. For Will, Rosalin, Nico and Antoine, this was their first time crossing the infamous landmark, and a 6th time for Boris.
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
Day 31, Team Malizia was still in the lead but only by 10 nm with Team Holcim-PRB hot on their heels. Since Rosalin suffered a concussion four days before and was still recovering, the team were down a vital member of the crew and had to change their shift patterns. Boris and Will were alternating solo watches every four hours to leave Nico free to spend hours on the computer, running the weather routing options and expertly navigating them to the finish.
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
When the South Atlantic looks worse than the Southern Ocean... The fleet encountered incredibly variable winds, switching from zero knots up to 51 knots within a matter of minutes. This is coupled with an incredibly confused sea state made sailing very tricky. The team had to stay incredibly focused on the autopilot in order to maintain course and safety during these extreme conditions. Many people think of Cape Horn as the most challenging part of the world to sail in, however, coming around the corner in these conditions may have been the trickiest part of the race so far.
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
The dog fight with Team Holcim-PRB in the South Atlantic, a long and intense battle towards Itajaí, Brazil. Once again, and after 32 days at sea, two boats of the fleet sailed next to each other.
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
A dream has come true! Team Malizia won Leg 3 of The Ocean Race, the longest leg in the race’s history after an intense battle with Team Holcim-PRB in a nail biting end of the leg. The team crossed the finish line on 2 April 2023 at 05:20:28 UTC, after 34 days, 17 hours, 10 min, 28 seconds at sea through the Southern Ocean. Facing big challenges early on during the leg, the team managed to overcome these, catch up with the front of the fleet, take over the lead, and win the mammoth leg.
© Sailing Energy / The Ocean Race
« Winning this leg is an unreal moment, it’s taking time to realise what we have achieved, that the dream is coming true », said Boris as he arrived in Itajaí. « Dreaming of doing The Ocean Race, doing this amazing leg through the Southern Ocean, finishing it after all the trouble we had early on, and winning it!! Four weeks ago, if I had been told ‘Repair your mast because you might win this leg’ I would have not believed it and said that’s not possible, we are too far behind and can’t push the boat anymore. But it worked out beyond our expectations. This was a full team win, and I’m very proud of what we achieved.”
© Marie Lefloch / Team Malizia
The team celebrated their first leg win, winning the Southern Ocean leg, the longest and most difficult one of all, as well as winning the Roaring Forties Trophy on stage in Itajaí, Brazil, on 2nd April 2023.
© Sailing Energy / Team Malizia