Ocean Race 2022-23: 11th Hour Racing Team remain motivated despite third-leg technical problems

11th Hour Racing Team skipper Charlie Enright and his team remain positive despite enduring technical problems during the third leg of The Ocean Race 2022-23.

Team Holcim-PRB leads Team Malizia, Biotherm and 11th Hour Racing Team as the Ocean Race crosses the halfway stage of the third leg.

However, there are still 11 days and some 4000 nautical miles away from the teams’ destination at Itajai.

“It doesn’t end the motivation at all, but it definitely makes it less enjoyable at times,” Enright said. “It’s part of the game. It hasn’t killed our motivation at all – if anything, it made us more hungry to succeed.

“Certainly you don’t come out here for boat-building – you do it for the sailing. It gets a little annoying. Sometimes it sucks the joy out, but it doesn’t end the motivation.”

Justine Mettraux – part of 11th Hour Racing Team – said that the team have a plan in place for the remainder of the leg that will help them to reach 100% capacity again, after shifting their priority to making the repairs needed.

“We have had the time to assess the damage we have had over the past days,” Mettraux said on a live call with media from the boat.

“We will make the most of [the light period] to fix the mainsail and one of the rudders and do a big check over the rest of the boat to be in good shape for the rest of the leg.

“We’ve had the time to think about what we want to do and make a priority list and a good plan for what we want to do.”

“It was a bit of a frustrating situation for us,” Enright added. “Because we worked really hard to get back to what would have been a remarkable second place – just to see it kind of slip away in the last 16 hours.

“It was a little tough. But you know… All the boats have their sweet spot. Their boat [Team Malizia] is designed for this part of the world, they did a good job planning for that.”

11th Hour Racing Team are not the only team to struggle with their boat.

GUYOT environment – Team Europe were knocked out of the leg altogether and were forced to return to shore in Cape Town to undergo some “serious and big” repairs, but they began their ‘delivery sail’ to Itajai on Thursday in readiness for the following leg.

“With the circumstances we faced, we were lucky with how we were able to manage this crisis,” GUYOT’s Robert Stanjek said. “We found good facilities and a lot of help in Cape Town, the team was still there.

“Everything went very smooth. The delivery across the Atlantic Ocean to Itajai is also positive in overall. We are lucky to rejoin the race in Brazil.

“The technical team around Benjamin has done a fantastic job. We didn’t expect it to happen that fast. It was a big and serious repair.”

GUYOT Skipper Benjamin Dutreux added: “It was an amazing team-building job. Everyone has the same goal.

“With a lot of mind-power you can do anything – and this is a great example.”

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