The Ocean Race 2022-23: 11th Hour Racing Team set new record as pack continue to close at one-third mark

As the crews went past the one-third mark of the third leg of The Ocean Race from Cape Town to Itajai, 11th Hour Racing Team set a new record for the event. In excellent conditions throughout Friday and the early hours of Saturday, the team sailed 586.36 nautical miles (subject to ratification), which is a new record for a distance covered in 24 hours by an IMOCA boat.

Ad The previous official record (ratified by the World Speed Sailing Record Council — WSSRC) was 539.71nm set by Alex Thomson's crew in 2018. The Ocean Race'Something that is very important' — Holcim-PRB skipper Escoffier on helping troubled rivalsYESTERDAY AT 21:41 Just last week, 11th Hour Racing broke the mark by travelling 544.63nm, but the IMOCA website lists the crew of Charal, who did 558 nautical miles in a 24 hour period but that has yet to be ratified by the World Speed Sailing Record Council, so there is slight confusion over what the current record was.

Nevertheless, 11th Hour Racing seem to have beaten all previous distances and skipper Charlie Enright was confident the record would be broken again, after last week's 544.63nm mark. «The record will probably fall to someone, perhaps even us again, later in this leg,” said Enright.

“It’s an indelible mark that will live in history forever, however, records are meant to be broken.» 11th Hour Racing Team overtook Team Malizia overnight from Friday into Saturday to move into third, as they continue to close the gap on Team Holcim-PRB. Holcim-PRB have led this leg from the very start back in Cape Town, up to now, and built a lead of around 600 nautical miles a week ago.