Historic moment for Polish sailing. WindWhisper yacht wins The Ocean Race!

A great moment in the history of Polish sailing! Sailing under the red and white flag of Yacht Klub Polski Gdynia, the WindWhisper Racing Team has won the legendary regatta The Ocean Race unquestionably. The Polish yacht proved to be the best in the VO65 class.

It started with a dream. It was the dream to someday match the exploits of the Polish yachts Copernicus and Otago, which stunned the sailing world in 1973 – first with their appearance at the start line and then with their finish in the Whitbread Round The World Race. Over the ensuing decades, the event’s names and sponsors changed, new classes of boats emerged and its legend grew stronger with each edition.

One thing remained the same – there were no Poles among the participants. The road to making the red-and-white dream come true began in 2019. It led aboard Sailing Poland – through hundreds of hours of training, racing tests, gathering experience, learning from the best, participation and second place on the podium at The Ocean Race Europe, and finally the start of the WindWhisper yacht in The Ocean Race Sprint Cup on 15 January 2023 in Alicante.

On Monday just after 12:00, the red hull of WindWhisper passed the finish line of the final leg of The Ocean Race from The Hague to Genoa. The Polish yacht checked in to the city of Christopher Columbus as first not only in its class but in the entire fleet participating in this year’s edition.

The advantage of the team, led by New Zealander Daryl Wislang, over the rest of the stakes, was impressive. As the champagne corks popped aboard WindWhisper, the VO65 class yachts still had more than 100mM to sail, as did IMOCA Team Holcim’s class-leading PRB.

Source: PortalMorski.pl