The Ocean Race : Game on – as close as it gets at the Equator

Just a couple of minutes separated Team Malizia and 11th Hour Racing Team at the equator crossing while Biotherm closes it up

This edition of The Ocean Race has offered extremely close racing on each of the legs. Although Team Holcim-PRB had stretched to a convincing margin on the overall race leaderboard by winning three of four scoring opportunities, the margin of victory each time was relatively small.

Leg 4 is showing once again how close the IMOCAs can be in fully crewed racing configuration.

On Monday night, Team Malizia led the fleet back into the northern hemisphere, crossing the equator at 19:39:57 UTC. Just over two-minutes later it was 11th Hour Racing Team (19:42:00 UTC).

Biotherm followed three hours further back – 22:44:18 UTC – but has since closed up the distance considerably. On the 06:00 UTC tracker update this morning, Paul Meilhat’s boat was just 8.5 miles back.

The fourth boat racing north is GUYOT environnement – Team Europe. They’re yet to reach the equator, but have reeled in nearly 30 miles over the past day.