Start date: 15 January 2023
Start time VO65: 1305 UTC / 1405 CET
Start time IMOCA: 1510 UTC / 1610 CET
The first leg of the around-the-world race is a 1,900-plus nautical mile (2,186-mile/3,519-kilometre) multi-day sprint from Alicante, Spain to the Cabo Verde Island port of Mindelo on São Vicente.
The route for Leg 1 first takes the fleet westward through the Mediterranean and out into the Atlantic via the Strait of Gibraltar which separates Europe from North Africa. From there the yachts head south along the African coast, past Spain’s Canary Islands and onward down to the Cabo Verde archipelago.
This leg is estimated to take three to four days to complete – a short sprint compared with subsequent legs of the around-the-world route. However, with the fleet’s time and activities in Cabo Verde restricted, teams will leave Alicante with provisions enough to get them all the way to Cape Town, South Africa – the destination for the second leg of the race. Although comparatively short the opening leg will be demanding nonetheless.
The first challenge the crews will face is finding the fastest route through the tricky Mediterranean weather systems.
Conditions in the Mediterranean can switch from light winds to full gales in the space of a few minutes and the teams will need to be on their toes to avoid being caught out – especially in the hours of darkness.
Next up for the fleet are the narrow and congested waters of the Strait of Gibraltar where, aside from avoiding the myriads of commercial ships making their way in and out of the Mediterranean, the crews will have to deal with fast flowing currents, strong winds, and big waves – the typical prevailing conditions for the area.
Once through Gibraltar the crews will get their first taste of the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean as they turn their bows southward along the Moroccan coastline. The teams’ navigators could face a choice between heading further offshore in search of stronger winds or staying closer to the shore in search of thermal breezes from the land.
The crews will need to be extra careful when passing the Canary Islands. These mountainous land masses can cast wind shadows stretching hundreds of miles downwind. Getting caught in no wind in the lee of one of the islands as the fleet sails off over the horizon is not a winning strategy.
From the Canaries the teams will push on southward towards the finish on São Vicente an island in the northern Barlavento section of the Cabo Verde archipelago. On such a short leg it is likely that both classes of boat will be closely bunched as they approach the finish line off Mindelo in the north of the island, where the wind could potentially get light and unpredictable close to shore.
On arriving in Mindelo the crews will have just a few days to ready themselves and their boats for the following leg across the Equator and down to Cape Town, South Africa.
No shore crew will be allowed to work on the boat so the sailors will need to be self-sufficient.