The fleet was facing the first afternoon on the high seas, on the way of the first night in the sea of Alboran and above all in the Strait of Gibraltar, where the weather forecasts are that they are waiting for the wind of the ponyant, which can greatly complicate the passing of the dyeing in search of the Atlantic Ocean. The first 1,900 of the 32,000 miles remain ahead to reach Genoa within six months (Photo Sailing Energy)

Alicante fired with honors and as it was due to the eleven participants in the 14th edition of the Regata Vuelta al Mundo, Ocean Lare... the inclusion of the IMOCA 60 and its spectacularity with medium winds, which allow them to fly, made thousands of fans say goodbye to them from the Port of Alicante and other hundreds of ships in the water, where they celebrated a tour in front of the beach of the Postiguet, to take a course to the island of Tenca and from there, open sea way to Cape Verde, the first of the seven stages that make up this return to the world. A wind between 10 and 17 knots made the output fast, clean and spectacular.

The first to leave behind the pants of the Alicante port were the six VO65, which took the exit after 14 hours and where the great favorite, the Polish ship WindWisher, patroned by the Spanish Pablo Arrarte soon took the lead, by the holandes Team Jajo, ship with Simbad Quiroga on board and directed by a specialist like Bouwe Bekking. And third, the Viva Mexico, with Roberto and Carlos Bermudez de Castro and Jaime Arbones, among their most prominent crew members.

Then it was the turn for the IMOCA, where the wind conditions allowed them to fly to the delight of the fans who followed from the sea the exit. The Biotherm was the first to stand out in the first miles, although the fleet sailed very tight, followed by the French-German Team Malizia and the French Team Holcim-PRB.

Provisional classifications after departure from Alicante

IMOCA

1 - Biotherm (FRA)
2 - Team Holcim-PRB (SUI)
3 - 11th Hour Racing Team (USA)
4 - Team Malizia (GER)
5 - GUYOT environnement - Team Europe (FRA / GER)

VO65

1 - Windwhisper Racing Team (POL)
2 - Team JAJO (NED)
3 - Ambersail 2 (LIT)
4 - Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team (POR)
5 - Austrian Ocean Racing Powered by Team Genova (AUT / ITA)
6 - Viva Mexico (MEX)

First-stage boats and crews

11th Hour Racing Team (USA)
Charlie Enright (USA) - Patron; Simon Fisher (GBR), Jack Bouttell (AUS / GBR), Francesca Clapcich (ITA), Amory Ross (USA) - OBR

Biotherm (FRA)
Paul Meilhat (FRA) - Patron; Anthony Marchand (FRA), Amélie Grassi (FRA), Damien Seguin (FRA), Ming Hao (CHN) - OBR

Team Holcim - PRB (SUI)
Kevin Escoffier (FRA) - Patron; Sam Goodchild (GBR), Tom Laperche (FRA), Abby Ehler (GBR), Julien Champolion (FRA) - OBR

Guyot environnement - Team Europe (FRA / GER)
Benjamin Dutreux (FRA) - Patron; Robert Stanjek (GER), Annie Lush (GBR), Phillip Kasüske (GER), Gauthier Lebec (FRA) - OBR

Team Malizia (GER)
Boris Herrmann (GER) - Patron; Will Harris (GBR), Rosalin Kuiper (NED), Nicolas Lunven (FRA), Antoine Auriol (FRA) - OBR

- VO65

AmberSail 2 (LTU)
Rokas Milevicius (LTU) - Patron; Saulius Pajarskas (LTU), Domantas Juskevicius (LTU), Deimate Jarmalaviciute (LTU), Wictor Kobryn (POL), Jonas Drasutavicius (LTU), Sofiia Naumenko (UKR), Anastasia Kolesnichenko (UKR), Martynas Karpagicius (LTU), Martin Volkovicki (LTU), Sigitas Babilius (LTU).

Austria Ocean Racing Powered by Team Genova (AUT / ITA)
Gerwin Jansen (NED) - Patron; Jolbert van Dijk (NED), Oliver Kobale (AUT), Michiel Goegebeur (BEL), Cecilia Zorzi (ITA), Alberto Riva (ITA), Ruaridh Wright (GBR), Anna Luschan (AUT), Daniel Dagenais-Gaw (CAN), Deborah Blair (GBR), Stefan Leitner (AUT) - OBR

Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team (POR)
António Fontes (POR) -Patron; Diogo Cayolla (POR), Mariana Lobato (POR), Matilde Pinheiro de Melo (POR), Frederico Pinheiro de Melo (POR), Francisco Cai-Água (POR), Francisco Maia (POR), Francisca Pacho (POR), Paulo Mirpuri (POR), Helder Basílio (POR), Robin Christol (FRA) - OBR.

Team JAJO (NED)
Jelmer Nicolaas van Beek (NED) -Patron; Rutger Laurens Vos (NED), Jorden Fariah van Rooijen (NED), Laura Louise van Veen (NED), Max Willem Deckers (NED), Bouwe Bekking (NED), Simbad Quiroga (ESP), Maja Miciksa (POL), Gregg Lowden Parker (GBR), Joy Eilish Fitzgerald (GBR), Brent Frank Schuil (NED) - OBR -

Viva Mexico (MEX)
Erik Brockmann (MEX) - Patron; Roberto Bermudez (ESP), Jaime Arbones (ESP), Tania Elias Calles (MEX), Annemieke Bes (NED), Dominique Knuppel (URU), Juan Varela (MEX), Juan Luis Medina (MEX), Carlos Bermudez (ESP), Moritz Spitzauer (AUT), Jennifer Edney (USA) OBR

Wind Whisper Racing Team (POL)
Pablo Arararte (ESP) -Patron; Liz Wardley (PNG / AUS), Aksel Magdahl (NOR), Marcin Sutkowski (POL), Antonio Cuervas- Mons (ESP), Guillermo Altadill (ESP), Magdalena Kwasna (POL), Arianne Van de Loosdrecht (NED), Szymon Cierzan (POL), Mateusz Gwózdz (POL), Tomasz Piotrowski (POL) -OBR.