Biotherm is the official victor of the Ocean Race Europe 2025 having crowned an impressive overall performance with yet another first place finish at the end of Leg 5, as well as a first place win in the Coastal Race held in Boka Bay, Montegnegro.

Throughout the seven week, 4,500 nautical mile race around Europe, Biotherm has maintained a consistent overall lead, winning the first, second, and third legs of the race and collecting Scoring Gate points in each instance.

The only mark in the team’s neat run is a third place finish in Leg 4, which was instead a homecoming victory for Italian sailor Ambrogio Beccaria’s Team Allagrande Mapei. After the dramatic collision with Team Holcim-PRB early in the race, for which they were not granted redress, Allagrande finished fifth overall.

In second and third place were Yoann Richomme‘s Paprec Arkéa and Rosalind Kuiper’s Team Holcim-PRB. Team Malizia came in fourth, with Canada Ocean Racing and Team Amaala bringing up the rear.

Photo: Vincent Curutchet / The Ocean Race.

Biotherm skipper Paul Meilhat credits all-around collaboration between the shore teams and racing crew, as well as the boat’s preparation, for their triumphant victory.

“There are two parts of this victory,” he said, naming the organisation on shore and the boat’s preparation.

“Biotherm is more designed for this sort of race because it is really fast in transitions – light winds and flat water. We did a lot of improvements on the boat this winter. Also the crew, the motivation – I think we are all focused, we all concentrated, and we all wanted to win the race – that was the case from Kiel.”

How did the Ocean Race Europe end?

Final overall ranking of the Ocean Race Europe:

1. Biotherm – 55 points
2. Paprec Arkéa – 40 points
3. Team Holcim-PRB – 38.5 points
4. Team Malizia – 27 points
5. Allagrande Mapei Racing – 26 points
6. Be Water Positive – 18 points
7. Team Amaala – 9 points

Article contiues below…

The Ocean Race Europe 2025: Everything you need to know

Seven teams, six weeks, five legs, one unforgettable race. For its 2025 edition, the Ocean Race Europe will bring together…

‘This one was special’ – Homecoming victory for Beccaria in The Ocean Race Europe Leg 4

Ambrogio Beccaria’s team Allagrande Mapei Racing made a triumphant finish to The Ocean Race Europe Leg 4 as they arrived…

The Ocean Race Europe Leg 5 at a glance:

• • Stopover events in Genoa highlighted the importance of ocean conservation, and how offshore racing can be a tool for environmental advocacy
  • The Ocean Race Europe Leg 5 started slow, with two days of light winds after the fleet left Genoa
  • Thunderstorms, lightning, and torrential rains hit on Day 3, with teams reaching foiling speeds of up to 34 knots
  • The fleet segmented off of Sicily, with five boats in the leading group sailing ahead of a stormy transition zone and two teams, Amaala and Canada Ocean Racing, trapped far behind
  • A momentary overtake from Holcim-PRB off of Sicily reshuffled the fleet order
  • Tactical gambles from Allagrande and Paprec Arkèa failed to pay off
  • Biotherm was first into Boka Bay, followed by Holcim-PRB
  • The Coastal Race in Boka Bay brought a fresh wave of excitement and gave teams a last-minute chance to rack up points before the race’s end

The Ocean Race Europe Stops in Genoa

Photo: Jean Louis Carli / The Ocean Race.

The Ocean Race Europe fleet stopped in Genoa’s Porto Antico after an exciting finish to Leg 4, which saw leg winners Allagrande Mapei snatch first place after pulling ahead of Paprec Arkèa.

Allagrande and Genoa’s home-grown skipper Ambrogio Beccaria were greeted by an outpouring of local support, with fans, family, and media alike flocking to the race village for photos, pit lane tours, and speed tests in the Golfo Paradiso.

The stopover was also a launch pad for another Italian sailor’s upcoming endeavours.

Double olympian and Women’s America’s Cup sailor Francesca Clapcich, who also won the 2022-23 Ocean Race with 11th Hour Racing, supported her bid for the 2028 Vendée Globe with a presentation at the local maritime museum. Following the Ocean Race Europe, she will take over Malizia from current skipper Boris Hermann.

Photo: Marie Lefloch I Team Malizia.

Over four days, talks, screenings, and workshops from local activists, sponsors, and grassroots environmental groups highlighted the Ocean Race Europe’s guiding theme of sustainability. With both sailors and race officials advocating for ocean health in real time, and teams gathering valuable water samples offshore, the commitment to Racing for the Ocean was clear.

In a panel discussion following a special showing of David Attenborough’s Oceans, Holcim-PRB’s on board report Georgia Schofield stressed,

“We cannot keep sailing, keep enjoying the sea, without protecting our playground.”

Head to our socials for a behind-the-scenes look at the events and the action, including an exclusive cockpit tour with Team Malizia!

Departure from Genoa for the end of the Ocean Race Europe

Photo: The Ocean Race Europe.

After the Genoa stopover, the Ocean Race Europe’s fleet of IMOCAs set off again for the race’s final leg, a 1,600 nm passage to Boka Bay, Montenegro that would take them down the volatile western side of Corsica and Sardinia, south of Sicily, and into the Adriatic Sea.

“It’s a long zig-zag of eight or nine days through the Med with a lot of curves and local effects and local winds – not a huge wind field but little patches here and there,” Boris Hermann explained.

Leg 4 winner Ambrogio Beccaria’s Allagrande Mapei Racing made an early running start off the coast of Ligury, but the whole fleet was soon subdued by breezes barely scraping five knots. They inched along at three to four knots of speed throughout the night. Not quite a nail-biter!

Photo: Pierre Bouras / The Ocean Race.

Thunder, lightning, and broaches (oh my!)

After a quiet start, the front of the fleet hit a low pressure weather system packing winds over 30 knots that sent them tearing downwind.

‘We were going so fast that we caught up to the thunderstorm and the clouds,’ said Yoann Richomme of Paprec Arkea.

Reports of broaching, loss of control, and footage of crew members getting jostled about abounded.

An involuntary gybe on Paprec Arkea caused damage to a headsail sheet, as well as ripping the radar unit off its bracket on the front of the mast, while Holcim-PRB ended up on its side.

Photo: Gauthier Lebec / The Ocean Race.

The fleet was segmented by a thunderstorm line delineating two different weather regions.

Ahead of it, the first four boats in the fleet powered along in 30 knots of northwest wind.

Behind, cut off from the fresh downwind breeze, Holcim-PRB, Canada Ocean Racing, and Team Amaala were left chasing the fleet at half speed in just 12 knots of southeast.

Photo: Anne Beaugé / The Ocean Race.

An exciting overnight speed test saw Paprec and Allagrande fighting neck-and-neck in an exciting drag race.

“Both boats were doing 35 knots with maybe 100-metres of distance between us,” said Allagrande skipper Ambrogio Beccaria. “It was quite scary, unreal – one of the best sailing moments of my life for sure.”

Unstable conditions, thunderstorms aplenty, and frequent wind turns saw a reshuffling of the Leg 5 leaderboard as the Ocean Race Europe fleet came up on Sicily.

“You always need to be careful in these conditions – always one hand for the boat and the other for whatever it is you are doing,” warned Francesca Clapcich.

Holcim-PRB makes a comeback off Sicily

As they hit lighter winds under Sicily, Holcim-PRB made straight for the waypoint instead of tacking to the North like Allagrande, Biotherm, Malizia, and Paprec.

Skipper Rosalin Kuiper’s gamble quickly paid off– Holcim-PRB jumped from fifth to first place.

Photo: Jean-Louis Carli / The Ocean Race Europe 2025.

Biotherm retakes the lead towards Boka Bay

After rounding the final ‘India’ waypoint, the leading pack rearranged once again.

With Biotherm again in the lead, followed by Allagrande Mapei, Malizia, Paprec, and Team Holcim-PRB, the compressed fleet proceeded North upwind.

“These are good Biotherm conditions – flat water, medium wind – it’s perfect,” said Meilhat. “We have a lot of upwind now as we head to the North.”

Beccaria said he hoped instead for downwind conditions, hoping to pass closer to Italian shores. Allagrande eventually broke away from the rest of the front of the pack in search of more favourable conditions, but the gamble dropped them from third to fifth when the expected wind proved elusive.

Photo: Adrien Cordier / The Ocean Race.

Meanwhile, Canada Ocean Racing and Team Amaala crawled on at the back of the fleet.

To facilitate stopover activities in Boka Bay (and the expected Coastal Race), the Race Committee offered an alternative waypoint to give the two teams the option of shortening the race course, which meant the fleet trailers would trade an earlier arrival for the possibility of placing higher than sixth for the leg.

The Ocean Race Europe sails into the Adriatic sea

Photo: Pierre Bouras / The Ocean Race.

As the fleet entered the Adriatic, Biotherm was still at the front and covering their closest rivals tack for tack.

Paprec Arkèa gambled on an eastern route along the Albanian coastline with little success.

Not far behind, Holcim-PRB and Malizia jostled in an upwind match race, with sailors on both boats keeping a close eye on each other’s sail choice, boat speed, and angle.

While touring the boats during the stopover in Genoa, we learned that some teams like to keep their tricks up their sleeve, even changing or disguising their sail bags to keep their tactical choices a secret until the last moment!

The conditions required teams to stay on high alert to not lose their ground.

“You would think these are pretty steady, similar conditions, but it is not easy,” explained Holcim-PRB sailor Carolijn Brouwer. “The wind is up and down between nine and 12 knots. When we are sailing upwind when we get to 12 knots we are at the upper range of the big sail we have on – the J0. The wind is incredibly shifty – 20 to 25 degrees sometimes.

You really need to be precise and on top of it all the time, to react to the differences in pressure and the shifts in the breeze. That requires a fair bit of concentration and you have to be paying attention all the time.”

Biotherm wins final leg of the Ocean Race Europe

Photo: Julien Champolion / The Ocean Race.

It hardly came as a surprise when Biotherm was first into Boka Bay, having completed the 1,600 nm leg in seven days, eight hours, 33 minutes, and 13 seconds.

Rosalin Kuiper’s Team Holcim-PRB took second place for Leg 5 after staging an impressive comeback to rejoin the leading pack. Third was Boris Herrmann’s Team Malizia; failed tactical experiments from Ambrogio Beccaria’s Allagrande Mapei and Yoann Richomme’s Paprec Arkea left them in fourth and fifth.

“It didn’t pay off,” Richomme commented. ‘But that’s racing sometimes.”

Nonetheless, Beccaria seemed satisfied with the sheer range of conditions teams faced during the Ocean Race Europe Leg 5.

“Leg 5 for us was a real Odyssey, a huge race where a lot of things happened. We had a lot of light wind and strong wind. All the way down to Corsica and Sardinia we had a lot of wind. On the way to Ustica we had a huge amount of wind and a super flat sea, so we were at 35 knots of steady boatspeed – it was unreal,” he commented.

The Ocean Race Europe’s Coastal Race in Boka Bay

Photo: Vincent Curutchet / The Ocean Race.

A Coastal Race upon the fleet’s arrival in Boka Bay closed out the racing events and gave teams a chance to grab last-minute points for their overall ranking.

The results of the Coastal Race pretty closely matched the overall leaderboard, with the only difference being team Allagrande Mapei edging out team Be Water Positive overall thanks to their Leg 4 win.

Even in close quarters, Biotherm once again came first, followed by Paprec Arkea, Holcim-PRB, and Team Malizia.

The Boka Bay Coastal Race results:

1. Biotherm
2. Paprec Arkéa
3. Team Holcim PRB
4. Team Malizia
5. Be Water Positive
6. Allagrande Mapei Racing
7. Team Amaala

What’s next for the Ocean Race?

Photo: Julien Champolion / The Ocean Race.

While the teams rest, reshuffle, and recover after their 7-week sprint around Europe, the Ocean Race events group is busy planning the upcoming calendar.

In November, The Ocean Race Summit Youth in Genova will explore how sport can be a platform for environmental change, and a tool to help build a more sustainable future for our world’s oceans.

In 2026, the first Ocean Race Atlantic will connect New York and Barcelona with a 3,200 nautical mile sprint. It will be the first point-to-point race in the 50-plus year history of The Ocean Race. Like the Ocean Race Europe, the event will feature mixed crews, though this time with a industry-first 50-50 gender split, as well as a focus on ocean conservation advocacy.

In 2027, the 15th edition of the iconic round-the-world Ocean Race will set off from Alicante, Spain.

“The Ocean Race is always on,” says Race Chairman of The Ocean Race Richard Brisius. “Our drive to protect and restore ocean health is a daily mission […] These events serve as inspirational touch points on the journey where we all get together with renewed focus and determination as we connect with the ocean.”

If you enjoyed this article on the Ocean Race Europe 2025…

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The post Biotherm wins the Ocean Race Europe Leg 5— and the rest of it appeared first on Yachting World.

Given what the IMOCA 60 class was designed for – and the way in which blasting around the world non-stop, alone, on foils in just under 65 days grabbed everyone’s attention last winter with the Vendée Globe – we could be forgiven for thinking that a six-leg, fully crewed, stopping service around Europe is a walk in the park for the world’s top sailors and their 60ft rocket ships.

You might not be surprised to hear they don’t seem to see it like that. After all, what’s the point in talking down an event that many of them have been talking up for months in the boardrooms of potential commercial backers?

I spent a bit of time with the skippers and crews on board their boats and on the dock ahead of the start of The Ocean Race Europe in Kiel, and it’s quite clear they mean it when they say that the 4,500-mile, six-week race would be extremely tough.

Sam Goodchild, who is sailing aboard Biotherm, looked me straight in the eye and said: “It’s not going to be easier than the Vendée Globe that’s for sure.”

Biotherm skipper Paul Meilhat, who finished 5th in the last race around the world, and who sailed Biotherm fully crewed in the 2022/23 Ocean Race told me that, while he had recuperated physically from his recent lap of the planet, he hadn’t fully recovered from the project mentally and that this race around Europe would give him, ‘the kind of slap in the face that I need to get back on track!’

Photo: Jean-Lous Carli / The Ocean Race Europe 2025.

Both of them talked of the intensity of the race and the focus it requires – particularly the complexity of a course that weaves itself around sand banks, rocks and wind farms to exclusion zones, shipping lanes and general traffic. They talked of the complex weather, the tides and, of course, their competitors. The crews may have barely discussed a watch system, given that there’s so little opportunity to operate one if you’re going to stay ahead of the pack.

The longer legs in this race from Kiel, Germany, to Boka Bay in Montenegro, each take around four days, around the time that the rest of us might take to do the Fastnet Race. But in their case, they do five of them back-to-back with just three days at best between each race. Each team is also limited to just five shore crew, which means the race crew will have to muck in at the stopovers if there is (and there will be) anything to fix.

The fact is that even though The Ocean Race Europe doesn’t really bill it like this, the crews see this as a very different and intense race for this class, something akin to the Figaro, or perhaps even a bigger version of the Tour de France à la voile of the early 2000s when it was raced in Mumm 30s.

So, whether you were talking to Yoann Richomme, Brian Thompson, Boris Herrmann, Cole Brauer, Pip Hare or Alan Roura, they all said much the same. They also said they were looking forward to learning from each other.

“When you sail on your own all the time you do tend to stick with your way of doing things,” Goodchild pointed out. “But working with others who have been your arch competitors provides a great opportunity to try out different techniques.”

Article continues below…

‘This one was special’ – Homecoming victory for Beccaria in The Ocean Race Europe Leg 4

Ambrogio Beccaria’s team Allagrande Mapei Racing made a triumphant finish to The Ocean Race Europe Leg 4 as they arrived…

Biotherm wins Ocean Race Europe Leg 3 after going neck-and-neck with Team Holcim-PRB

In the latest from the Ocean Race Europe Leg 3, Biotherm is still defending its perfect streak from Leg 1…

And therein lies a hint to something else that’s going on in this class. The ability to experiment, test, develop and refine the IMOCAs by pushing them harder with a full crew than you would alone is providing a form of accelerated learning in some cases.

The last around-the-world Ocean Race ended up attracting a lot of interest from the offshore rock stars as they started to see that some of their arch-rivals were collecting valuable data on the long ocean legs that might be useful in their solo campaigns. For some, that resource remains in their minds and they’re using the wide variety of races now available for this class as a means of learning more.

With 5-10 new boats expected for the next Vendée – several in build and price tags of up to €6m apiece – there’s no shortage of focus on winning the ultimate solo prize.

But the newfound intensity in crewed IMOCA racing can also come at a price, as Holcim PRB and Allagrande Mapei Racing discovered less than a mile off the start line in Kiel when a serious collision forced both of them out of the leg.

Dramatic as it looked, the large hole in the side of Holcim wasn’t the biggest issue, instead it was time. Fixing this kind of damage can be done, but when the round Europe schedule is as relentless as this one, a crisis like this can be a huge blow to a campaign.

No wonder the teams don’t see this race as a walk in the park.

If you enjoyed this….

Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.

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The post ‘Teams don’t see The Ocean Race Europe as a walk in the park’ – Matt Sheahan appeared first on Yachting World.

Ambrogio Beccaria’s team Allagrande Mapei Racing made a triumphant finish to The Ocean Race Europe Leg 4 as they arrived in Genoa, Italy early Wednesday morning.

Beccaria, who built and launched his Class 40 yacht in Genoa in 2022, said he considers the city his second home, and was overjoyed to have gone from missing Leg 1 completely due to a dramatic collision with Holcim-PRB to winning this stretch.

The Ocean Race Europe Leg 4 saw the fleet of IMOCA 60s on a 600 nautical mile leg that started in Nice before snaking around Corsica, through the famed Bouches de Bonifacio, and into Genoa, which hosted the Grand Finale of inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Europe in 2021.

Already at the start of the Ocean Race Europe Leg 4, Beccaria had said he had only one goal– to be first across the finish line in Genoa.

After coming ashore in the night, having finished the leg at 01:42:14 local time on Wednesday 3 September, he confirmed, “I always want to win every leg. But this one was special because the finish was in Italy.”

Beccaria wasn’t the only Italian sailor looking forward to a homecoming.

Francesca Clapcich of Team Malizia said, “I’m really looking forward to having a lot of Italian people coming down in Porto Antico in the middle of the city. We have an Italian boat also in this race with Ambrogio. Hopefully people will be really excited to come down, check it out, and spend time together.”

Second at the end of the Ocean Race Europe Leg 4 was Yoan Richomme’s Paprec Arkéa, followed by overall race leader Biotherm in third.

Ocean Race Europe Leg 4 at a glance

• The fleet leaves Nice sailing upwind
• Biotherm first through the scoring gate off Monaco
• Light winds off the Western side of Corsica
• The pace picks up as the fleet races through the Strait of Bonifacio
• Power outage onboard Allagrande Mapei as they pass the Island of Elba
• Homecoming victory for Ambrogio Beccaria and team Allagrande Mapei

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Ocean Race Europle Leg 4 starts in Nice

The fleet, Code Zero headsails high, headed upwind in 8 knots of wind. Photo: Jean-Lous Carli / The Ocean Race Europe 2025.

Holcim-PRB, with Nico Lunven replacing skipper Rosalin Kuiper for Leg 4, and Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm made the cleanest start, slipping away from the pack within the first minutes of the race.

Team Amaala opted for a port start, heading offshore hoping for stronger winds and hoping to reap the benefits of a radically different tactic.

Paul Meilhat of Biotherm, the race’s clear overall leader, had commented, ‘It’s better to be the hunted than the hunter, that’s for sure. I don’t really care about the pressure. It’s not that I like it, but it doesn’t affect me a lot. When you’re chasing the others, it’s more pressure. You have a problem to fix, you’re not really confident.”

True to his word, Biotherm was once again first through the scoring gate at Monaco, snatching the lead from Paprec Arkéa at the last second.

Photo: Gauthier Lebec / the Ocean Race Europe 2025.

The winds died away overnight, taking the fleet through patches of calm. Paprec Arkéa held speed more consistently than the fleet, managing to gain a one mile lead.

A breath of air around 2am separated leaders Holcim, Paprec, and Biotherm from the rest of the group.

“Our first night at sea didn’t really go according to plan,” said Team Malizia’s Cole Brauer of falling behind, which she called “disappointing.” “They were blasting away while we were just sitting ducks.”

Uncertainty in the Mediterranean

In the Mediterranean, “Nobody knows what’s going to happen,” said Biotherm’s Benjamin Ferré. “We study the Meteo and try to understand what will happen, but in the end it is totally different. So we just have to adapt, keep moving, keep focused, and try to go as fast as possible in the right direction.”

Pip Hare, who sailed the last leg of The Ocean Race Europe 2021, said, “My experience is there is not a lot of wind, with waterspouts and thunderstorms – it throws it all at you.”

Photo: The Ocean Race Europe, Powered by PredictWind.

As in Leg 3, Italian sailor Ambrogio Beccaria of Allagrande Mapei remained unfazed by the unpredictable conditions in his home waters.

“I love Mediterranean sailing,” he commented. “I was born here and it is what made me love the sea. I hope she loves me too, but sometimes it is a difficult relationship and it is hard to understand what she wants.”

Sprint through the Bouches of Bonifacio

Team Hoclim-PRB pulled ahead as the fleet approached Bonifacio, with Biotherm and Paprec Arkéa close behind. They were fresh off a long night of light air sailing, during which the fleet stayed compact.

“There’s going to be lots of manoeuvres now, lots of tacking, a transition. We will probably go into the strait upwind and come out of it downwind. It’s going to be a busy few hours,” said Alan Roberts aboard Team Holcim-PRB.

As the fleet came into the Strait of Bonifacio and the wind increased from five knots to nearly thirty, the sailors had to exchange their enormous Code Zero headsails for smaller J3s.

Photo: Julie Champolion / The Ocean Race Europe 2025.

“Racing around Corsica is always very tricky because the mountains on the island are big and their wind shadows are huge,” says Paprec Arkéa’s Yoann Richomme.

Holcim – PRB skipper Lunven explained how the Venturi effect impacted conditions, “In the Bonifacio Strait the wind increased because of the funnelling effect between Corsica on our port side and Sardinia on our starboard side. These islands are very high – especially Corsica – between 2,000 and 2,500 metres. It is a narrow passage between the two, so the wind accelerates a lot.’

Still, he commented, ‘30 knots for Bonifacio is an easy day – it could have been way worse!”

Allagrande pulls ahead off the Island of Elba

Photo: Pierre Bouras / The Ocean Race Europe 2025.

Even as they dealt with an onboard power issue that left them without sailing instruments for an hour, Ambrogio Beccaria’s team Allagrande Mapei managed to pull ahead of the fleet while passing the island of Elba.

“At one point we tried to charge our battery and the engine didn’t start. So we had to shut down the whole boat, steer the boat with nothing – at night. Morgan succeeded in repairing the alternator and we were able to go on with the race. But that moment could have been the end for us,” said Beccaria.

Allagrande’s triumphant arrival in Genoa

Photo: Lloyd Images / The Ocean Race 2025.

Beccaria’s Allagrande Mapei held on to their lead and made the most of an incoming breeze from a Mediterranean low pressure system. They sprinted towards Genoa, hitting 25 knots of downwind foiling speed and increasing their advantage to 20 nautical miles over chasers Paprec Arkéa.

Undaunted, Paprec Arkéa managed to shrink the gap to just eight miles, but it ultimately wasn’t enough to overtake Beccaria’s homecoming team, which pulled away again thanks to an offshore drainage breeze.

When is the Ocean Race Europe Leg 5?

After enjoying celebrations and some much-needed rest in Genoa, the fleet will set off for Ocean Race Europe Leg 5, the race’s last, on 7 August. The 1,000 nautical mile dash to Montenegro will take them through a scoring gate at Santo Stefano, in the Arcipelago della Maddalena, before the race’s grand finale in Boka Bay.

If you enjoyed this recap of the Ocean Race Europe Leg 4….

Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

The post ‘This one was special’ – Homecoming victory for Beccaria in The Ocean Race Europe Leg 4 appeared first on Yachting World.

In the latest from the Ocean Race Europe Leg 3, Biotherm is still defending its perfect streak from Leg 1 and Leg 2.

The race leader arrived in Nice just before dawn on 29 August, with Holcim-PRB following just twenty-seven minutes later. Both foiling IMOCAs averaged over 20 knots of boatspeed as they raced towards the finish line.

In third, Ambrogio Beccaria’s Allagrande Mapei, finishing just 53 minutets after Holcim-PRB.

“We didn’t make all good choices,” said Beccaria. “But we are improving so much as a team. Our boat is not designed to sail in light unstable winds like here, but as soon as we have wind we are flying. We love the boat and we love the team.”

Yoann Richomme’s Team Paprec Arkéa (FRA) – skippered on this leg by Corentin Horeau (FRA) for this leg followed in 4th, despite sustaining damage after a broken halyard sent the J0 headsail into the water.

Photo: Vincent Curutchet / The Ocean Race Europe 2025.

The rest of the Ocean Race Europe fleet soon finished their 3-day, 680 nautical mile passage. The Mediterranean challenged sailors right up until the end, with unpredictable weather conditions, low pressure fronts, and sudden squalls of up to 70 knots.

“In the light winds it can be more work than in the strong winds,” said Malizia’s Boris Hermann. “We had all conditions – from reefed and small headsails to spinnakers. We used all the sails which is not normally the case on most legs. It was all-the-time full-on action and enjoyable racing. It was so motivating to have our competition in sight all the time.”

“It was an incredible leg,” added Holcim – PRB skipper Rosalin Kuiper. “I have never experienced something like this: so many manoeuvres, all the weather models were different to what we saw on the water. We had to be super flexible and dynamic and we didn’t sleep much – the crew is exhausted.”

Ocean Race Leg 3 at a glance

• Uncertainty over Mediterranean conditions, long nights of light airs and frequent sail changes along the Spanish coast
• Neck-and-neck race between Biotherm and Holcim-PRB before Biotherm regained the lead
• Unstable forecasts prompt a race course adjustment away from Ille de Giraglia to a virtual waypoint
• Team Amaala, trailing behind the fleet, is hit with gusts surpassing 70 knots

Leaderboard

1. Biotherm (Skipper: Paul Meilhat)
2. Team Holcim-PRB (Skipper: Rosalin Kuiper)
3. Allagrande Mapei Racing (Skipper: Ambrogio Beccaria)
4. Paprec Arkéa Team (Skipper: Corentin Horeau)
5. Team Malizia (Skiper: Boris Hermann)
6. Canada Ocean Racing – Be Water Positive (Skipper Scott Shawyer)
7. (Still to finish) Team Amaala (Skipper: Alan Roura)

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The start of Ocean Race Europe Leg 3

Credits: Richard Mardens / The Ocean Race.

The fleet left Cartagena on the afternoon of 26 August in 12-17 knots of fresh north-easterly. Crews sailed upwind, braiding a neat line of tacks up the Spanish coastline.

Biotherm was again first through the scoring gate at Cabo de Palos, making the most of the ideal conditions and confirming their as-yet untarnished score.

All teams reported feeling unsettled by the incoming low pressure and the general meteorological instability of the Mediterranean.

Paul Meilhat of Biotherm commented before setting off, “There is low pressure on the way. We don’t really know what will happen but it will change the timings a lot – so we don’t really know what the course will be.”

“It’s going to be super challenging,” said Team Holcim-PRB’s Rosalin Kuiper. “We will prepare for every scenario and we will see when we are out there.”

Boris Hermann, who replaced Leg 2 skipper Will Harris onboard Malizia, says “The centre of that low might coincide with our biggest obstacle – which is the beautiful island of Mallorca. We might sneak very close past the northern coast of Mallorca, but other scenarios yield different routes. There will be surprises up until the end.”

Biotherm also made some crew changes for the Ocean Race Europe Leg 3, replacing Jack Boutel with fellow frenchman and Vendee Globe alum Benjamin Ferré.

First night of Ocean Race Europe Leg 3

Photo: Adrien Cordier / The Ocean Race.

Heading into the night, teams had to chose between preserving an ideal heading with less wind, or chasing stronger breezes offshore.

“It’s been breeze versus angle pretty much the whole night,” explained Team Malizia’s Cole Brauer. “You get a nicer angle going into the shore, but less breeze, so you kind of have to play both sides to find a little happy middle ground.”

The upwind conditions came with an intense workload for crews, demanding frequent tacks and constant trimming.

Italian sailor Ambrogio Beccaria of Allagrande Mapei was unfazed by the unpredictable conditions.

“I love Mediterranean sailing,” he commented. “I was born here and it is what made me love the sea. I hope she loves me too, but sometimes it is a difficult relationship and it is hard to understand what she wants.”

His team was considering several possible routing options. “We need to use our instincts,” he said of deciding tactics. “We like that.”

Biotherm and Holcim-PRB race neck-to-neck

Photo: Richard Mardens / The Ocean Race.

The pace picked up after a long night of light, humid airs. Holcim-PRB’s Carolijn Brouwer described the conditions as: “Hot, sticky, sweaty – but fun.”

“I don’t know how many times we changed headsail – maybe five or six times – so it is a lot of work for the crew,” said Mielhat.

The middle of the second day saw 16 knots of northerly breeze, and Biotherm and Holcim-PRB locked in a close battle for first place. In some points, the two contenders were separated by just a half mile. Team Paprec Arkéa, closely followed by the rest of the fleet, fell another 12 miles behind.

Biotherm pulled ahead after a close battle, but the leading team never rested on its laurels.

Photo: Jean-Louis Carli / The Ocean Race Europe 2025.

Biotherm sailor Sam Goodchild (GBR) commented, “All night we felt like they were going quicker than us behind us and we were going into lighter winds – so we felt like they were catching up. The forecast was saying that we were going to park in front of Nice for a few hours to wait for the wind. All of that was not for relaxing.”

“The only moment we felt ‘we have got this’ was about half a mile from the finish line, when we could see wind between us and the finish.”

Holcim – PRB helmsman Franck Cammas commented, “We fought against Biotherm from the beginning to the end. Even two hours before the finish we hoped to overtake them. The battle is very nice. It’s what we love in The Ocean Race: to fight against the very best crew in the world and to be able to see them all the time.”

Brutal last day of the Ocean Race Europe Leg 3

Photo: Pierre Bouras / The Ocean Race.

Stronger winds arrived as the fleet approached the French coast, close to the island of Poquerolles.

In light of the meteorological instability, Race Control issued a course amendment that shifted the final turning mark of Leg 3 from the Ile De La Giraglia to a virtual waypoint 20 miles further to the northwest. The switch kept the fleet from having to round the island in potentially treacherous conditions, which are forecast to include thunderstorms and gale force winds.

The dismal forecast kept its promise when a sudden wind squall with winds reaching 70 knots sent Team Amaala skipper Alan Roura on deck to reduce sail (in his underpants!).

Roura commented that he has never experienced such heavy swells in the Mediterranean Sea before, and that maintaining the speed of the boat was of a lower priority than securing the sails to prevent them from being displaced from the deck of the boat.

“It was beautiful. We really enjoyed it so much,” he said after the finish, in typical good humour. “We love it when it’s stormy like this. Until the end we were in the game and that’s a good feeling. We were last, but not by so much!”

Photo: Jean-Louis Carli / The Ocean Race Europe 2025.

When is the Ocean Race Europe Leg 4?

The fleet will set off for Ocean Race Europe Leg 4 on 31 August for a 600 nautical mile sprint to Genoa, Italy, which hosted the Grand Finale of the first inaugural Ocean Race Europe in 2021.

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Paul Meilhat‘s Biotherm continues to defend its undisputed lead in The Ocean Race Europe Leg 2.

After recovering from a brief overtake by Yoan Richomme‘s Paprec Arkéa, Team Biotherm came into Cartagena at 04:53am early on Saturday morning, closing out the fleet’s longest haul, 1,400 NM from Portsmouth to Cartagena, with an unblemished score and the maximum available points.

Holcim PRB, one of two IMOCA 60s involved in the dramatic collision at the start of the Ocean Race Europe 2025, finished second after its recovery.

“It’s amazing to be here in second place… A week ago we couldn’t imagine being on the starting line,” said skipper Rosalin Kuiper.

Holcim-PRB was awarded redress after the collision in Kiel, putting the team firmly back in the running.

In a hearing that took place during the stopover in Cartagena, The International Jury ruled that neither Allagrande mapei nor Holcim-PRB would sustain further penalties, and that Holcim-PRB’s finishing position in Leg 1 will be equal to its average finishing position at the finish of legs 2 to 5.

Team Allagrande Mapei was not granted redress.

“We respect their ruling, even if it’s not the outcome we were hoping for. That’s part of our sport, and we accept it,” said skipper Ambrogio Beccaria.

The Ocean Race Europe Leg 2 at a glance

• Team Holcim-PRB granted redress by the International Jury after the collision at the start of Leg 1
• Smooth downwind sailing at the Start of Leg 2, with all seven boats finally back in the race
• The fleet compresses in a windless patch off of Brittany, Paprec Arkéa falls behind
• Teams catch their breath in a brief fly-by stop-over in Matosinhos-Porto
• Heavy downwind conditions off the coast of Portugal allow Paprec Arkéa to gain a momentary lead
• Entrance into the Mediterranean brings patchy, unpredictable conditions and lighter winds
• The fleet catches up to Paprec, with Biotherm regaining the lead in time to win Leg 2

Biotherm wins Ocean Race Europe Leg 1, 2 boats still racing to finish repairs before Leg 2

Paul Meilhat‘s Biotherm was the first IMOCA 60 into Portsmouth on 14 August, closing out The Ocean Race Europe Leg 1…

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Start of Leg 2, two boats recovered after the collision in Leg 1

Photo: Pierre Bouras / The Ocean Race.

The Ocean Race Europe Leg 2 kicked off on 17 August in Portsmouth. The fleet was once again 7-strong, with Holcim-PRB and Allagrande Mapei recovered after the collision in Leg 1.

“It’s amazing we’re back in the race,” said Alan Roberts of team Holcim-PRB. “We’re not just back, we’re a boat that’s at 100%, even more ambitious and motivated than before to get out there and perform.”

“Adversity either splits or unites you,” he added. “In this case it has united us.”

With 10-14 knots of wind and a favourable current, the conditions made for perfect downwind sailing. The fleet charged down the Solent under spinnaker.

Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm was again first through the scoring gate at the Needles, overtaking Paprec Arkéa’s initial lead.

To follow was the newly-recovered Team Holcim PRB, then Team Malizia and Canada Ocean Racing – Be Water Positive, and Allagrande Mapei and Team Amaala in sixth and seventh.

Photo: Jean-Louis Carli / The Ocean Race.

Strong conditions soon after the start of Leg 2 proved divisive.

“Our boat is especially made for strong winds, so we love to see these conditions,” said skipper Allagrande Mapei’s skipper Ambrogio Beccaria.

Malizia’s co-skipper Will Harris, who is taking over from Boris Hermann for Leg 2, was just as positive.

“High speeds and high wind – we really love that onboard Malizia. Those are our conditions, so we’ve got to make the most of it,” he said.

Biotherm’s Paul Meilhat was less enthusiastic, commenting that although his team’s boat isn’t at its best in strong conditions, they only stand to gain by the lighter winds predicted for their entrance into the Mediterranean.

First night of Ocean Race Europe Leg 2

Photo: Flore Hartout / The Ocean Race.

After hurtling out of Portsmouth, the fleet fell to a windless patch off the northwest tip of Brittany. As forecast, the easterlies gave way to a transition zone with just a few knots of breeze.

The fleet compressed as the breeze collapsed, shrinking a 40 mile gap into just a few miles between head and tail and levelling the playing field.

“All the boats are together, so it’s another new start for everybody,” said skipper Alan Roura of Team Amaala, which has so far held 7th place.

A gamble from Yoann Richomme’s Paprec Arkéa dropped the team from the front to the end of the group. , Paprec attempted a shortcut, intending to slip inside Ushant through the narrow tidal channel and jump 15-20 miles.

Instead, they missed their window by less than an hour and were forced to turn back and reroute.

“We struggled all night trying to get past it. Instead of the current helping us down to the south, it was pushing us back north. In the end we had to do the same as the others and go around. Now we’re about five miles behind the leader,” says Richomme.

The northern route favoured by Biotherm, Team Malizia, and Canada Ocean Racing proved a safer call.

Speed games at Cap Finisterre

Photo: Pierre Bouras / The Ocean Race.

The fleet spread out again around Cap Finisterre, though still remaining in sight of each other. The pace picked up into a speed test, requiring constant trimming, tweaking, and hand steering from every crew.

“Every minute counts here – there’s no room for mistakes,” said Holcim PRB skipper Rosalin Kuiper.

“It’s pretty much a straight line, so it’s really working more on the setup of the boat, on the speed more than anything else,” said Team Malizia co-skipper Francesca Clapcich.

Amélie Grassi (Biotherm) enjoyed a friendly head-to-head with her husband Alan Roberts (Holcim-PRB).

“I slept half the time and I worked the other half. At the start of the day, I was overtaken by my husband and at the end, I overtook him again. So overall it’s been a great day!”

The Ocean Race Europe fleet pauses at Porto-Matosinhos

Photo: Jean – Louis Carli / The Ocean Race.

The fleet paused for a three hour fly-by in Porto-Matosinhos before continuing on for Cartagena.

Paprec Arkéa pulled back into second place after falling to the back of the pack in the tidal gate off Brittany. A newly-recovered team Holcim-PRB came third.

Skipper Rosalin Kuiper comments, “We’re very happy to be back in the race and especially after what happened in the first leg. We actually finished, and we finished third. Of course there’s room for improvement, but we’re happy so far.”

“It was an intense leg. Especially last night it was hard downwind, driving and changing sails,” adds crew member Franck Cammas.

Jostling for the lead off the Portuguese coast

Across the fleet, crews opted for hand-steering over autopilot systems to maintain maximum precision as the wind picked up.

Photo: Anne Beaugé / The Ocean Race.

Yoann Richomme’s Paprec Arkéa, tipped as the fastest in heavy downwind conditions, finally had a chance to play to its strengths. The team broke Biotherm’s lead as they flew past the Portuguese coast under the cover of night, in some stretches even hitting 30 knots.

A missed sail-change left Biotherm in the lurch, newly grappling with Holcim-PRB. Close behind were Team Malizia, Allagrande Mapei Racing, and Canada Ocean Water.

At the back of the fleet, Team Amaala had fallen a full 400 miles behind the race leaders.

Skipper Alan Roura remained as cheerful as ever, joking, “We love to be in light winds because this way we spend more time together!”

Biotherm expects to climb back up as they make their way into the Mediterranean, where lighter winds will play to Biotherm’s strengths again.

Ocean Race Europe Leg 2 Finishes in the Mediterranean

Photo: Richard Marsden / The Ocean Race.

“We made a great move in the night from Wednesday to Thursday with a good sail configuration, hitting around 30 knots,” Paprec Arkéa’s Yoann Richomme said. But by dawn, “The fan just completely turned off! We went from 25 knots to 4 knots in 10 seconds.”

Lighter-than-forecast conditions gave the rest of the fleet a chance to catch up.

Paprec’s choice to stay further offshore lost them their hard-earned advantage. Biotherm slipped by on a thermal, sliding back into first place.

Like the fleet leaders, Team Malizia and Allagrande Mapei Racing hit over 30 knots in the night, then crashed into the same calm patch that had trapped Paprec.

Cammas commented, “That’s the joy of the Mediterranean… At least the game is wide open, and it’s never over!”

When is The Ocean Race Europe Leg 3?

The Ocean Race Europe Leg 3 will kick off on Tuesday 26 August, with the fleet heading out of Cartagena (Scoring gate: Cabo de Palos) for a 650 nautical mile cruise to Nice, France.

If you enjoyed this recap of the Ocean Race Europe Leg 2….

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The post Holcim-PRB awarded redress after dramatic collision in Kiel, another perfect finish for Biotherm in Ocean Race Europe Leg 2 appeared first on Yachting World.

Paul Meilhat‘s Biotherm was the first IMOCA 60 into Portsmouth on 14 August, closing out The Ocean Race Europe Leg 1 with maximum points. They had confidently maintained the lead since race start in Kiel.

A last minute-switch gamble in Dover helped Team Malizia snatch second place from Paprec Arkéa, with Canada Ocean Race – Be Water Positive coming home fourth, and Team Amaala fifth.

Two boats were involved in a collision at the start of The Ocean Race, suffering significant damage and returning to dock to effect repairs. Of those two, Allagrande MAPEI is now en-route to Portsmouth to join the rest of the fleet. Holcim PRB – who suffered the worst of the damage – are still working towards a fix, but hope to rejoin the race soon.

Ocean Race Europe Leg 1 at a glance:

• Holcim PRB and Allagrande MAPEI Racing collide just after starting, sending both teams back to Kiel for repairs
• Biotherm takes the lead with nimble coastal racing before heading into the North Sea
• Narrow lanes through the English channel demand close, careful manoeuvres
• Malizia overtakes Paprec Arkéa in Dover with a risky tactical choice
• Race management extends the course by 60 nautical miles ahead of arrival in Portsmouth

 Two collide in The Ocean Race Europe Leg 1

A shocking collision at the start of Leg 1 left team Allagrande MAPEI. with a torn J0 headsail and extensive other damage. Photo: Vincent Curutchet / the Ocean Race Europe 2025.

Within moments of the starting gun, less than one mile into the race, a shocking collision between Holcim PRB and Allagrande MAPEI Racing forced both teams back to Kiel. The reduced fleet kept on for Portsmouth, two boats lighter.

Both crews involved in the collision were unharmed, though their vessels sustained significant damage with Allagrande MAPEI having to replace the J0 headsail, the mainsail; starboard rigging (outrigger, D0 stay, shrouds), as well as repairing the chainplate, which required them to dismantle the ballast.

Article continues below…

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“We went through an emotional rollercoaster, moving from uncertainty to the possibility of getting back into the race,” says Allagrande MAPEI’s skipper Ambrogio Beccaria.

Both teams have filed official protests against the other. The hearing is scheduled to take place during the Cartagena stopover following Leg 2.

Repairs are underway on Alaagrande MAPEI to allow the vessel to rejoin the race in Portsmouth. Photo: Pierre Bouras / Allagrande MAPEI.

Straight through the scoring gate

Crash aside, the first 24 hours of the Ocean Race Europe Leg 1 were clean and controlled, with Paul Meilhat‘s Team Biotherm in the lead from the outset.

Paprec Arkéa (2nd) was close behind through the Kiel Lighthouse Scoring Gate, followed by Canada Ocean Racing – Be Water Positive (3rd), Malizia (4th), who had a problem with their furling drum just after the start, and Team Amaala (5th).

This first stretch made for a tight, physically demanding coastal racing course and constant manoeuvres.

“With the coastline so close, heavy traffic, small buoys and the wind being pretty unstable, we got very little rest,” says Biotherm trimmer Amélie Grassi.

Photo: Gauthier Lebec / Team Biotherm / The Ocean Race Europe 2025.

Into the North Sea

As the fleet spilled into the North sea, the predicted light air dropped into the single digits. Crews were able to catch up on much needed rest until the wind rose again in the morning, with 20 knots blowing in from the South East.

Biotherm quickly seized control of the fast lane towards the British coast. Together with Holcim PRB, and Allagrande MAPEI, Biotherm was one of the three boats predicted to perform the strongest in light airs. With the other two out of commission, the team easily maintained its initial lead.

Photo: Gauthier Lebec / Team Biotherm / The Ocean Race Europe 2025.

A high pressure ridge confirmed the fleet’s positions, offering those ahead of it, (Biotherm, Paprec Arkéa) smooth sailing.

“We enjoyed dream conditions right after [the last ridge], with an east-southeast wind that allowed us to make rapid progress,” said Biotherm’s Paul Meilhat.

Those lagging behind the ridge paid the price.

“We lost much more time there than we thought we would. It felt like we were stuck, it was frustrating,” says Team Malizia’s Will Harris.

Skipper Alan Roura of Team Amaala. Photo: Coline Beal / Team Amaala / The Ocean Race 2025.

Team Amaala laboured at the back, fighting the current and averaging just 3 knots of speed. Despite the increasing gap between Amaala and the rest of the fleet, Skipper Alan Roura stayed positive.

“If you want the truth, we’re going to do like 20,000 tacks, in current with no wind,” he said. “At least now we know how to tack in all conditions!”

Final stretch in the English Channel

As the Ocean Race Europe fleet headed into the English Channel, the routed squeezed between the coast and the exclusion zones, narrowing into just 3.3 miles at its tightest.

With a less-than ideal southwest wind, crews had to tack repeatedly to advance, as well as working around shipping traffic near Dover.

“We won’t have more than half an hour without a manoeuvre until the end of the race,” said Meilhat.

Each manoeuvre involves moving hundreds of kilos of equipment across the boat, in this case under the cover of darkness, testing not only the crews skill but their patience.

A sudden, rogue squall in the night forced Biotherm to drop and rehoist their sails.

“We went from five knots suddenly to 25 knots, then it spun around in circles,” Meilhat explained. “We had to keep up with it to not damage the boat or any sails, but we managed it.”

Ocean Race Europe Leg 1 Finish

On Wednesday night, race management elected to extend the course by 60 nautical miles with a two-lap loop just off Bembridge Ledge.

Biotherm was undeterred and easily kept its lead until the last minute, finishing with maximum points, while Team Malizia and Paprec Akréa ran a match race for second place.Paprec Arkéa had comfortably defended its position until a bold move from Malizia gave them a run for their money.

Photo: Lloyd Images / the Ocean Race Europe 2025.

Approaching Dover, Malizia made the tactical choice to leave the mid-channel route behind and hug the coastline, risking losing the breeze to escape the full force of the adverse current.

The gamble paid off. Within the next hour, Malizia clawed its way back to just half a mile behind Paprec.

“They’re only doing 1.9 knots and we are doing 8.2,” said Malizia’s co-skipper Cole Brauer. “This is when we become the hunters.”

Paprec Arkéa tried to fight them off with defensive tack-for-tack tactis throughout the night, until a gybe from Malizia allowed the chasing German team to definitively gain the lead.

“It was an amazing morning for us,” said Malizia’s skipper Boris Hermann. “We hoisted the kite and saw that we could sail deeper with the spinnaker than they could with their sail, and that’s how we ultimately overtook them.”

So far, Malizia has been the only boat to overtake another. The move allowed them to close an impressive 15-20 mile gap to gain second place.

Photo: Georgia Schofield / Team Be – Water – Positive / The Ocean Race 2025.

Meanwhile, at the back of the fleet, Canada’s Be Water Positive team approached Dover in thick fog with less than 30 metres visibility.

“We can see up to the bow and maybe half a boat length beyond, and then the sea just disappears into a grey shroud,” said Pip Hare.

The team relied on AIS, radar and the OSCAR infrared system to avoid collisions with other vessels.

When is The Ocean Race Europe Leg 2?

Photo: Lloyd Images / The Ocean Race Europe 2025.

The Ocean Race Europe Leg 2 will kick off on Sunday 17 August, with the fleet heading out of Portsmouth to face the longest stretch in the race, a 1,400 NM track to Cartagena, Spain.

After four days of intensive repairs, Allagrande MAPEI is ready to reach the rest of the fleet in Portsmouth. Holcim PRB also hopes to complete repairs in time to rejoin the race.

If you enjoyed this recap of the Ocean Race Europe Leg 1….

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The post Biotherm wins Ocean Race Europe Leg 1, 2 boats still racing to finish repairs before Leg 2 appeared first on Yachting World.

The opening leg of The Ocean Race Europe was rocked by drama within moments of the starting gun as two of the IMOCA 60s  — Team Holcim PRB and Allagrande MAPEI Racing — collided at speed, forcing both boats to suspend racing and return to the dock in Kiel.

The incident occurred just after the fleet set off in big conditions, with strong winds delivering fast-paced action from the gun. While Biotherm and Paprec Arkéa pulled into the early lead, a sudden side-on impact between Holcim PRB to leeward and Allagrande MAPEI to windward brought the two team’s race to a halt before they had even cleared the first mile.

Both teams are now dockside in Kiel, where shore crews are assessing damage and preparing for rapid repairs. Fortunately, all crew members were reported safe following the collision.

Skipper Ambrogio Beccaria of Allagrande MAPEI Racing expressed visible disappointment on the dock: “I’m sad to be back here now,” he said. “The team made a huge effort to be here and we only did one mile of the race. It’s super sad for our competitor also. We are not alone in this story… We are checking the boat. For sure we will not drop out until there is no chance. It doesn’t seem easy, but we will see.”

Team Holcim PRB, skippered by Rosalin Kuiper, also confirmed significant hull damage. “We had to retire from the race because of damage to our hull,” Kuiper said. “It is very disappointing for our entire team, and for Allagrande MAPEI and for The Ocean Race as well. We have to repair this damage and that is what we are going to do.”

Race Director Phil Lawrence confirmed that both boats had suspended racing and returned to port, and noted that Holcim PRB has lodged a formal protest against Allagrande MAPEI Racing. “This matter will be handled by the International Jury at a time to be determined,” he added.

While the two damaged teams regroup, the race pressed on with Biotherm leading the fleet through the Kiel Lighthouse scoring gate, earning the first two points of the race. Paprec Arkéa followed close behind to take one point. Canada Ocean Racing – Be Water Positive impressed with a strong showing in third, ahead of Team Malizia and Team Amaala.

With strong winds forecast and a challenging course ahead — including wind farms, current zones, and the iconic passage under the Great Belt Bridge — this edition of The Ocean Race Europe is already proving to be intense.

Both Holcim PRB and Allagrande MAPEI Racing hope to rejoin the race in time for the next stage, with further updates expected early in the week.

If you enjoyed this….

Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

The post Start Disaster as Two Boats Collide and Return Home In The Ocean Race Europe Leg One appeared first on Yachting World.

Seven teams, six weeks, five legs, one unforgettable race. For its 2025 edition, the Ocean Race Europe will bring together some of the world’s top offshore racing talent.

A fleet-full of high performing foiling 60ft IMOCAs will make an challenging 4,500-mile run around Europe. The route will snake through the Baltic, the North Sea, the Atlantic, the English Channel, the Mediterranean, and into the Adriatic before a grand finale in Boka Bay, Montenegro.

Photo: The Ocean Race Europe.

What is the Ocean Race Europe?

The Ocean Race Europe is run by the organisers of the Ocean Race. The event takes place every four years. This year marks its second edition, after its debut in 2021.

The Ocean Race Europe is offset from the Ocean Race (once the Volvo Ocean Race, before that the Whitbread Round the World Race, widely held as one of the most intense, iconic sailing offshore events on the racing calendar) by two years, allowing teams to partake in both.

It comes ahead of the inaugural Ocean Race Atlantic (2026), which will feature an exciting dash from New York to Barcelona, and the highly anticipated 15th edition of the Ocean Race, which sets off in January 2027 from Alicante.

Several teams competing this summer are also set to take part in the next Ocean Race, but the Ocean Race Europe isn’t just a warm up. It’s a high intensity event in its own right.

The Ocean Race Europe 2025: Racing for the Ocean

For its second instalment, the Ocean Race Europe’s goal is “Connecting Europe”. The route will link some of the region’s most iconic maritime locations, as well as some less well known sailing waters, and hopefully forge new pathways between them.

This year’s race also centres themes of sustainability, and will use its platform to help protect the oceans. The race hopes to make sailing an ever-more sustainable sport by modelling responsible resource use.

Photo: The Ocean Race.

The Route

• Leg 1 – The fleet 850 nautical miles from Kiel to Portsmouth, England, (Scoring gate: Kiel Lighthouse) through the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the English Channel.
• Leg 2 – The longest of the race, with a 1,400 nautical mile stretch from Portsmouth (Scoring gate: The Needles) to Cartagena, Spain that will take the fleet through the Atlantic, including a fly-by in Patosinhos/Porto, Portugal.
• Leg 3 – 650 nautical miles through the upper Mediterranean, cruising from Cartagena (Scoring gate: Cabo de Palos) to Nice, France.
• Leg 4  – 600 miles from Nice (Scoring gate: Monaco) to Genoa, Italy, which hosted the Grand Finale of the first inaugural Ocean Race Europe in 2021.
• Leg 5 – Final 1,000 mile stretch from Genoa (Scoring gate: Santo Stefano), the Ocean Race Europe fleet will head for a grand finale in Boka Bay, Montenegro.

Team Genova pays tribute to the training ship of the Italian Navy, Amerigo Vespucci at the Grand Finale of the 2023 Ocean Race in Genoa, Italy. Photo: Diletta Nicosia/Getty Images

Scoring gates close to the leg will give teams opportunities to earn additional points for strong starts.

Additionally, a short, inshore coastal race in Boka Bay on 20 September will offer teams the chance to score points equivalent to an offshore leg. It’s sure to be stiff competition right until the last second!

What teams are in The Ocean Race Europe?

For the 2025 edition, 7 teams will combine some of the world’s top offshore racing talent. The fleet includes 11 Vendée Globe 2024-2025 skippers and six winners of previous editions of The Ocean Race.

Photo: The Ocean Race.

Team Malizia (Germany)

Led by skipper Boris Herrmann. He is joined by an international team that includes American sailor Cole Brauer and brit Will Harris.

Team Holcim – PRB (Switzerland)

Led by skipper Rosalin Kuiper, alum of the most recent Ocean Race (2023).

Team Paprec Arkéa (France)

With skipper Yoan Richomme at the head of a predominantly French team. Richomme came second in the 2024-2025 Vendee Globe, despite it being his first entry, and skippered the winning boat in the Ocean Race Europe 2021 edition’s VO65 class.

Canada Ocean Racing – Be Water Positive (Canada)

Led by Canadian skipper Scott Shawyer, who is working towards the Vendee Globe 2028. The team also includes British ocean racer and Yachting World contributor Pip Hare.

Allagrande Mapei Racing (Italy)

Led by Italian skipper Ambrogio Beccaria. The team includes the boat’s former skipper, offshore sailor Thomas Ruyant.

Team Biotherm (France)

Led by skipper Paul Meilhat, also with British sailor Sam Goodchild.

Team Amaala (Switzerland / Saudi Arabia)

Led by Vendee Globe skipper Alan Roura. Amaala is the fleet’s largest team, and includes co-skippers Simon Koster and Conrad Colman.

Teams will race with four sailors on board, as well an onboard reporter who is strictly prohibited from assisting with any sailing. By regulation, each team must include at least two nationalities and one female sailor.

How to follow the Ocean Race Europe 2025

This year, the Ocean Race Europe’s official online tracker, developed in collaboration with PredictWind, will allow viewers to keep up with the fleet in real time. The tracker will offer features such as live GPS tracking; global weather overlays; predictive routing, a full telemetry feed, and OBR multimedia integration. It will be available on the Ocean Race’s website from 10 August 2025.

Additionally, the new “Onboard” TV series will take you right onto the water with the racing teams. With more cameras, microphones, and plenty of exclusive footage from the onboard reporters, viewers will get to swing right into the heart of the action.

Photo: The Ocean Race Europe.

Expect new episodes every Tuesday and Friday, with a season preview on Friday 8 August. Enjoy 12 episodes over 6 weeks, each airing 19:00 BST in the UK and 20:00 CEST in the rest of Europe.

Other live shows on TNT sports (UK) and Eurosport include:

• Live Dockout Show (Kiel), 10 August at 12:15 BST
• Official Race Start (Kiel), 10 August at 14:30-16:00 BST
• Coastal Race (Boka Bay), 20 September 13:00-14:30 BST
• Live Dockout Show (Boka Bay), 20 September at 11:30-12:30 BST
• Ocean Race Europe 2025 Wrap-up, 26 September at 19:00 BST

Race coverage will also be available to stream on HBOMax, in the UK, Germany, and Italy, and on Discovery+ in the rest of Europe.

Want to see the action firsthand in the UK? Visit the Ocean Live Park 14-17 August. Photo: The Ocean Race Europe.

Race along with the Ocean Race Europe 2025

This year, the Ocean Race Europe is also partnering with Virtual Regatta. The online platform will mirror the live race’s route, offering participants the chance to test their tactical knowledge as they (virtually) race alongside the fleet. Sign up online before the race starts on 10 August 2025.

The Ocean Race: Was the latest edition a success?

In the sweltering heat of midsummer in the Ligurian Sea, temperatures and tensions were steadily rising on board 11th Hour…

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British IMOCA skipper Pip Hare has announced that she’ll be racing alongside Canadian skipper Scott Shawyer on Shawyer’s Be Water Positive campaign for the 2025 edition of The Ocean Race Europe.

Pip will be onboard as part of the four-person team for every stage of The Ocean Race Europe, which is a crewed multi-stage race that begins on 10 August 2025.

Shawyer’s team is shortly about to take possession of their new foiling IMOCA yacht (details to be announced soon) on the next stage of his working towards the 2028 Vendée Globe.

“It’s a nice development,” she told Yachting World. “I’ve been speaking with Scott ever since he started his campaign. I remember what it was like coming into the class and kind of feeling a bit isolated – so I always try to check in with him, see how he’s doing, see if there’s anything I could support him with.

Hare and Shawyer in the foiling ‘Canada Ocean Racing’ IMOCA – details to be unveiled soon.

“Then after my dismasting (in the 2024 Vendée Globe) we started talking about what a collaboration might look like, whether I could support him with stepping up into a foiling boat.”

Hare’s own IMOCA is currently being shipped back to Europe after dismasting in the 2024 Vendée Globe. She is currently seeking a new title sponsor for her own Vendée Globe 2028 campaign.

“It’s one of the really positive things about being able to collaborate within the class.

“We’re all out there on our own with our own projects and very much in competition, particularly at the moment. Trying to find sponsorship is very hard for everyone. So all pulling together to maintain our knowledge, to keep driving performance while still trying to look for our own projects is going to be a really important thing for quite a number of sailors.

“I’m going to be kind of driving the sailing programme over the next two months. I’m really looking forward to the opportunity of sailing with some other IMOCA sailors and learning from them about how to manage the boat fully crewed – this idea of being able to sail a foiling IMOCA at max warp for days on end, the power of collective minds and strength. That’s really exciting to me.

“I’m just really pleased that Scott and I have been able to work something out. And it’s going to be exciting to see another non-French team making an impact.”

“I think we’re going to have a lot of fun over the summer.”

The course for The Ocean Race Europe – Leg 2 will be a monster!

Ocean Race Europe course

However, she points out that the course for the Ocean Race Europe is going to be tough.

The race starts from Kiel in Germany, with stage finishes in Portsmouth, UK, then a ‘flyby’ at Matosinhos in Portugal before finishing the long Leg 2 in Catagena, Spain. Leg three takes the fleet onto Nice, then they race to Genova, before hooking around Italy to finish in Montenegro.

“Having taken part in the Ocean Race Europe in 2021, I know about the challenges of the Mediterranean – particularly the massive frustrations as well of wind shadows and parking up.

“Leg two is going to be enormous and then the leg from Genoa to Montenegro is a complete unknown for me, that’s an area in the Med that I haven’t been to before.

“It’s going to be an intense race – the stopovers aren’t very long.”

Scott Shawyer shortly after announcing his IMOCA campaign ‘ Canada Ocean Racing’. Pictured here training on the team’s first run offshore with his original boat and mentor Alex Thomson. (Photo by Lloyd Images)

Shawyer, a successful businessman and lifelong amateur sailor, announced his Vendée Globe ambitions in 2022. He has since worked with Vendée veterans Alex Thomson and Nick Moloney as he builds experience and preparedness for the 2028 race.

“Pip is a ruthless competitor with a huge heart,” he said. “She brings a rare mix of tenacity, experience, and humanity to the team. Her ability to dig deep and lead through action will be a huge asset to us.”

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In the sweltering heat of midsummer in the Ligurian Sea, temperatures and tensions were steadily rising on board 11th Hour Racing. Simon ‘Si Fi’ Fisher restlessly tidied lines in the cockpit. Skipper Charlie Enright was glued to his phones, endlessly hitting refresh. “You were either in your bunk staring at the ceiling, or couldn’t sit still and just walking around talking to yourself. It was a weird place,” recalls crewmember Jack Bouttell of the long delivery from The Hague to Genoa.

With zephyr light winds, the IMOCA 60’s usual roar had been replaced with an uncomfortable quiet, broken only by the hum of the engine as the crew frantically tried to make headway to Genoa. It made no difference when they got there. After 36,000 miles of racing, nine months criss-crossing the world’s oceans, the result of The Ocean Race and the fate of the team would be decided by six people sitting in a room as an International Jury came together to decide if 11th Hour Racing should be granted redress after a terrifying collision in The Hague.

When the news came in that average points would be awarded for the final stage, there were no raucous howls of celebration. The four sailors aboard Malama sat, silently stunned, head in hands, as the engine hummed on. It was, by any count, a very strange way to win an around the world race.

11th Hour Racing Team cruising at speed in abnormally calm Southern Ocean conditions. Photo: Amory Ross/11th Hour Racing/The Ocean Race

A bit different

The 2023 The Ocean Race was always going to be a little bit different. While it marked the 50th anniversary of the first edition of the then-Whitbread Round the World Race, the changes for the 14th running of the event were peculiarly of its time.

It was the first edition of the race without a title sponsor. After Volvo sold the event after the last race, owners/organisers Johan Salem and Richard Brisius made it clear that they were not looking for a replacement main backer. The event was to stand on its own.

Most radically of all, there was a class change, with a new class for the foiling IMOCAs, and a second division for the well-proven VO65s (who only completed three legs).

When the shift to the foiling IMOCAs was first mooted, there were fears that the development class simply wouldn’t stand up the rigours of the race. While the IMOCA 60s are designed to withstand the toughest ocean conditions in the solo Vendée Globe, the strains on the boat, many argued, are different when there is a full team pushing 24/7 – and a shore team standing by at the end of each leg to piece the boats back together again.
But those concerns weren’t universally shared. IMOCA class president Antoine Mermod told me in Genoa he was always confident the boats would be up to the job, having done analysis work with designer Juan Kouyoumdjian that showed the safety margins were remarkably similar between the two classes.

11th Hour Racing’s Charlie Enright in a good mood as they lead the fleet to Aarhus. Photo: Justine Mettraux/11th Hour Racing/TOR

“I was confident the boats would get round. In the last Vendée Globe we had 33 boats at the start, and at the end 29 finished – that means the class was in a very positive loop in terms of reliability.

“But hypothesis is one thing, and the reality is another. For sure, it was a big challenge to finish this race and to validate actually that our theory was right.”

The other challenge was to draw IMOCA entries in: and that comes down to money. “We were at a point where to win the Vendée Globe, you need something like €10-15 million for an IMOCA campaign where the returns were mostly in France. And The Ocean Race was the same kind of money to make a good campaign. But it was fully spent in 18 months,” said Mermod. To do both events, he estimates, is a 25-30% increase in budget – but gives sponsors double or triple the return.

Nevertheless, when just five IMOCAs lined up in Alicante for the start in January, doubts lingered. And with a 13,000-mile monster leg ahead of them from Cape Town, encircling the entire Southern Ocean, even a couple of retirements would throw the viability of the whole fleet into question.

There were plenty of points at which it looked like boats would fall out of the race. But what was remarkable was that while no boat escaped without issues, the teams – both sailing and shore – performed minor miracles to keep the show on the road.

Drone view of Team Malizia flying into the sunset during leg 4, Itajai to Newport, Rhode Island. Photo: Antoine Auriol/Team Malizia/The Ocean Race

Against the odds

Malizia suffered a potentially leg-ending tear to their mast a week into the Southern Ocean leg – the team making a heroic repair which held until the finish in Itajai; Holcim-PRB dropped their rig when a furler failed just four days into Leg 4 – their logistics team somehow getting a spare mast shipped to Newport in time for them to restart Leg 5; Guyot-environnement had to return to Cape Town after discovering cracking in Leg 3, then dismasted 600 miles off Newport, but returned to restart in Aarhus after 11th Hour Racing gave them the use of a spare mast.

While ocean racers are experienced in handling such incidents, and might report them as almost par for the course, it’s easy to forget how serious the dismasting of a 60ft yacht is. Annie Lush was racing on board Guyot-environnement. She recalls: “The dismasting was horrific when it happened because we were going into a big low pressure. We had virtually no sail up as we had a couple more hours or a few miles of storm left to get through. And when it happened, as with all good horror stories, it was in the middle of the night.

Guyot-environnement suffered a mast failure as well as hull lamination issues

“It was blowing 55 knots, big seaway, freezing water – I think 6°C. So when the mast came down, my first concern was that it would put a hole in the side of the boat. So it was quite an intense time until the mast was gone [cut away].

“Then there was the realisation we really had no fuel left because we were near the end of leg, and how on earth are we going to get anywhere? It was a really tough few days. We built the jury rig and that felt like an achievement. Then you realise you’re doing 1.5 knots against the Gulf Stream and not going anywhere.

“But one of my favourite moments of the race was when we managed to radio a ship coming past and he said he would help us.

“They filled seven 20lt jerry cans with diesel, and then tied them to some fenders with a light on, floated it out to us and it took us a couple of attempts to pick it up, but we managed to get it all on board. It was an amazing moment.”

Holcim-PRB lost its rig but managed to limp to shore in time to repair and restart. Photo: Georgia Schofield/polaRYSE/Holcim-PRB/TOR

Early favourites

The crew on 11th Hour Racing had more reasons than most to question the viability of their race. With the longest preparation time of any team, they were flagged as the early favourites, but outpaced by Holcim-PRB on the first two legs. Then going into the third, huge, Southern Ocean stage, things went wrong from the outset. First the team had to return to port after breaking batten end fittings in their mainsail during a gybe in Table Bay during the leg start.

“Four days into the Southern Ocean leg, the foil line broke and I had a complete meltdown like I’ve never had before,” recalls Jack Bouttell. “And it wasn’t the line – yes it’s a pain to repair, but you deal with it – but it was knowing that that was the difference between us being just behind Holcim-PRB, and falling off the back of that low. They ended up with a 700-mile lead, and I knew that would happen.

“Making a repair is only sailing 6-8 knots slower for 2 hours, but that’s enough when you’re trying to hang on to the back of a weather system.”

Jack Bouttell; re-leads a chafed outboard line on 11th Hour Racing. Photo: Amory Ross/11th Hour Racing/TOR

Tougher days yet were to come for 11th Hour Racing as they faced repair after repair. With rudder delamination and huge mainsail damage to contend with, simply getting to the finish became a battle.

“I see this race in two parts. Until Brazil, it’s about getting there. You don’t necessarily have to win the leg, but it’s about not losing the race there,” reflects Bouttell.

“We were all very aware that with the Southern Ocean in one leg, if something happened on that leg, it’s effectively game over from a winning perspective, because if you end up in Australia or New Zealand you either miss the next leg or have a massive logistical challenge and don’t have any time to prepare the boat at the other end.

“We faced that a few times in the south, like when the rudders were delaminating, when we were thinking can we realistically finish this leg? My mindset shifted to ‘we’ve just got to get the boat there, whatever happens.’ Because that’s what would keep this race alive for us.”

Biotherm’s Anthony Marchand tries to make sense of the weather forecast. Photo: Anne Beauge/Biotherm

Planned consistency

Having arrived in Itajai – after one final 50-knot knockdown – in 3rd overall, the American team needed to regroup if they were to stay in contention.

“I think on paper it might seem that things changed in Brazil,” skipper Charlie Enright reflected in Genoa, “but certainly our approach was consistent throughout: just try not to get high, not to get too low. Celebrating the good moments and learning from the bad ones and implementing those learnings over the course of the race.

“We always knew it was going to be the team that was sailing the best at the end of the race, and the team that improved the most over time that was going to take this thing home. And I think that’s what allowed us to believe.”
There was, Enright admits, some tough management needed to turn the team around. “In this position, in an event like this, a sport like this, you’re forced with making some difficult decisions and it’s difficult for a reason. And sometimes the harder decision is the right decision. I think over time, I’ve become more willing and able to make those difficult decisions, despite what sometimes are uncomfortable consequences.”

One of the key decisions every team had to make was how to rotate crew. The demands of pushing the complex, tweaky and often temperamental IMOCAs around the world while racing four-up drove many crews to new levels of exhaustion. Most teams made planned crew rotations, with 11th Hour Racing hiring in exceptional talent including IMOCA champion Charlie Dalin and offshore legend Franck Cammas in the later legs of the race.

Cockpit life in the Southern Ocean: Biotherm’s Paul Meilhat, Anthony Marchand and Sam Davies. Photo: Ronan Gladu/Biotherm

But things happen quickly and unexpectedly in this race. Leg 4, from Itajai to Newport, saw Holcim-PRB dismasted in the early stages and Guyot-environnement in the latter. While the race leader was out, 11th Hour Racing handled the challenging North Atlantic conditions best for a dream finish 1st into their home port of Newport, Rhode Island.

Then just as Holcim-PRB had got themselves back into the race with a replacement rig, events ashore during the US stopover turned their campaign upside down. A sexual harassment claim was lodged against Holcim-PRB skipper Kevin Escoffier, and in Aarhus, after the transatlantic leg 5, he stepped down. Benjamin Schwartz, who’d been rostered on to navigate, was moved up to skipper.

“So I arrived on Friday evening, the in-port was on Sunday, when I got a phone call from Marinne [Derrien, team manager] saying: ‘This is the situation, do you want to take the role of skipper?’ I didn’t hesitate,” Schwartz said.
“When you jump on the boat like that, if you want it to work, you have to leave your ego aside and work for the team. And that’s what each one of us did, and that’s why it worked,” he recalls.

11th Hour Racing, meanwhile, won their second back-to-back leg. From Aarhus to The Hague, they won again. The momentum shift was complete, and 11th Hour Racing set up for a fairy-tale comeback, with a two-point lead going into the last leg from The Hague to Genoa the race win was within touching distance. Then Guyot-environnement smashed into them shortly after the start.

Gut-wrenching crash

The videos of the crash in The Hague are a gut-wrenching watch. The reality of the port-starboard collision inside the cockpit on 11th Hour Racing was far worse.

“You’re already on this real adrenaline high when you start. The racing in-port is full-on and non-stop, and the boats are ripping around,” explains Bouttell. “We tacked over, and I heard Charlie say, ‘Starboard!’. Where I am for a manoeuvre, I can’t see to leeward, which was where Guyot were coming from. So Charlie was to leeward looking at them, and I heard ‘Starboard, starboard, starboard’. But that’s just part of sailing. Then I eventually looked down because he was just screaming and saw a bowsprit 4m away.

“The collision just brought me to tears instantly. Normally that release of emotion comes finishing the last leg. Whether you win or lose, it’s all the preparation before. It’s that pressure that keeps building for six months. It’s the fatigue that’s built up. It’s all these emotions. And normally you let that all go in relief when you finish the last leg. So it was quite a different way to feel it. And it was really heavy.”

After a momentary overwhelm of emotion, the whole team snapped back into managing the situation. “Two seconds later it was: is the rig still up? Is Charlie hurt? Is anyone hurt? We’re pointing straight at Malizia. The tiller’s snapped off, the boat’s filling up with water.

Annie Lush working on one of Guyot-environnement’s winches. Photo: Gauthier Lebec/GUYOT Team Europe/TOR

“I went into safety mode for the boat. Put the bulkhead hatches in, get the keel canted the other way, get the headsail ready to furl. Frankie [Francesca Clapcich] was sorting sheets and ropes in the water, thinking about getting the engine on. Amory [Ross, OBR] was helping on the bow and Si Fi did a really good job of managing the protocol.”

The team suspended racing, and lodged a protest. The question everyone was asking, was ‘now what?’.

Determined to arrive back in Genoa under sail, the 11th Hour Racing shore team pulled out one final miracle, rebuilding the smashed topsides in record time to allow the race crew to deliver the boat to the final stopover – though not in time for the protest hearing. Enright and Fisher assiduously prepared a protest case, with onshore meteorologist Marcel van Triest and team manager Mark Towill representing them on shore. And then, they waited.

When the jury decision came in, it awarded the overall race win to 11th Hour Racing. To honour their victory, the other teams spontaneously gathered outside the port of Genoa, circling after the afternoon’s pro-am races as a flotilla to escort the American team back in. The celebrations could finally begin. “It’s been 10 years trying to achieve this goal, and it still hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Enright some days later.

The VO65s raced a three-leg ‘Sprint Cup’, here closely matched in Aarhus, Denmark. Photo: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

Was the 2023 Ocean Race a success?

So was the IMOCA experiment a success? On many levels: absolutely.

When the rule changes were announced there was concern that one of the biggest legacies of the previous Volvo Ocean Race – the gender rules designed to improve female participation in the race – would be undone by the smaller crew numbers of the IMOCA fleet.

In fact, the opposite seems to have happened. Annie Lush, who was part of the all-female Team SCA for the 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race then sailed with Brunel in the last edition, says progress has been marked for the female sailors who competed this time. “This race feels completely different. It’s completely changed. Abby [Ehler] said something like that there was diversity before, but now it’s inclusion, and now it feels like they are fundamentally in the fabric of the race and part of the teams.”

Holcim-PRB at the start of leg 7. Photo: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

With a full crew, the IMOCAs were able to deliver unheard-of record speeds. And the incredible work of the OBRs not only showcased the IMOCAs at full stretch mid-ocean in a way never seen before, but captured the intimacy of life on board in a four-man team that brought new characters to the fore – Malizia in particular winning fans all over the world.

With 11th Hour Racing’s win, the Ocean Race has delivered the first non-French victory in an IMOCA race around the world, and seems to signal a new internationalism creeping through the fleet.

It has been an impressive proof of concept. What it needs, above all, is more boats. Early indications are that more IMOCA teams will be keen to participate next time around, in part because of the huge knowledge gains made possible. “We launched a boat in September and in nine months I think we have done two Vendée Globes in terms of miles, two around the worlds now. It’s a really big step,” said Biotherm skipper Paul Meilhat.

“But I don’t do The Ocean Race to prepare for the Vendée Globe. I do The Ocean Race to do the race. For me this race is a return to basics, offshore sailing like it has been done for many centuries, travelling around the world by boat.” Some things don’t change after all.

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Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Team has won The Ocean Race after a jury awarded them redress of 4 points in the final leg of the round the world race, from which they were forced to retire.

The Ocean Race – previously the Volvo Ocean Race – took place in IMOCA 60s for the first time ever this year, with the usually one-or-two person semi-foilers optimised for ‘fully-crewed’ use for this race. However 11th Hour Racing was the only team to launch a new IMOCA 60 with the primary aim of winning The Ocean Race and thus went into the event as favourites.

While Holcim-PRB was the stand-out team for the opening stages, and Malizia impressive in the gripping Southern Ocean leg, 11th Hour Racing, who had not delivered on their potential early on, were delivering a zero-to-hero comeback story.

Having overcome several potentially race-ending breakages on the long Southern Ocean Leg 3, to win back to back wins over Legs 4, 5 and 6 – including into their home port of Newport – it was shaping up to be a fairy tale finish for the US team, and with just two points separating 11th Hour and Holcim-PRB over the unpredictable leg from northern Europe, across Biscay and deep into the Mediterranean, there was potential for a nail-biting finale.

However, disaster struck just 17 minutes into the start of Leg 7, from The Hague to Genoa in Italy, in a port-starboard incident between the 11th Hour and Guyot-environnement IMOCA 60s. Guyot-environnement, on port, did not see 11th Hour Racing and did not alter course in time to avoid them. The result was a full-bore ’T-bone’, with Guyot’s bowsprit spearing into the side of 11th Hour’s cockpit, missing skipper Charlie Enright by inches, while Guyot’s bow smashed into the port aft quarter of the 11th Hour IMOCA Malama, leaving a substantial hole.

Incredibly, no crew members were hurt, though all were deeply shocked by the incident.

After deliberation, the World Sailing International Jury awarded 11th Hour Racing Team 4 points of redress – based on an average of their results in the race to date – to put them at the top of the leaderboard.

The final leaderboard sees 11th Hour Racing Team 3 points clear of Team Holcim-PRB in second place, with Team Malizia in third, Biotherm is fourth place and GUYOT environnement – Team Europe fifth.

11th Hour Racing Team are the first US-flagged team to win the Race, and sailor Francesca Clapcich will arrive in Genova on Thursday afternoon as the first Italian sailor to win the race.

Speaking from onboard Mālama as the team delivered the boat to Genova, Skipper Charlie Enright commented, “When we launched our campaign in 2019, we never could have anticipated that it would finish in this way. Any sailor will tell you that they want to win races on the water and not in the jury room, and after winning three legs back to back we felt exceptionally strong and confident going into the final leg.

“We are pleased with the jury’s decision, although we wish we had had the chance to battle it out for this final leg on the water as Holcim-PRB have been exceptional competitors and pushed us all the way.”

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The overall winner of The Ocean Race is likely to be decided in the protest room after a huge collision between 11th Hour Racing and Guyot-environnement – Team Europe shortly after the final leg start on Thursday, 15 June.

The crash occurred just 17 minutes into the start of Leg 7 of The Ocean Race, from The Hague to Genoa in Italy, in a port-starboard incident between the 11th Hour and Guyot-environnement IMOCA 60s. 11th Hour Racing had tacked onto starboard to approach the fourth mark of the course, and were racing in 2nd place.

The Ocean Race 2022-23 – 16 June 2023. Screen Capture of the moment when GUYOT environnement – Team Europe crashed with 11th Hour Racing Team 15 mins after the start of Leg 7.

Guyot-environnement, on port, did not see 11th Hour Racing and did not alter course in time to avoid them. The result was a full-bore ’T-bone’, with Guyot’s bowsprit spearing into the side of 11th Hour’s cockpit, missing skipper Charlie Enright by inches, while Guyot’s bow smashed into the port aft quarter of the 11th Hour IMOCA Malama, leaving a substantial hole.

Incredibly, no crew members were hurt, though all were deeply shocked by the incident.

Guyot’s skipper Benjamin Dutreux, clearly distraught, immediately offered his apologies to Enright. “I was helming, and I just saw their boat appear suddenly, and it was too late. The contact was unavoidable [at that point]. I take full responsibility. It is our fault.”

The French team also pledged to support the Americans in any way they could to get them back on the racecourse. In a painful twist of fate, Guyot had only returned to the race in Aarhus after a mid-Atlantic dismasting thanks to 11th Hour Racing offering up their spare mast.

A distraught Benjamin Dutreux, skipper of Guyot-environnement, speaks to 11th Hour Racing team manager Mark Towill after the collision at the start of Leg 7 of The Ocean Race

Ocean Race crash

11th Hour Racing navigator Simon Fisher explained said afterwards, “I’m lost for words. We tacked on our lay line, sailing on starboard for 20 or 30 seconds. Charlie was screaming ‘starboard’ at Guyot, and they did not respond.

“The net result is that they have put their boat firmly in the side of ours. The bowsprit went right through our boat and came out on the inside. We are really lucky that no one got hurt; Charlie was sitting so close to the hatch. Thankfully everyone is ok.

“Personally, I refuse to admit this [race] is over. We would rather try to win it on the water, but we need to find out what our options are, if this can be repaired, and what our redress implications are as a team now, and hopefully move forward.

“I have seen plenty of stuff in my time over six Ocean Races, this is not one of the better ones, but we have a fantastic team, and going into today, we were in a fantastic position, and that is thanks to the team we have. If I wanted to be with any group of people in adversity, it’s them.”

Skipper Charlie Enright echoed the sentiment, saying: “This race has a way of testing people in different ways – physically and mentally, and this is a test for our team. There is no team I would rather be on, that I would rather have with me. If anyone can figure this out, it is us.”

11th Hour Racing crew member Jack Boutell breaks down after a violent collision with Guyot-environment shortly after the start of Leg 7 in The Ocean race. Photo: Sailing Energy/11th Hour Racing

11th Hour set off for Genoa

11th Hour Racing officially retired from the leg the following day, and lodged a request for redress. The request will be heard by the World Sailing International Jury, which under the Racing Rules of Sailing may compensate a boat when “a boat’s score or place in a race or series has been or may be, through no fault of her own, made significantly worse.”

Clearly 11th Hour Racing will be hoping to be awarded an average of their previous leg points in order to hold onto their lead.

The team also spent 72 hours working around the clock to effect a repair that would get the IMOCA back on the water.

This evening, Sunday 18 June, the race crew left The Hague in the hopes of delivering the boat some 2,500 miles to Genoa in time for the final in-port racing, which will take place on July 1.

Going into the start of Leg 7, 11th Hour Racing was sitting at the top of the overall leaderboard, following a hat-trick of winning three legs in a row. Enright’s team had 33 points, with Holcim-PRB in 2nd on 31 points, and Team Malizia in 3rd with 27 points.

The Ocean Race 2022-23 – Leg 7, June 16, 2023. The 11th Hour Racing Team continues repairs to Malama after a collision during the start of Leg 7.

With both Guyot-environnement and 11th Hour Racing having retired from Leg 7, there are now just three IMOCAs racing to the race’s finale.

Meanwhile the current Leg 7 leader, Holcim-PRB, is sailing under a new skipper after Kevin Escoffier stood down in Aarhus following an incident at the previous stopover in Newport.

Escoffier confirmed that he would not longer be skipper for the remainder of The Ocean Race following what he described in a post as an ‘alleged incident’ (the line was later deleted). Details of the circumstances that led to Escoffier standing down have not been confirmed by either the team or The Ocean Race organisers.

It was later reported in both the German and French sailing media that allegations of harassment were made by a young woman at the US stopover. The incident is understood to be being handled by the French Sailing Federation (FFV), the French national sailing authority.

Benjamin Schwartz has been appointed Holcim-PRB skipper for the duration of the race. Schwartz was part of the technical support team for previous race winners Dongfeng, and is navigator on Spindrift/Sails for Change giant trimaran.

Millpond conditions mid-Channel for The Ocean Race fleet on Day 2 of Leg 7 with leg leaders Team Holcim – PRB trying to keep moving.

Race decided by redress?

For the race and its fans, this has been a devastating sequence of events. While Holcim-PRB was the stand-out team for the opening stages, and Malizia impressive in the gripping Southern Ocean leg, 11th Hour Racing were delivering a zero-to-hero comeback story.

Having overcome several potentially race-ending breakages on the long Southern Ocean Leg 3, to win back to back wins over Legs 4, 5 and 6 – including into their home port of Newport – was shaping up to be a fairy tale finish for the US team, And with just two points separating 11th Hour and Holcim-PRB over the unpredictable leg from northern Europe, across Biscay and deep into the Mediterranean, there was potential for a nail-biting finale.

Now the outcome of the 27,000-mile race is likely to be settled in the jury room.

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“I’m so happy not to be alone,” an emotional Boris Herrmann said standing at the base of his 29m/95ft mast, a foot-long gash ripped into the carbon above his head threatening his entire race, “this would be a horror show alone.”

Just a week into the furthest non-stop Southern Ocean leg The Ocean Race (previously the Volvo Ocean Race) had ever attempted, from Cape Town to Itajai, the damage to Maliza’s mast looked insurmountable to outside observers. To continue on for a month of sailing ever deeper into the planet’s remotest reaches would be madness, surely they must turn back? They did not. Instead, Herrmann’s team sailed on to win.

This leg confounded expectations in many ways. Back in Gothenburg in 2018 I chatted to Volvo Ocean Race sailors who’d completed thousands of miles in the much-maligned but indisputably robust VO65s. The idea of the next race taking place in IMOCA 60s was being mooted, but many crews felt the flighty, foil-assisted designs simply wouldn’t stand up to being thrashed around the world by a team of four.

When the IMOCA class was confirmed for the current edition of The Ocean Race, those concerns had to be addressed – for some entries that involved building boats specifically designed for a larger crew. Then when Covid meant organisers could no longer plan stopovers in China, Australia, or New Zealand, a solution presented itself: one 13,000-mile mega-leg roaring through the south from the Cape of Good Hope to beyond Cape Horn. The longest stage the race had ever seen, and a symbolic return to the event’s roots. The doubters, however, remained vociferous. The leg would become a demolition derby. There was a risk, some said, of no boats completing the course at all.

But ocean racers are not like other sailors. You don’t step forward to live in a carbon box hurtling through oceans beyond the reach of all help, atop a boat that you know might break, unless you’re prepared to do extraordinary things to fix it.

And that’s what leg three became: proof that to race these machines you need not only be a talented sailor or navigator, but must have technical knowledge to rival an astronaut, the creative ability to conjure solutions in the face of seemingly impossible problems – all while bone-crushingly exhausted – and above all a never-say-die attitude.

Drone shot of 11th Hour Racing Team’s Malama on day 31. Photo: Amory Ross/11th Hour Racing/The Ocean Race

Worrying start

Things didn’t get off to an auspicious start. Two boats broke even before the final turning mark off the start line, 11th Hour Racing and Biotherm shattering battens and blocks in crash gybes as 40-knot gusts whipped across Table Bay before the fleet headed for open ocean. Both opted to make repairs, wait out a mandatory two-hour time penalty, then restart, chasing the pack east.

Then, after 72 hours of racing, Guyot Environnement-Team Europe turned back to Cape Town with structural damage in the hull. And on Wednesday 1 April, five days into the race, Malizia’s crew discovered a rip in their mast. The more doom-laden predictions were starting to look vindicated.

On Malizia, Herrmann’s team first thought they’d had a halyard lock failure when their largest gennaker dropped into the water, wrapping around the keel and piercing itself on the foils. It was only when they used a masthead camera they discovered a 30cm crack in the mast. “It was right where the runners go into the mast, a really crucial part of it,” explains Malizia co-skipper Will Harris.

It looked initially as if their race might be over. “But the shore team were quite positive. They said, ‘There’s a good chance that if you do a good repair, you can sail this boat at 100%.’ The next thing was working out how to go about the repair. We’d been sent this big lamination schedule from the shore crew; a mammoth 18-layer job, which you have to do within a 45-minute period, up a mast. It seemed impossible at first.”

Wet work for Abby Ehler and skipper Kevin Escoffier during a Holcim-PRB sail change on deck. Photo: Julien Champolion/polaRYSE/Holcim-PRB/The Ocean Race

The team spent hours preparing the mast surface and materials, before Harris was sent up the rig while Rosalin Kuiper wetted layers in batches and hoisted them in a bucket to Harris. “That was really tough. I had all this wet laminate and you’re being thrown into the mast so the hardest thing was not touching it.” After hours of effort Harris taped up the patch to cure and left it overnight. The next morning Kuiper went up to check the repair, and they were confident enough in its solidity to resume racing.

“We’ve got fibre optics in our mast that measure the deformation, so we could use that to just check if things were looking bizarre. And to be honest, we said let’s push it. We’ve got to find out now if this is going to work or not. So we put the big sail up, and 24 hours later we felt like we had a new mast again.”

Staying together

In the meantime, overall race leader Holcim-PRB had begun to steal away. By the time Malizia returned to racing Kevin Escoffier’s Holcim-PRB had opened up a 500-mile advantage. But the ‘rubber band’ effect which often sees gains and losses fluctuate in ocean races was particularly pronounced on this Southern Ocean leg, where the pace the IMOCAs can sail at for sustained periods meant that even 1,000-mile deltas between boats could be eroded in a matter of days.

“The accordion effect and the fact that the fleet kept coming back together was quite incredible,” explains Simon Fisher, navigator on 11th Hour Racing. “I think it was a combination of the speed of these boats and the fact we can be a little bit faster than the weather systems at times when conditions are right.”

Day 35 aboard 11th Hour Racing. The team huddles around the navstation for a look at the latest weather picture. Photo: Amory Ross/11th Hour Racing/The Ocean Race

Another factor was that the ice gates imposed by the race control were relatively far north. “The latitude where they were meant you couldn’t get too far down south over the front of the systems. But it was pretty surprising when our range to Holcim at one stage was 950 miles, which is a massive distance, and we all came back together again.”

The fact that the IMOCAs travel faster than the weather systems – and are therefore ahead of the fronts – also meant that for much of the long stretch to Cape Horn the crews avoided the most aggressive weather the south is renowned for. “Conditions wise, we got away fairly lightly, at least for the first three quarters,” recalls Jack Bouttell of 11th Hour Racing. “Because effectively the majority of the time, we’re on the front of something so we actually had pretty flat sea states. You don’t have those post frontal, post depression squalls to deal with, which are really tough in the south because you can have an average wind speed of 25 knots and then squalls coming with 40-50 knots in them and big wind shifts.”

Jack Bouttell grinds down a set of through-bolts after a creative mainsail repair for 11th Hour Racing. Photo: Amory Ross/11th Hour Racing/The Ocean Race

Losing touch

But while the field of play got ever larger, staying in touch with the leaders became ever harder for the 11th Hour Racing team, as the damage toll on board their IMOCA Malama began to rack up – foil control lines, furlers, a large rip in the mainsail, delamination in the bow, and cracking in two rudders. Onboard videos were soon littered with expletives, as the crew discovered problem after problem, several potentially race-ending failures.

On 11th Hour, Fisher had to manage whether to try and push on, or find a window to fix it and then restart. “But then we’re still going to be 1,000 or 2,000 miles behind. So we’re actually better off just to resolve it and carry on,” explains Bouttell. “There’s also the safety factor that up until New Zealand someone can eventually come and get you. The ice gate under Australia is effectively a rescue limit. But once you go past New Zealand, you’re on your own, your safety boat is the fleet. So if you go into delivery mode 2,000 miles behind you’re completely alone.”

Sam Davies working on the foredeck in rough Southern Ocean waves faced by Biotherm on day 15. Photo: Ronan Gladu/Biotherm

Biotherm was experiencing similar. “In the middle of the South Pacific we were hooning along and there was a massive bang,” recalled Sam Davies. “One of the bulkheads inside the boat just sheared. So we slow down and Paul [Meilhat] and Anthony [Marchand] get their heads down and start sanding and laminating. They basically rebuilt a bulkhead in the middle of the Southern Ocean.”

Both teams continued racing – working around the failures, contending with ever-dwindling repair kits: 11th Hour Racing team hand cranking the keel when the pump failed, cutting up sail bags to make a last ditch repair to their disintegrating mainsail; Biotherm sailed the final 2,000 miles ‘blind’ with no wind instruments.

Biotherm collided with an UFO, damaging the port foil on day 34. The hull around the foil bearing also cracked. Photo: Ronan Gladu/Biotherm

Playing cat and mouse

Meanwhile at the front of the fleet tensions were also rising. After rounding Cape Horn in the lead, Malizia faced a cat and mouse game with previously undefeated Holcim-PRB. “That was a very stressful part of the race,” reflects Harris. “We had this opportunity to do an amazing thing and this incredible comeback to win the race.

“From Cape Horn there was still 2,000 miles to go, nearly a week of sailing, and we had storms coming through, which were to our advantage. But Holcim was still within 30 miles. It’s next to nothing. It takes one little mistake and that would be it. Game over for us.”

To make things worse, Kuiper was injured in the severe sea state off South America. Thrown from her bunk she suffered concussion and a facial injury. “So we’re missing a crewmember, sailing only three up, and the racing got really intense. I really felt like I was back in Figaro mode, my watches were so intense,” says Harris.

Team Malizia was designed specifically for Southern Ocean conditions and proved able to maintain high averages to win. Photo: Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia / The Ocean Race

“Nico (Lunven, navigator) was on his own floating watch, sailing as if he’s solo. And Boris and I would do a four-hour watch each where we’re doing all the work of two people, and we’d be there on the autopilot trying to get every mile possible. I wasn’t confident we were going to win it until 10 miles from the finish and we had an 80 miles lead.”

After 12,000 miles of racing, errors began to creep in. Holcim-PRB, until then yet to drop a point in the race, had an autopilot glitch which sent the boat into a crash gybe, breaking mainsail battens. It was the first time the French team had revealed any problems in their videos – but that, Escoffier says, was because in contrast to the other boats they had nothing to report. “We’ve shown everything.”

Despite Malizia picking up some serious sail damage in the same squalls, Herrmann’s team was able to extend away to win their first ever leg. Holcim-PRB came in close behind them, having also picked up points for passing the Tasmanian scoring gate in 1st. 11th Hour Racing limped home in 3rd after Biotherm collided with an object off the Chilean coast and damaged their port foil.

So how did the IMOCAs acquit themselves on their toughest ever test? The list of repairs across the fleet was, as Enright put it, “long and distinguished”. But more remarkable is how the crews managed to keep the boats on their feet and not only complete the course, but produce super-close, ‘dogfight’ racing, as Escoffier calls it. “I think it’s good news for The Ocean Race and good news for the IMOCAs,” he added. For those not at the front of the fight, the achievement lay in managing a relentless series of apparently hopeless situations. “It almost felt like a victory in itself, just getting to Itajai,” says Davies.

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Kevin Escoffier’s IMOCA Holcim-PRB, competing in the The Ocean Race, has annihilated the 24-hour monohull sailing record by covering an incredible 640.9 miles on the fifth leg from Newport to Aarhus.

This breaks both the pre-existing race, IMOCA and outright monohull records. In March this year Holcim-PRB set a 24-hour IMOCA record by covering a breathtaking 595.26 nautical miles (1102 kms).

Over the past two days on the transatlantic stage the team repeatedly smashed that. First they broke The Ocean Race record of 602 nautical miles, set in the last race by Simeon Tienpont’s Team AkzoNobel in a VO65 five years ago. Racing in the same conditions, 11th Hour Racing also overtook that race record, clocking 611.9 nautical miles in 24 hours.

The Ocean Race 2022-23 – 25 May 2023, Leg 5 Day 4 onboard Team Holcim – PRB. Fast around the high pressure – sea finally flat, at full speed during the 24 hours record.

Then Holcim-PRB clocked up 622.58 miles in 24 hours, which overtook the monohull sailing record set by the 100ft Comanche in 2015, that had held for eight years after being set in the Transatlantic Race.

However, with exceptionally high speed conditions mid-Atlantic – downwind reaching, in 25-30 knots of wind, with a relatively flat sea state – Holcim-PRB just kept adding to their mileage total, and this morning reported they had covered an incredible 640.9 miles.

Skipper Escoffier had predicted this result earlier in the day, explaining: “Yesterday, we caught up with a weather front. We passed in front of it and now we are following it on starboard tack, which gives us high speeds… The sea is flat which is rather pleasant… If it goes on like this, we will break the 24-hour record again.”

Their consistent high speeds and control are all the more impressive given the team had only restepped the mast shortly before the Leg 5 start, and had been having issues with their masthead instruments. A replacement system was first installed at the back of the IMOCA before Sam Goodchild on Wednesday climbed the mast yesterday to fix a replacement it.

“Following the dismasting we had to redo the aerials, all the brackets etc. We only had one day to validate all this, on Saturday in Newport in good sea conditions. For the start of the race, we had a bit more wind than we expected. We had a reaching leg with about 30 knots of wind. In these conditions, one of the sensors that allows us to obtain the direction and strength of the wind broke, then the second one.

“We had neither the wind strength (which allows us to choose the optimal sail), nor the wind direction (which allows us to know where the wind is coming from when we have to gybe and adapt our weather strategy). As soon as we could, we went up to the top of the mast to install a replacement aerial.

“We managed to play it by feel but it wasn’t ideal. We were making progress in terms of speed and the feeling on the boat. It’s much less good in terms of performance. It’s a consequence of our dismasting,” explained the skipper of the Swiss monohull yesterday, Thursday 25 May.

High speed collision

Racing at full bore brings its own risks, however – yesterday 11th Hour Racing reported a high speed collision which left two crew members injured. On Thursday 25 May, 11th Hour Racing activated its Hazard Button to alert Race Control and the wider fleet they had hit something, suspected to be a marine mammal.

The Ocean Race 2022-23 – Leg 5, May 24, 2023. 11th Hour Racing sailing at high speed into the middle of a developing North Atlantic low.

Charlie Enright’s team, which is currently leading Leg 5, were mid-North Atlantic Ocean approximately 750 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, sailing at 29 knots when they suddenly collided with something.

The crew were thrown forward, with Charlie Dalin suffering a suspected mild concussion, and media crew member Amory Ross injuring his shoulder.

The two sailors were advised to take some bunk rest while the remaining crew – Enright, Justine Mettraux and navigator Simon Fisher raced on. The boat is reported to be undamaged.

High stakes leg

This fifth transatlantic leg is one of the most high stakes of The Ocean Race.

After Holcim-PRB won Legs 1 and 2, also taking points for being first past the Hobart scoring gate, Boris Herrmann’s Malizia won the Southern Ocean Leg 3, and 11th Hour Racing won Leg 4 (when Holcim-PRB dismasted), the three teams were separated by just two points going into Leg 5. Holcim-PRB sit on 19 points, with Malizia and 11th Hour Racing both on 18 points.

The transatlantic stage from Newport to Aarhus, Denmark is also scored as a double-points leg, giving it extra importance.

The Ocean Race 2022-23 Leg 5 Day 3: onboard Team Holcim – PRB, skipper Kevin Escoffier and Charles Caudrelier manage a sail change in the pit. Sam Goodchild and Abby Ehler return from the bow.

Hence many teams have bolstered their crew rosters with some impressive offshore talent: Escoffier’s team have been joined by Charles Caudrelier, the winning skipper of the last Volvo Ocean Race (on Dongfeng, which Escoffier was part of the team), and currently skipper of the multiple-record-breaking Ultime Gitana. 11th Hour Racing have also brought in Charlie Dalin, who was first home in the 2020 Vendée Globe and is a multiple IMOCA world champion having been the skipper to beat with his IMOCA Apivia.

After setting the record, Holcim-PRB had closed to within 5 miles of leg leader 11th Hour Racing, with Malizia just 60 miles behind. Biotherm are in 4th place, while Guyot environment is missing this leg after dismasting on the approach to Newport. Follow the race tracker at theoceanrace.com

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Early this morning, Tuesday 9 May 2023, organisers of The Ocean Race have reported that GUYOT environnement – Team Europe has dismasted as the fleet race towards the finish of leg 4 in Newport, Rhode Island.

The team had been racing in the north Atlantic, just over 600 miles east of Newport, Rhode Island when the incident occurred and reports from onboard are that all crew are safe and are working to secure the boat.

On Monday 8 May teams were preparing for a significant amount of wind in the final days of the leg from Brazil to the USA. The weather front was predicted to see southwest winds forecast at 40 knots, gusting as high as 50 knots, which would have been some of the strongest winds the teams have faced in the entire race.

“I’ve been trying to get my head around the forecast for the final couple of days… it’s hard,” said Francesca Clapcich on 11th Hour Racing Team on Monday. “Leg 4 is not over! It’s going to be pretty messy.”

“I think the whole fleet will get tested,” said on board reporter Amory Ross. “We’re making sure we’re prepared going into this and the boat is in good shape. This will be the most wind we have seen all leg. We haven’t even had a reef in since we left Brazil… It’s just one more significant obstacle between here and Newport.”

The Ocean Race 2022-23 – 9 May 2023, Leg 4 Day 16. GUYOT environnement – Team Europe dismasted in the North Atlantic, as they were crossing a weather front, 600nm away from Newport.

For GUYOT environnement – Team Europe this breakage is the second significant incident they have suffered in as many legs, with the team forced to abandon the previous Southern Ocean leg early with hull deformation issues. They managed to make it to Brazil and repair their boat in time for the start of this leg, but with this new development hopes of a good result in The Ocean Race overall have effectively slipped away.

At present, other than the report that all crew are safe onboard GUYOT environnement – Team Europe there is little other information as they struggle to secure the boat and make a plan. However, this is bad news for the race as a whole with this the second boat – in a fleet of 5 – to dismast on this leg after event leaders, Kevin Escoffier‘s Holcim-PRB, lost their mast shortly after the start.

Holcim-PRB has since returned to Brazil under jury rig and have been planning to try to get their boat back to Newport with a new mast in time for the start of the next leg of the race across the Atlantic. The one-design IMOCA 60 masts are in relatively short supply, with very few spares around. However, there have been a number of new boat launches in recent months, so the option of buying or borrowing another IMOCA 60s mast is potentially on the table.

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Crew rotation is proving to be a big feature in this edition of The Ocean Race and once again the crews are being mixed up on all boats as the teams prepare to take on Leg 4 of the round the world race, this time racing from Itajai, Brazil to Newport, USA. The fourth leg of The Ocean Race is due to start Sunday 23 April 2023, with in-port racing taking place Friday 21 April.

Although crew rotation is a feature across the five-boat fleet, for two of the teams in particular there are some significant changes. The race is now a little over half-way complete with approximately 55% of the points still remaining, so if you’re going to make some changes, Itajaí seems like a sensible place to do it.

However, it’s often said that in offshore racing, experience is everything. So with multiple crew changes on Team Holcim-PRB, for example, does this make the overall race leader vulnerable going into Leg 4? Could this be an opportunity for the other teams to push skipper Kevin Escoffier and his new line-up? Or will fresh bodies and minds prove to be a positive for the team.

For one team, this fourth leg of the race will be a return to racing after GUYOT environnement – Team Europe were forced to retire from the massive Southern Ocean leg 3 of the event after they discovered hull damage shortly after the start. The team went straight from Cape Town to Itajai and have been racing to complete repairs to their IMOCA 60 ahead of the start of this fourth leg.

Team Holcim PRB currently lead the Ocean Race. Photo: Team Holcim-PRB

Team Holcim-PRB

Current race leader, Team Holcim-PRB, sees skipper Kevin Escoffier about to set sail with a completely different crew line-up than for Leg 3. Stepping on board for the first time are Annemieke Bes (NED) and Benjamin Schwartz (FRA), while Fabien Delahaye (FRA) moves from shore duties to racing on the boat for the first time.

“I chose this crew for several reasons,” said Escoffier. “First, I wanted to have an international crew, with different cultures. Secondly, I selected Fabien’s profile because he already knows the boat as he sailed her at the end of 2022 from Pointe-à-Pitre on the way back from the Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe.

“I then looked for a versatile crew member, and Annemieke’s profile matched exactly what I was expecting. She has already done a Volvo Ocean Race with a crew, she has been an Olympian [Olympic silver medal, 2008] and is very strong physically. To complete the team, the profile of Benjamin Schwartz was ideal, as he has a lot of skills, has also done multihulls, and is very experienced in terms of electronics and pilot,” explained the skipper.

“As the crew is new, to get the sailors into the swing of things, I have already sent them documents before their arrival on the specifics of the boat. I have sent them various sheets that summarise our knowledge of the boat and the trim book that we fill in as we sail. They will also take part in the boat’s performance debrief next week. This is already allowing us to make progress ahead of the sailing next week.” Georgia Schofield (NZL) steps back on board as the On Board Reporter (OBR).

Photo: Ronan Gladu / Biotherm

Biotherm

There are also big changes on Biotherm, with skipper Paul Meilhat (FRA) bringing in three new crew members. For Leg 4 he’ll be joined by British sailor Alan Roberts (GBR), a nine-time participant on the French Figaro singlehanded circuit, Portuguese sailor Mariana Lobato (POR), Olympian and 2013 Match Racing World Champion, and French sailor Marie Riou, (FRA), a four-time Nacra 17 World Champion, Olympian and winner of the Volvo Ocean Race 2018 with Dongfeng Racing Team. Anne Beaugé (FRA) will be back aboard as OBR. This means the Biotherm boat will be sailing with 2 women and 2 men as race crew, and 3 women on board in total including the OBR.

Photo :Sailing Energy / The Ocean Race

11th Hour Racing Team

Francesca Clapcich (ITA) steps back on board 11th Hour Racing Team, taking the place of Justine Mettraux (SUI), part of their regular rotation. Jack Bouttell (AUS/ GBR) is doing the In-Port Race in Itajaí but steps off the boat for leg 4, with shore-based team member Damian Foxall (IRL) joining the race crew for the first time. The Irishman is a six-time veteran of The Ocean Race, with over 450,000 nautical miles under his belt. “I was really pleased when Charlie asked me if I would sail onboard for this next Leg to Newport,” commented Foxall. “Every time the race has come to Itajaí, I’ve either sailed into or out of the city, so I’m really proud to be doing it once again. I’ll be stepping into some big boots and racing alongside fantastic sailors across the fleet, but we have what I believe is one of the best boats for this leg, so I’m looking forward to getting going.”

Olympian Clapcich is looking forward to getting back on board the boat. “It has been almost two months since I’ve raced on board, and I have missed it. I am raring to go, and we will be pushing as hard as we can to climb that leaderboard. Now is our time. Before leaving home, I told my wife: ‘We are going to win this leg.’ I also think it’s good to come in fresh, without having sailed the previous leg, which is what Damian and I will be doing. This is an important leg for the team, and I’m pleased to be on board for it.”

Photo: Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia 

Team Malizia

British sailor Will Harris will be Team Malizia’s skipper for Leg 4 of The Ocean Race, taking over the role for the second time in the round-the-world race. New addition to the international team is French offshore sailor Christopher Pratt (FRA). He will replace Boris Herrmann who, as planned, is sitting out the race from Itajaí to Newport. Pratt has a wealth of IMOCA experience across various projects on the French racing circuit. “I am really happy to join Team Malizia on the next leg of The Ocean Race,” said the 42-year-old Frenchman. “Taking part in this race is a childhood dream come true. I have been following the race very closely from the start and even more during the last leg. I am impressed by the commitment and the resilience of the crew winning the longest leg of the race. I am really looking forward to joining the team in Itajaí and I will do my best to bring my experience and enthusiasm to the crew.”

Photo: Sailing Energy / The Ocean Race

GUYOT environnement – Team Europe

GUYOT environnement – Team Europe are sticking with the same crew that set out on Leg 3. That wasn’t originally in the plan, but after the retirement of the boat from Leg 3, skipper Benjamin Dutreux and the team have decided that it would be best to retain the continuity of crew from the previous leg. Most of the crew took the opportunity to rest and recuperate back at home, so they have had a good few weeks to recharge and get ready for a strong performance up the Atlantic. “We can’t wait to get racing,” Dutreux said. “This is an interesting leg for most of us as we don’t normally sail up the west side of the Atlantic, so there will be a lot to learn and experience for us.”

How to follow The Ocean Race leg 4

The Ocean Race website will be providing key content for 2022-23 edition including latest news and analysis, videos and photos from the yachts (each IMOCA 60 has a dedicated reporter onboard) and a full racing section featuring the offshore race tracker, rankings and scoreboard.

Each leg start and finish will be covered live by Warner Bros. Discovery and shown on Eurosport platforms, including Eurosport.com. Outside of Europe, and depending on the territory, you may be able to access live coverage via YouTube.com/theoceanrace.

At 1200 UTC every day during the offshore legs, there will be a programme called The Race Report – a two-minute quick fix that tells the story of the previous 24 hours in the Race.

Niall Myant-Best will also host The Ocean Race Show, a longer format programme that takes a deeper dive into the stories at sea. This too will be available on the race website YouTube and The Ocean Race Facebook channels.

You can also catch all the latest The Ocean Race content on our The Ocean Race homepage.

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Boris Herrmann‘s Team Malizia has won Leg 3 of The Ocean Race from Cape Town to Itajai, the longest ever ocean stage in the crewed around the world race.

Herrmann, crew Will Harris, Rosalin Kuiper, and Nico Lunven, together with on board reporter Antoine Auriol, crossed the finish line at 0220 local time in Brazil after 35 days and 14,700 nautical miles of racing.

Their victory was all the more remarkable because Malizia suffered serious rig damage just four days into the race which looked set to take the boat out of contention.

The Ocean Race 2022-23 – 2 April 2023. The Ocean Race 2022-23 – 2 April 2023. Team Malizia wins leg 3.

“Dreaming of doing The Ocean Race, doing this amazing leg through the Southern Ocean, finishing it after all the trouble we had early on, and winning it!! 

“Four weeks ago, if I had been told ‘Repair your mast because you might win this leg’ I would have not believed it and said that’s not possible, we are too far behind and can’t push the boat anymore. But it worked out beyond our expectations,” said Herrmann at the finish.

Team Malizia damage

After Guyot Environnement – Team Europe had to return to Cape Town early in the leg when the team discovered structural damage, the leg was a four-way competition between Holcim-PRB, Malizia, Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm and Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing.

Whilst ahead of this race there had been much speculation about how the fully crewed IMOCAs would stand up to such a punishing stage, the race turned out to be a masterclass in how to manage both boat and crew from all four teams, despite inevitable gear attrition.

On March 2 Malizia lost their Code Zero over the side of the sail, which then wrapped around their keel and one of their foils and had to be cut free. Much worse was to come, when shortly after the team discovered a foot-long tear in the mast’s carbon structure just under the Code Zero fitting. 

With a gruelling 12,000-plus miles of Southern Ocean sailing ahead of them, few would have predicted that the IMOCA 60 mast would have stood up to the leg, but Will Harris completed a complex repair, which required him working for hours at the top of the 30m rig.

“When I think back to that day, we’d just started, we’d lost a sail and damaged the mast, we really thought about going back to Cape Town,” Will Harris recalls.

The Ocean Race 2022-23 – 2 March 2023, Leg 3, Day 4 onboard Team Malizia. Will Harris repairing the mast.

The longest leg

At the same time, Kevin Escoffier’s Holcim-PRB, the dominant boat of the race so far, had built a 600-mile lead that appeared to be uncatchable. 

Although the fleet compressed to within 200 miles by the time they reached the Tasmanian Scoring Gate, Escoffier still held the advantage and looked set to be able to defend their position.

Holcim-PRB also set a new 24-hour IMOCA record by covering a breath-taking 595.26 nautical miles (1102 kms) over Saturday 11-Sunday 12 March.

However, in the South Pacific Malizia’s superior wave-handling characteristics seemed to come to the fore, and Malizia reeled in Holcim-PRB to take the lead on 23 March, after nearly one month of racing.

The Ocean Race 2022-23 – 27 March 2023, drone view of Team Malizia, first team crossing Cape Horn during day 29 of Leg 3.

The fleet was neck-and-neck, at times just 10 miles separating the fleet as they raced near the furthest point from land along the virtual ice limits.

With both Biotherm and 11th Hour Racing having reported damage, Holcim-PRB and Malizia were locked into a two-way tussle for the final 2000 miles of the leg, Malizia holding the advantage as they rounded Cape Horn.

Intense finish

To further complicate things, in the violent sea state Malizia crew member Rosalin Kuiper was thrown from her bunk and suffered a head injury and concussion. While Kuiper was recovering, the Malizia crew was down to a three-person watch rotation for the rest of the leg just as the level of competition intensified yet again.

Skipper Herrmann paid particular tribute to his navigator Nico Lunven for managing this stage of the race in a press conference after the finish, saying: “Nico put such a huge investment in this leg. He was sailing like a Figaro sailor since Cape Horn, [working on our position] every 10 minutes.”

As they raced up the western coast of Brazil, in more moderate south Atlantic conditions, it looked briefly as if Escoffier would reclaim the advantage. However, the South was not quite done with the fleet, and on Friday 31 March a 50 knot squall tore over the leading pair, sending Holcim-PRB into two back-to-back crash gybes under autopilot. Fortunately the only damage was a couple of broken mainsail battens, but Escoffier’s team lost valuable miles.

The Ocean Race 2022-23 – 30 March 2023, Leg 3 Day 32 onboard Team Malizia. Drone view of Team Malizia and Team Holcim – PRB neck to neck after 32 days of racing.

As the two boats raced cat-and-mouse style up the Brazilian shore, Malizia managed to extend away, with an unassailable 60-mile lead going into the final 24 hours.

This leg results mean Holcim-PRB and Malizia both earned 9 out of a possible 10 points on leg 3 (between the scoring gate and the finish). Holcim-PRB remains with a solid lead after leg 3, while Malizia moves up to take 2nd overall, ahead of 11th Hour Racing Team in 3rd.

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That’s not racing. It’s cheating. If you’re going to use the autopilot to sail around the world you might as well simply control the boat by remote control from home.” Comments like these were common online and on the busy dockside in Alicante at the start of The Ocean Race in January.

This year’s start marks the 50th anniversary of the first edition of the most famous fully crewed round the world race of all, the former Whitbread/Volvo. With such a high profile has come plenty of debate as to how much has changed, and what the future really holds for this type of racing.

A fleet of just five boats going around the world means this race doesn’t currently have the punch it once had. The IMOCAs being used are notoriously fragile, which has led to concern about how the reputation of the race hangs in the balance if one or more of them was forced to drop out.

On the other hand, some say that while the fleet size is small, this is what the ‘real world’ looks like when teams arrive with their own funding rather than aboard campaigns heavily supported by the event sponsor. This race, they argue, is a transitional one where a new class and a new definition of fully crewed is setting a marker for future editions.

One of the big talking points is about whether it’s right to race around the world from inside using an autopilot. There were certainly plenty of onlookers on the dockside expressing such frustrations. The irony was that many chose to ignore the fact that the airliner they’d arrived in would have been switched to autopilot just a few minutes into the climb and flown by the computer for most, if not all, of the trip. I’m not so sure they’d have been as happy for the pilots to have been in their sitting room flying by remote control.

11th Hour Racing Team racing followed by a helicopter. Photo: Sailing Energy / The Ocean Race

Having sailed with 11th Hour Racing Team at over 20 knots in flat water it’s easy to see how disorientating and potentially puke-inducing the indoor experience would be in a sea state at full bore.

Inside, where the headroom is frequently safe for crawling only, crews are not only out of touch with the elements, but the noise and the motion are horrendous. Many are so worried about injury below decks while moving about that they’re wearing crash helmets as protection. But, is that any worse than seeing crews being smashed into pedestals, wheels and winches by waves that have come barrelling over the deck at 25 knots plus?

And then there’s the debate about the autopilot – sure, it would be great to think that performance is down to the skill of the helmsman and trimmer but this hasn’t been the case for ages. In the Vendée Globe skippers don’t helm, yet somehow that’s acceptable.

As a sport we can’t have everything. To insist on sailing by hand would be to impose a performance cap on the boats. And what if a heavier, fully crewed and manually steered IMOCA was slower around the world than a single-handed entry? Doesn’t sound like progress to me.

The fact is we can’t uninvent the wheel. Big speeds are here and there seems little chance of winding the clock back and pretending that cruising at 30-plus knots on a 60ft monohull never happened.

And for those who question what a high speed IMOCA has ever done for them and their 30-footer, take a look at Beneteau’s brand new and award-winning First 36.

The First 36 benefits from the decades of ocean racing that proceeded it

On the face of it this is a pretty ordinary looking boat with a cockpit that looks barely any different from the hugely successful, 24-year-old First 40.7. Yet the new 36 is not only 4ft shorter, but is said to go upwind at 8 knots and downwind at 15-20 knots. The 40.7 never did that.

The 36 is more than two tonnes lighter but you’d never guess it from the outside, or indeed from the inside where accommodation is pretty much what you’d expect for a mid-sized production boat. There is a shallower canoe body and a much flatter, beamier run aft to the slender and shallow twin rudders, plus more subtle details that contribute to this big hike in performance – details that have come from the offshore racing world.

Whether we end up sailing from inside in the future is difficult to predict, but it’s not hard to imagine this being a great selling point at boat shows to family crew who may be apprehensive when it comes to the idea of casual weekend cross-Channel trips.

Maybe then we can get away from selling boats by decorating them like a hotel guest suite. An upright saloon at a boat show that’s adorned with vases and sideboard pictures – now that’s cheating.

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Kevin Escoffier’s Holcim-PRB, the dominant leader of The Ocean Race, has set a new 24-hour IMOCA record by covering a breath-taking 595.26 nautical miles (1102 kms) over Saturday 11-Sunday 12 March. 

This means the crew of Holcim-PRB maintained an average pace of 24.8 knots racing at near 50°S in this long Southern Ocean stage. (The IMOCA record is subject to validation by the World Speed Sailing Record Council).

The previous official IMOCA record was set by Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss in 2018 (solo) at 539.71 miles, while the crew of Charal had smashed out a 558-mule run on the delivery back from the Route du Rhum last December (which couldn’t be ratified).

IMOCA record and maximum points

Escoffier’s Holcim-PRB team was also first through the Tasmanian scoring gate on this Southern Ocean leg. They collect a full five points for passing longitude 143° East at 17:45 (UTC) today, Sunday 12 March.

These maximum points add to Holcim-PRB’s back to back wins in Legs 1 and 2, and puts Escoffier and crew of Abby Ehler, Sam Goodchild and Tom Laperche firmly atop the leaderboard on 15 points.

“The rhythm of these last hours of racing has been set by a big push to the scoring gate and this first set of points for leg 3,” Escoffier said in a French interview.

Happy skipper, happy boat: Kevin Escoffier is leading a successful team on Team Holcim-PRB in The Ocean Race having set a new IMOCA record 24hr run

“We built a big lead early this leg, but the others caught a favourable weather front and there was nearly a re-start a few days ago. But we managed to hold on to a bit of a lead through it all, which we really wanted to keep for the scoring gate.

“Yesterday (Saturday) the sea state was manageable enough that the IMOCA speed records kept falling. For us, we are very happy to get the record even if that wasn’t the goal, but an objective towards the goal of leading at the scoring gate. We keep learning about this boat and finding ways to go faster and faster.”

Although there has been the expected compression across the fleet, and Holcim-PRB’s lead has shrunk from over 600 miles one week ago to just 136 to second-placed Boris Herrmann‘s Malizia today, they remain the boat to beat.

Rudder damage for 11th Hour Racing

The challenge for the chasing pack is how hard to push in order to stay in touch, and how much they need to nurse their boats in order to avoid exacerbating any damage.

Malizia had to make significant rig repairs last week, and is now racing within sight of 11th Hour Racing, who has reported potentially serious rudder issues.

Charlie Enright’s crew on 11th Hour Racing discovered cracking to both their port and starboard rudders, while the boat carries only one spare.

After crew member Jack Bouttell ground back some layers of carbon, one was discovered to have more seriously delaminated, leading Bouttell to describe it as ‘a write off’ in a video put out by the team, while the other appears to have more superficial cracking in the outer wrapping layers of laminate.

Jack Bouttell and team mates checking the extent of rudder damage onboard 11th Hour Racing Team

The crew have replaced the starboard rudder, now the active rudder, with the spare, and marked the port one to monitor if the cracking worsens.

11th Hour Racing navigator Simon Fisher explained how two days of back-to-back repairs for the crew would have a knock-on effect on their tactical choices. 

“We find ourselves in quite a difficult situation today. Obviously as a result of having to slow down for sail repairs [yesterday] we’re a little more exposed than the rest of the fleet to the ridge of high pressure behind which caught us up this morning And then obviously the slow down to replace the starboard rudder with our spare one [puts us closer to the light winds].

“We’re very much at the risk of being a system back.”

Super-close racing in The Ocean Race. Photo taken from Team Malizia on March 12 2023, as they overtake 11th Hour Racing Team at around 50°S in the Indian Ocean

So close are the chasing pack, that the crews have been able to clearly observe their rivals’ set-ups and who is fastest in which conditions.

“After working our way through Biotherm last night it was Malizia’s turn to do the same to us this afternoon,” wrote 11th Hour Racing media crew member Amory Ross on Sunday.

“They seem to be able to carry more sail and keep their bow up, presumably with the shape of their hull, and while we struggled in the waves to keep from nosediving they were able to sail at the same speed but lower.

“We watched as they sailed down to us, around our bow, and then continued on in a more southerly direction.”

Biotherm in 4th

Biotherm is currently around 70 miles back in 4th, having dropped behind and to the south of the chasing pair over the course of today. While Biotherm have not reported any serious reason for any slowdown, crew member Sam Davies did reveal that they’ve also been making some running repairs.

Grey Southern Ocean days and high speeds in Leg 3 onboard Biotherm

“Finally the conditions are more stable, the wind is coming from the North and it is much less cold,” she posted this evening. 

“We are recovering the energy lost in the last difficult days. The boat gave us a few surprises and we had to repair several small pieces of equipment. Nothing serious, but it’s draining our energy to be on deck in the cold and we’re missing precious hours of sleep.”

The fleet still has 7,500 miles to go until the finish in Itajai, Brazil.

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Leg 3 of The Ocean Race was always expected to be an punishing test for the five IMOCAs and their crews, but it’s been a particularly tough start for the teams since the 12,000-mile stage from Cape Town, South African to Itajaii, Brazil, began on Sunday 26 February.

Two boats picked up damage even before leaving Table Bay at the start of the leg.

Then, after just 72 hours of racing, Guyot environnement – Team Europe announced they had to bow out of the rest of the leg after what team team believes to be structural damage to the hull, and yesterday Malizia suffered serious mast damage. Boris Herrmann‘s team has been frantically making repairs today to try and keep themselves in the race.

Meanwhile, Kevin Escoffier‘s team on Holcim-PRB has marched to a substantial lead.

Leg 3 starting problems

During a two-and-a-half lap inshore race off Cape Town before the boats set out offshore, Paul Meilhat‘s Biotherm suffered a broken mainsheet strop during a gybe in strong breezes. This caused further damage to the kicker which forced the team to head back to the dock to effect a repair. They then needed to wait for a minimum two-hour period for receiving assistance.

Just minutes later it was revealed that 11th Hour Racing Team had also suffered damage, having broken two mainsail battens. Though the team could fix the repair onboard they elected to have new battens sent onto the water so they could keep their spares onboard for the leg ahead. They too would need to serve a two-hour wait period before they could get their race underway again.

After a 24-hour period of lighter winds, which at one stage saw the five IMOCAs drifting facing in five entirely different directions on the tracker, the leaders began to pick up stronger breezes as they made miles to the south, while both Biotherm and 11th Hour Racing Team were working hard to hunt down the other three teams. With the increasing breeze and plunge south  the sea state also increased and the damage reports began to file in.

Guyot are now heading back to Cape Town

Guyot environnement – Team Europe announced on the morning of Wednesday 1 March that they had suffered damage. While the boat was racing in winds of 20-25 knots, the crew on board heard two consecutive noises. After an inspection of the boat, they discovered abnormal movements in the hull bottom in the living area.

“The sea state wasn’t easy but it wasn’t too bad conditions, and we were happy with the position of the boat in the fleet,” explained Benjamin Dutreux in a satellite call from the boat today. “When Annie was inside just going off watch she heard two big cracking noises, and then said: ‘Ben, I want to show you – the floor’s moving’.”

After a discussion with the design and technical team, the team came to the conclusion that it was a hull sandwich failure.

“Given the current position of the boat and the distance to the arrival in Itajai, unfortunately it is better for the crew and the integrity of the boat to turn back to Cape Town.” said Thomas Cardrin, the technical director from GUYOT environnement – Team Europe.

Instead the crew are cautiously making their way back to Cape Town, whilst trying to effect some temporary repairs to stop the damage spreading.

“We need to get back to Cape Town slowly, sailing at not more than 10 knots,” said Dutreux.

“It’s too risky to try to fully repair it, but we’ve tried to make a reinforcement with some battens to stop the floor moving such a lot and breaking more parts of the boat.” On the video call he showed where the crew had glued two carbon battens to longitudinals, while the rest of the sole was dotted with marks showing areas of damage.

“Our aim is to get back to Cape Town with no more damage, to repair the boat as soon as possible and rejoin the fleet… I don’t know where right now, but for sure by Itajaii.”

Nicolas Lunven and Rosalin Kuiper assist Will Harris on the foil of Malizia recovering the Code 0. Photo: Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia

Mast problems for Malizia

Meanwhile Team Malizia has had serious problems of their own too, first losing their Code Zero sail over the side, which then became wrapped around their keel and one of their foils leaving the team’s only option to cut the sail in order to free themselves.

They managed to get the shredded sail back onboard, but it will need the repair team at North Sails to ‘work a miracle’, explained team manager Holly Cova today.

But the Code Zero is the least of the team’s worries as Boris Herrmann explained in an update on the morning of Thursday 2 March:

“A very strong metal part holding a sail up broke the evening before yesterday at nightfall [the Code Zero halyard lock].

“When the sail fell down its halyard ripped a 26 cms long hole in the face of the mast at the top (ripping through the carbon fibre structure). With reefed sails we can now continue to sail. And once we have managed to put carbon over the crack we can sail almost back at 100%.”

The team have been working flat out on effecting a repair today. “Will Harris has been up the rig grinding away the damage to create smooth surface, Boris and Rosie have been working on laminate, while Nico’s basically been driving the boat,” explained Cova.

The large crack in Malizia’s mast. Photo: Team Malizia

She reported that Harris was exhausted from working at the top of the IMOCA mast, using power tools to grind the shredded carbon back to a smooth area. Whilst the wind is light, the sea state is messy, and the team have had to partially hoist the main to stabilise the boat.

The next stage is for Harris to go back up the rig this afternoon to laminate the repair patches onto the mast, which will take around an hour and a half, and the team will then leave the repair to cure and dry for around 12 hours to see if it is strong enough to continue racing – and if they’ll be able to return to hoisting their full height headsails and unreefed mainsail.

“We are pretty confident at the moment that we will be able to continue, maybe even in full race mode,” commented Cova.

If the repair does not hold, clearly this double points leg could be over for Herrmann’s team, but the larger issue may well be finding a spare for the remainder of the race. The one-design masts for the IMOCA 60 are in very short supply. It was reported before the start that 11th Hour Racing Team had a spare, but there are no others available anywhere in the world, and mast build slots are all pre-sold to teams with new IMOCA 60s currently in build.

11th Hour Racing Team have also had damage to repair, with a video yesterday (advisory: some swearing) showing the frustrated crew trying to fix a critical control line failure.

Holcim-PRB march to solid lead

Having charged south immediately out of Cape Town, much of the racing has thus far has seen teams trying to work out how much risk they are willing to take. There has been a significant low pressure system lying just to the south of the fleet which likely would offer conditions that are closing in on the limit of being too extreme for these boats – certainly at this stage in the race.

The key concern here is not so much the wind but the sea state that will be kicked up by the storm. The semi-foiling IMOCA 60s sail at their fastest in relatively flat water so one of the main routes to fast passages is to try to find decent, but not huge winds in relatively flat water.

Gone are the days of more wind = more speed.

So despite the teams being well north of the ice boundary, few are risking heading too far south. The team that did dip furthest south (probably experiencing the worst of the waves) was Guyot, who have since retired with hull damage…

Holcim-PRB are storming away in the lead of Theo Ocean Race Leg 3. Photo: Sailing energy

There is also the factor that it’s easy for the IMOCAs to be pushed harder by the fully crewed teams, than when the solo Vendée Globe skippers are racing in the Southern Oceans.

Guyot sailor, Robert Stanjek explained: “You’re never putting the boat into that a halfway easy mode to find sleep or rest, there’s always some one on deck trying to find the optimum performance. But that’s part of it: the boats are very quickly over powered and if you want to break a boat you can do that very quickly here! You have to tread a very narrow path.”

Winner of the first two legs of The Ocean Race, Kevin Escoffier’s Holcim-PRB have been leading this leg since day 1 and show no signs of slowing down. On video link through The Ocean Race HQ’s comms system earlier today, Holcim-PRB was flying along at 19 knots in sunshine, with Escoffier and team looking relaxed and confident (sadly they were just going too fast for the audio link to let us speak to the crew onboard today).

Escoffier’s team have now a near 300-mile advantage over their next closest competitor, 11th Hour Racing Team and are expected to be able to extend that to 500-600 miles as they hang onto the tail of the low.

It’s going to be a case of the rich getting richer in the coming days – the question for PRB-Holcim will be how many miles of advantage do they need to feel comfortable enough to take their foot off the gas and sail in a more conservative mode?

Keep up to date with the race via The Ocean Race live tracker. And see all our latest stories at our The Ocean Race homepage.

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It was an extraordinary ‘stop-go’ type of start to Leg 3 of The Ocean Race in Table Bay as the five-boat IMOCA 60 fleet set out on their 12,750 nautical mile adventure towards Itajaí in Brazil.

The race started with two and a half laps of an inshore course to give the crowds lining the Cape Town shore an opportunity to marvel at these hydrofoiling boats before they headed out into the big blue yonder of the Southern Ocean.

A pod of three whales sighted in the original starting area meant the race committee had to make a late change to setting up the race course. With the start line now impacted by the wind shadow of Table Mountain, there was very little wind for the fleet as the seconds counted down to start time.

The skippers must have been wondering why they had all put in two reefs to reduce mainsail area. As the start gun fired, the closest boat to the start was Biotherm. The other four boats were stranded, just over a hundred metres away.

It wasn’t long before Paul Meilhat’s team found 25 knots of wind gusting around the edge of Table Mountain and his Biotherm team shot away into an impressive lead as the rest of the fleet drifted across the start line well after the start had opened.

Biotherm continued to stretch away to what was almost a 600 metre advantage over the rest of the fleet, who eventually hooked into the 25-knot wind and accelerated up to speeds of 30 knots or more.

Team Malizia had crossed The Ocean Race start line in second, followed by GUYOT environnement – Team Europe, with 11th Hour Racing Team narrowly leading Team Holcim-PRB over the start line.

However, as Biotherm completed the first lap of the course, Meilhat saw his boatspeed drop from 20-plus knots down to less than 2 knots as the shadow of Table Mountain reasserted its influence. The whole fleet compressed and Biotherm’s seemingly unassailable lead vanished into thin air.

Team Malizia was first to rediscover the breeze for the start of the second inshore lap, closely followed by 11th Hour Racing Team. Meanwhile Biotherm dropped from first to last as Meilhat’s team were overtaken in the light airs patch by Holcim-PRB and GUYOT environnement – Team Europe.

11th Hour Racing Team racing followed by a helicopter. Photo: Sailing Energy / The Ocean Race

Once the fleet was back into the breeze, it was another gusty, edge-of-the-seat downwind ride to the bottom of the course, the boats just maintaining control in the strong, blustery conditions. At some moments, two reefs didn’t look like enough with the boats nearly overpowered.

Biotherm then had a problem and it was clear the team was struggling to control its sails. A radio call to the Race Committee saw the team suspend racing to return to port to make repairs.

“We broke the strop on one end of the mainsheet,” said Paul Meilhat at the dock. “Then the mainsheet went too far on the gybe and pulled off the end of the track and we lost all the bearings in the system. So we needed to come in to make this repair and replacement. We shouldn’t lose a lot of time if we do this now. It’s not a big issue, but we need to fix it.”

Then it was 11th Hour Racing Team who were the next to suspend racing with damage to a batten. But the American team elected to stay out at sea to make repairs and serve the minimum two-hour period.

“We have broken two wing tips on the mainsail,” said team CEO Mark Towill. “We actually have two spares on board, so we could make the repair, but that would leave us with no spares for the Southern Ocean. So we’ll get the spares on board to be prepared for the long leg… This is the prudent thing to do.”

Biotherm could resume racing at 1505 UTC, 11th Hour Racing Team at 1507 UTC.

Meanwhile, out at sea, Team Malizia was the first to find the wind around the headlands off Cape Town and started to make their way on Leg 3, along with Team Holcim-PRB and GUYOT environnement – Team Europe.

The forecast is for winds in the 25-30 knot range with 2-3 metre swells. Leg 3 is proving to be a challenge in the very first hours.

You can follow the racing via The Ocean Race tracker.

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This weekend five crewed IMOCA 60s will take to the startline for the third leg of The Ocean Race, on a month-long epic which is likely to be the toughest challenge we have seen in crewed ocean racing in many years.

Five teams will leave Cape Town, South Africa on Sunday 26 February with 12,750 miles of Southern Ocean racing ahead of them, passing south of all three ‘Great Capes’ before finally finishing in Itajai, Brazil. The crews are taking food for up to 40 days at sea.

The last two years have been difficult for the organisers of The Ocean Race, since it lost title sponsor Volvo. Covid forced a year-long hiatus, which created a huge level of uncertainty and a potential clash with the single-handed French classic, the Route du Rhum, in which 38 IMOCA 60s took part at the end of 2022.

So to have a fleet of just five IMOCA 60s on the startline of The Ocean Race is unquestionably disappointing when you consider the size of the available fleet, while the VO65s which were due to make up a second fleet could not attract sufficient backing to take on a full lap of the planet.

Riding a bucking bronco: onboard reporter Antoine Auriol, captures Rosalin Kuiper working on the bow of Team Malizia

However, Covid has delivered one potentially positive knock-on effect. With particularly strict border closures in both traditional around the world stopover ports in Australia and New Zealand, and newer additions to the round the world route such as Qingdao, China, negotiating host city agreements to create separate Indian Ocean and Pacific legs seemed doomed to failure.

Instead, Ocean Race organisers committed early on to the mega-stage Leg 3, a non-stop Southern Ocean epic that takes the fleet from the Cape of Good Hope, across the Southern Indian Ocean, past Cape Leeuwin as they race south of Australia and New Zealand, then across the vast South Pacific, rounding Cape Horn to finish in Itajai, Brazil.

It was a brave move, but it instantly gave the race a certain ‘back to basics’ kudos.

The original Whitbread Round the World Races were characterised by just a handful of stopovers, and long, long ocean stages in between. While this marathon Leg 3 is longer yet than any of the Whitbread legs (they traditionally stopped in Fremantle, Auckland, or both) it restores some of the authenticity that can be lost when courses are determined by a host city bidding war.

This new stage also creates a new level of intrigue for race followers: what on earth would it be like to endure 40 days of racing on a violently moving, deafening, cramped, fully crewed IMOCA?

Cramped, wet and uncomfortable: life onboard GUYOT environnement – Team Europe Photo: Charles Drapeau / GUYOT environnement – Team Europe

The Ocean Race’s toughest challenge

One sailor who knows just what she is getting into is Abby Ehler. Ehler is competing in her fourth Ocean Race, now with Holcim-PRB, having previously sailed on the VO65 and VO70s. However, the IMOCAs are a very different beast, and Ehler had originally planned not to take part in Leg 3.

“I was pretty adamant I was not going to do the leg, and that was set in stone during the delivery back from Guadeloupe on this boat,” she said. “It was so uncomfortable – it was just horrendous – and I was like ‘there is no way I could survive 35 days doing this’.

“Then I did Leg 1 and really enjoyed the crew. It was a very different experience. Kevin (Escoffier, skipper) is just positivity off the scale. And I think you just absorb his energy.

“It’s hard not to feel like you’re in good, safe company and in the knowledge that he can sail the boat on his own, and we’re effectively there to help him and make it go faster.

“I thought about it and chatted about it a lot with my husband. The comment he made was this leg IS the race; if you haven’t done this leg, you can’t really say that you’ve done it.”

Abby Ehler and Kevin Escoffier onboard Holcim – PRB Team. Photo: Julien Champolion/Polaryse

There’s no question that the IMOCAs are punishing their crew in new ways. In Leg 1 Team Malizia skipper Boris Herrman was badly scalded whilst preparing a meal, and although he brushed it off as a stupid error, clearly the potential for burns, cuts, concussion, broken bones, bruising and ligament strains whilst attempting to live, sail and sleep aboard such a violently moving platform is great.

There is also the mental strain. Video from Leg 2 showed Malizia crew members wearing ear defenders to try and drown out the deafening whine of the foils.

While Will Harris joked that he quite liked it “I can tell when the boat’s going fast!”, Rosalin Kuiper said that the constant noise was giving her tinnitus, and she had to double-up both ear plugs and noise cancelling headphones to try and protect her hearing. Sleep becomes near impossible.

Ocean Race weapon of choice?

Every fleet has its fans and detractors. Even the much beloved Maxi yachts of old Whitbread days, though they attract a great deal of nostalgia, were heavy and viciously dangerous (wire sheets, anyone?).

The Volvo Ocean Race introduced the technologically advanced (and, frankly, spectacular) Volvo 70s, which excited both sailors and yacht designers for their innovation.

But when two boats suffered major keel failures on the very first night of racing, and another sank on the return Atlantic leg, it was clear the class had serious reliability issues.

For the final two editions of the Volvo Ocean Race the 70-footers were dropped in favour of a more robust one-design VO65.

While many crews detested the 65s’ lack of cockpit protection, the boats proved impressively reliable and incredibly evenly matched, culminating with three boats in a points tie final for the very final stage of the 2018 race.

Now the race has gone full circle, with a fleet of technologically advanced, box-rule designed IMOCA 60s, four of which are more or less brand new, once again racing thousands of miles through the Southern Ocean.

Although the boats have slightly different performance characteristics, the finishes of the first two legs of The Ocean Race have proven that the class can make for very close racing indeed. Just 25 minutes separated the top three finishers on the Cabo Verde to Cape Town Leg 2.

“After 18 days of offshore racing we crossed the line within minutes of two other boats. It’s crazy!” said Amelie Grasse, crew member on Biotherm, at the finish in Cape Town.

Holcim – PRB have won the first two legs of The Ocean Race so far.

On paper, hugely successful round the world racer Kevin Escoffier and his team on Holcim-PRB would seem favourites for victory, having won both of the first legs of the event. But such was the fine margin of their win in either leg it would be a brave person to put any serious money on the same outcome again.

Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Team and Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm have both shown impressive pace, and with Meilhat adding the hugely experienced ocean racer Sam Davies to their crew roster for this leg, they will be a force to be reckoned with.

For 11th Hour Racing Team damage to their foils in the second leg has necessitated a change back to their Mark 1 foil designs for this leg, which might well hold them back.

Though it has not been a great showing in the first two legs from Boris Herrmann’s Team Malizia they too have been hampered by foil problems, hastily fitting borrowed foils after they found a structural problem just days before the start of leg 1. But by the end of leg 2 they were starting to show some signs of serious pace.

Team Malizia also has a design that is clearly optimised more towards the heavy wind end of the performance envelope, with a full rounded bow and angular aft sections, so this Southern Ocean leg should be where we see them come into their own.

Though they have shown flashes of pace, Guyot environnement – Team Europe is racing in an IMOCA that is now three generations old (it’s the old boat Hugo Boss on which Alex Thomson was 2nd in the 2017 Vendée Globe) and have struggled to keep the pace of the four new boats. But theirs is a tried and tested design and in the Southern Ocean, reliability will be key.

It was a tight battle to the finish of Leg 2 of The Ocean Race in Cape Town.

How to follow The Ocean Race leg 3

The Ocean Race website will be providing key content for 2022-23 edition including latest news and analysis, videos and photos from the yachts (each IMOCA 60 has a dedicated reporter onboard) and a full racing section featuring the offshore race tracker, rankings and scoreboard.

Each leg start and finish will be covered live by Warner Bros. Discovery and shown on Eurosport platforms, including Eurosport.com. Outside of Europe, and depending on the territory, you may be able to access live coverage via YouTube.com/theoceanrace.

At 1200 UTC every day during the offshore legs, there will be a programme called The Race Report – a two-minute quick fix that tells the story of the previous 24 hours in the Race.

Niall Myant-Best will also host The Ocean Race Show, a longer format programme that takes a deeper dive into the stories at sea. This too will be available on the race website YouTube and The Ocean Race Facebook channels.

You can also catch all the latest The Ocean Race content on our The Ocean Race homepage.

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Skipper Kevin Escoffier and his Team Holcim – PRB have won Leg 2 of The Ocean Race from Cabo Verde to Cape Town after a tense battle through the final miles of the race.

At sunrise on Sunday 12 February, four teams were in the fight for the leg win, with Biotherm, 11th Hour Racing Team and the Holcim – PRB crews racing in lockstep in light and changeable conditions.

Team Malizia was some 20 miles to the south, but then spent the next three hours just about sailing around the leading trio. But the light and fickle winds didn’t hold for them and in the end it was a three boat race among the northern trio.

Just three hours before the finish, Escoffier and his team finally popped up at the head of the rankings, having been able to sail a slightly better angle at a similar speed towards Cape Town, creating the narrow separation necessary to eke out a winning position.

This is the second consecutive leg win for Escoffier and his team, who maintain a perfect record, and will extend their advantage on the race leaderboard.

“Biotherm had a huge night last night but for us, we knew we had to find the leeward (northern position) before the Cape Town coast,” Escoffier said. “We did a lot of sail changes and work to get this position. It took until about 40 miles from the finish line to get where we wanted to be and hold it to the end.”

This is the second consecutive leg win for Escoffier and his team, who maintain a perfect record, and extend their advantage on the race leaderboard.

Just 16 minutes behind came Paul Meilhat‘s Biotherm. This is a team that looks to be fast in the light conditions that were such a big factor in the last 36 hours of the race.

“We know that our boat and crew have good potential and we can race [competitively] against the others,” Meilhat said. “This is a long race and I think it is going to be close like this all the way to the end.”

Less than 10 minutes later came 11th Hour Racing Team, who had worked hard all leg to be in a strong position for the finish, but in the end slipped into third place.

Skipper Charlie Enright said: “We are a little disappointed with a third place after 17 days, but the bigger picture to take home is that we sailed the boat fast and well, and I think that bodes well for the future. This race is a marathon and not a sprint, and we have a big doubler pointer coming up with Leg 3 through the Southern Ocean.”

Team Malizia, after pushing forward early in the day on Sunday, couldn’t make their southern position stick and settled for fourth.

“Everyone raced their hearts from the word ‘go’, but the result was down to a bit of luck,” said skipper Will Harris. “In the end we tried a different option, aiming to go for glory rather than nothing at all, and in the end it didn’t pay off unfortunately. The winners must have sailed a great race to get to the finish.”

The early leader during the leg from Cabo Verde, and through the equator crossing, Guyot Environment – Team Europe fell to the back of the pack on the descent into the south Atlantic. After trailing by over 500 miles, the team took advantage of the weather conditions to bring stronger winds back to the fleet and close the gap. But in the end it wasn’t enough.

“We came back, drove the boat fast and fought until the end,” said skipper Robert Stanjek. “In the end, we came in just a few hours after the others – after 18 days. A great stage. We are fifth. There is nothing to discuss. But the performance was great. We’ll take a lot of learning with us into the next leg.”

The teams are in Cape Town until 26 February when the longest leg in the history of the race – 12,700 nautical miles to Itajai, Brazil starts.

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After an extended doldrums crossing and a larger than usual St Helena high forcing the fleet way to the west of the Atlantic The Ocean Race fleet are finally back up to speed in the South Atlantic and are now locked in a drag race towards the finish of leg 2 in Cape Town, South Africa.

The American-flagged 11th Hour Racing Team have pushed into the lead over the weekend as skipper Charlie Enright and his crew held their nerve over an early decision to take a westerly routing on the descent down the Atlantic and the choice paid dividends on Saturday afternoon and overnight into Sunday.

Amory Ross reports from 11th Hour Racing Team: “From here it’s a bit of a zig zag course trying to gybe in the shifts and continue to use the windy features rolling west to east across the South Atlantic to get down, and to get east, quickly. We’ll keep zigging and we’ll keep zagging until we’re far enough south that we can skirt around the southern boundary of the St Helena High. At that point it’s just east, and eventually back north to Cape Town. We’re coming up on a relatively fast part of the course so the pedal is down and if the winds cooperate there should be some nice 24 hour runs in our future.”

The team wakes up on Monday morning at the top of the rankings as the closest boat to Cape Town, just bow forward on Team Holcim-PRB and Team Malizia, who was the other big gainer over the weekend.

Malizia skipper Will Harris and his team had also subscribed to the ‘west is best’ theory and went from a fifth place ranking, over 220 miles behind the leader, to being right back in the thick of things with the tight group of 11th Hour Racing Team, Holcim-PRB and Biotherm.

“It’s so cool… We were 200 miles behind and now we’ve just gybed and crossed in front (of Biotherm),” said Rosalin Kuiper from on board Team Malizia. “It’s magical. We’re so happy to see it like this!”

Onboard GUYOT environnement – Team Europe. Recovering the spinakker from the water. Photo: Charles Drapeau / GUYOT environnement – Team Europe

Sliding down the table over the past 48 hours, GUYOT environnement – Team Europe undoubtedly lost a few miles due to a blown out spinnaker, but more significanlty, found themselves in light winds, positioned too far to the east. Now they are trailing the gang of four, trying to stay in touch, but still closer to the light winds of the St. Helena High and struggling to match speeds with the rest of the fleet.

But although 11th Hour Racing Team and Team Malizia have been the big winners this weekend, there is still nearly a week of racing left in leg 2 and with the boats still grouped so closely together, there is plenty left to play for.

The ETA for Cape Town is on Sunday February 12.

Follow the latest positions on the Race Tracker

Leg Two Rankings at 0800 UTC – 6 February 2023

1. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to finish, 2027.6 miles
2. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 18.4 miles
3. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 28.8 miles
4. Biotherm, distance to lead, 70.1 miles
5. GUYOT environnement – Team Europe, distance to lead, 272.6 miles

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Doldrums’: a state of stagnation or depression, or an equatorial region of the Atlantic Ocean with calms, sudden storms, and light unpredictable winds. Or so my dictionary puts it.

For sailors, the transition from the northern to southern hemispheres in the Atlantic can be a trying and often frustrating time. We leave the steady tradewinds of the northern hemisphere with our main aim to minimise the time taken before we progress into the South Atlantic trade wind belt – this is passing through the doldrums, or the ‘Pot-au-Noir’, as the French put it.

In meteorology we now use the more scientific term Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) where we can meet conditions we associate with the doldrums; calms, squalls, and thunderstorms. The ITCZ can be thought of as the thermal equator of the world that separates the northern and southern weather systems.

Why they’re tricky

The term ITCZ describes why we get the conditions we know as the doldrums. The tradewinds of the northern hemisphere, driven by the Azores High, are east- to north-easterlies, tending to be more easterly as we get further south towards the ITCZ. Meanwhile the tradewinds of the southern hemisphere mirror these, being driven by the South Atlantic High (often referred to as the St Helena High) and are east- to south-easterlies. Where they come together is the ITCZ.

Where we get convergence in airstreams we get an ascent of air: as the air rises clouds form and as this region is very warm and the air humid, when the air is forced upwards large cumulonimbus clouds form giving squalls and thunderstorms. In addition, where we get ascent of air, we get a lowering of the surface pressure so between the winds of the two hemispheres we get a trough of lower pressure.

Infra-red image from space showing the line of convective cloud along the ITCZ between Africa and the Americas

In this trough of low pressure we have light, predominantly easterly wind, however there is generally less wind to the east as the pressure gradient between the low pressure (of the ITCZ) and the semi-permanent high pressure is less. A greater pressure gradient exists in the central part of the Atlantic and, as the winds tend to be closer to parallel, there is less convergence.

Therefore we would expect the east to have a greater amount of squall and thunderstorm activity. This tends to be the case and close to the African coast is a large triangle which is usually considered a no-go zone for racing boats as it gives more extreme doldrum conditions.

Although the convergence may be less in the central part of the Atlantic we still see some large clouds and squall conditions as the water is generally warmer the further west we go, and the air holds more moisture. An unstable atmosphere and convergence generates the large convective clouds. We can safely say it’s unusual for there not to be a line of convective cloud defining where the doldrums are.

How to cross the doldrums

The challenge for navigators is getting through the doldrums without losing the wind and getting embroiled with squalls. Although squalls can give strong gusts of wind, the strong wind will be on the leading edge of the squall; once the gust front, with possible gale force winds, has passed through underneath the cloud itself, the wind will be light. As the tradewinds are light these squalls can be slow moving and escaping from the squall can be difficult.

A convergence of air in wet and warm regions results in the formation of cumulonimbus clouds bearing squalls. Photo: Brian Carlin/Team Vestas Wind

Even worse can be an old squall that has lost its energy and stopped raining. These large, dark clouds are very slow moving and what circulation they have gives ascending air beneath the cloud and descending air around the periphery. As the background wind is low, trying to get away from the cloud means being headed as you try to escape whichever edge of the cloud you are sailing towards!

Modern weather models are incredibly good but even they have limitations – navigators will be looking for where the steadiest tradewinds are expected to be, which is where the tradewinds are closest to being parallel. For this, stream line analysis is often used.

Holcim-PRB making her way through the Doldrums in The Ocean Race 2023. Photo: Georgia Schofield | polaRYSE / Holcim – PRB

Atlantic in January

Most around-the-world races leave Europe in the autumn, and we know where the climatological average for the best place to cross will be, but this year The Ocean Race started in January, making for quite a different Atlantic leg.

The ITCZ will be further south than in previous Volvo Ocean Races or Vendée Globes, and crews also have the added challenge of a stopover in the Cape Verde Islands.

The old adage is to get west while you can, as the tradewinds are more northerly further north. Making westing on starboard is much easier further north, followed by a long gybe south as the wind veers and eases as you get south. But this goes out the window as this no longer holds true if stopping at the Cape Verde Islands.

Restarting from the Cape Verde Islands it’ll be difficult for the fleet to get as far west as they’d like. How far west to go has always been a balance between the extra miles sailed, an easier crossing of the ITCZ, and not being too far west so that it’s a tight wind angle when you meet the south-easterly tradewinds. This will be determined by where the St Helena High is expected to be.

When leaving the Cape Verdes all the navigators will be aiming for the area which is historically the best place to cross the ITCZ, combined with the latest weather forecasts both for getting through and then south. Satellite images are very useful for identifying where the main squall activity is.

Once the models have been analysed, the satellite images studied, and all the homework done it is still not plain sailing.

The perfect place to cross may be difficult to get to. The more easterly the wind direction, the harder it is to get west. As the wind lightens, gybe angles get greater – so there will be compromises to be made.

The steadiest tradewinds are to be found where the northern and southern winds are closest to being parallel

Then there is the really tricky part: understanding the circulation of the clouds and how much wind will be on the leading edge. Is the cloud raining, giving a strong gust front? Or is it non-raining, giving light winds underneath? Is it building or subsiding?

There have been numerous occasions during the Whitbread and Volvo Ocean Races when one boat gets stuck on the other side of a cloud and at the next update is suddenly 20 miles ahead, so there is an element of luck involved here, but understanding the clouds is a good way to improve your luck. Closely following the direction of the squalls helps in avoiding (or using) the squall front. Radar is excellent for this.

So while navigators will have one eye on the weather models, results can come down to how individual boats negotiate the clouds and there’s always a potential for large gains and losses to be made.

I’ve raced across the ITCZ a number of times, and the last time heading south we were in the wrong place being too far east. Lower pressure over Africa had accelerated the trades so staying in the strongest wind band had forced us east of the Cape Verdes. As the wind was fixed in the east a starboard gybe would have had us heading north of west, so port gybe it was.

When you get to the point where you are close to the ITCZ the most important thing is to get south at maximum speed to minimise your exposure to the ITCZ. The ITCZ will move north and south in the short term and the most difficult time is to be heading south as the ITCZ also heads south.

We were lucky, the ITCZ moved north and we never stopped, giving us a better crossing than our competitors to the west – pure luck.

Our luck ran out later in the Southern Ocean when the mast came down, but that’s a whole different story!

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The second leg of The Ocean Race from Cabo Verde to Cape Town started on Wednesday 25 January, with the 5 fully-crewed IMOCA 60s fighting it out in very light winds, making for a difficult start with conditions set to remain light and tricky all the way to the doldrums.

The short stopover marked the first time The Ocean Race has visited west Africa and this island chain despite it featuring in the race course for all 14 editions as a tactical consideration on the leg from Europe down to the south Atlantic Ocean.

Although they raced in the opening leg, the VO65 fleet will not be racing to South Africa. They will rejoin the fleet for the final two legs of the race back in Europe later in the year to complete The Ocean Race Sprint Cup.

The light winds mean it will be tactically difficult race over the first days, something already playing out with teams deciding how far south to position themselves compared to making miles to the west.

“It’s a big challenge. We have to manage the wind shadow from the islands, which means we need to get south, but then the doldrums are very big and normally being further west would be safer,” said Sebastien Simon, who joined GUYOT environnement – Team Europe for this leg.

“It is a big doldrums at the moment. We’re not sure where to cross yet. It will be shifty and interesting for sure.”

It was GUYOT environnement – Team Europe leading the charge just after the start gun fired, crossing the starline first and at pace, as the fleet took on a short lap of a reaching course before heading out to sea, destined for Cape Town, some 4000 nautical miles – and around 18 days – of racing away.

On the reach out, GUYOT environnement held off Holcim-PRB to lead around the mark and on the return through he start line before heading out to sea, Stanjek and his crew showed good boat handling through the manoeuvres to lead the fleet out to sea.

A short time later, it was Leg 1 winners Holcim-PRB with 11th Hour Racing Team (second in Leg 1) to windward and in better wind, leading GUYOT einvironnement – Team Europe, Biotherm and Team Malizia.

The opening salvos already showed some differences in opinions within the fleet with Holcim-PRB, 11th Hour Racing Team and Malizia all sailing without a spinnaker, with a Code 0 being their chosen sail for the early downwind VMG sailing. GUYOT environnement and Biotherm, however, both elected to use a spinnaker, which should help them in lightwind VMG conditions.

Overnight, GUYOT environnement (sailing the only IMOCA that is not of the current generation) have fallen away from the rest of the field with the other four IMOCA all within a few miles of each other.

Follow The Ocean Race tracker.

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With the first leg of the much-delayed The Ocean Race now concluded, teams are readying themselves to set off on the second leg of of the race, which starts today, Wednesday 25 January. The leg will see teams racing from the Cape Verde islands to Cape Town.

Per the recent changes to the event, the VO65s which raced alongside the IMOCA 60 fleet on the opening leg of The Ocean Race 2023 from Alicante to the Cape Verde islands will not set off on Leg 2 and will now return to Europe where their competition for The Ocean Race Sprint Cup will continue for the final two legs of the course later in the year.

After a week of solid trade wind action in Cape Verde, the forecast for the start of Leg 2 is much more benign with light northeasterly winds of 5 to 8 knots due for the opening hours of the second leg of the race.

In fact, the weakening trade winds are likely to impact the fleet all the way down to the doldrums, which should make for a fascinating, if slow, start to the leg.

“First we’ll have to manage the windshadow from the islands as they are so tall and the wind is light,” said Robert Stanjek, the skipper of GUYOT environment – Team Europe.

“It looks like we need to get west to be efficient for passing through the doldrums. That’s the conservative option. So that’s the first days.”

“With the trade winds sort of breaking down, the doldrums get a bit bigger,” said 11th Hour Racing Team’s Simon Fisher. “It’s three or four days to get down there and the trades should be rebuilding again. Getting out of here and picking up the beginning of the rebuild efficiently is quite important.”

Start time for Leg 2 is 1710 local time (1810 UTC) which is about 90-minutes before sunset, so the crews will be into that first night watch nearly immediately.

While the teams have been in Cape Verde, for this short stopover, there have been significant limits place on them in terms of boat maintenance, with no new material allowed on or off the boat and only the crew who sailed on the Leg 1 allowed to perform maintenance tasks onboard, with no technical team help allowed.

However, the teams do have the option of mixing up their crew for the next leg of the race and four of the five competing IMOCA 60 teams have chosen to do that. For some these are planned changes and for others these have been enforced.

Boris Herrmann (Team Malizia) and Benjamin Dutreux (GUYOT environnement – Team Europe) will both hand over their skipper roles for Leg 2. Boris was injured when he burned his foot with boiling water during a mishap on Leg 1.

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How to follow The Ocean Race 2022-23

It’s taken a long time to get the latest fully crewed around the world race off the ground, but finally…

The Ocean Race 2023 preview: What’s in store for the new race

It’s been a long wait for the next fully crewed lap of the planet since the last one finished in…

“The pot fell over and splashed boiling water on my foot. I wiped it off quickly but once we got here and went to the hospital we realised this is a severe burn we need to care of so therefore I can’t do [Leg 2],” he said. “But I will be in good shape for Leg 3.”

Will Harris will step up to the role of skipper for Leg 2, while Yann Elies will join the team as a substitute sailor. A three time winner of the Solitaire du Figaro and a fifth place finisher in the Vendée Globe, Elies is an accomplished addition to the team.

Also stepping away for Leg 2 is Benjamin Dutreux from GUYOT environnement – Team Europe. He will be replaced by Sebastien Simon in a scheduled rotation. Robert Stanjek will take over as skipper on the leg.

There is another crew rotation on the European boat: Annie Lush steps off with Anne-Clair le Berre in as replacement.

On 11th Hour Racing Team, it will be Justine Mettraux coming in for Francesca Clapcich in another scheduled crew rotation.

Both Malizia and Guyot will see new crew members on board for leg 2. Photo: Sailing Energy / The Ocean Race

And in a similar move, the Leg 1 winning team, Holcim-PRB, will have Susann Beucke in for Abby Ehler.

Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm is therefore the only team planning to start with the same lineup. “I think it’s important for us to have the same crew because we have so many things to learn,” Meilhat said. “If we change the minimum of settings, in this case that includes the people, it is easier to see the impacts and to learn.”

For leg one winner Kevin Escoffier on Holcim-PRB, it is a matter of continuing to do the things that pushed his team to get the most out of the boat en route to a victory.

“We’ve known for a while that the boat is quite fast, or at least competitive with the other boats,” Escoffier said. “The main thing is that I am really happy with the crew. For us it was the first time we were sailing offshore together. We had a lot of fun on board. It was a very good mood. At the same time we had a good result. But it was the first one. It doesn’t mean anything. There is plenty still to come and we are focussing on the next one.”

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The post The Ocean Race: All set for leg two appeared first on Yachting World.

French skipper Kevin Escoffier led his Swiss-flagged Team Holcim-PRB to victory in leg one of The Ocean Race in the early hours of the morning on Saturday 21 January 2023.

It marked the end of an intense and challenging opening to The Ocean Race – from storm force headwinds in the Mediterranean to fast downwind conditions in the Atlantic with tactical options around the Canary Islands.

The Holcim-PRB team took the lead just before Gibraltar Strait and held on the rest of the way despite the strong pushes from 11th Hour Racing Team and Malizia.

Finally, early on Saturday, Escoffier and his crew raced across the finish line on the waters off Mindelo, Cabo Verde, just after 02:01:59 UTC, completing an impressive performance on the first leg of the Race.

“The boat is great. Both upwind and downwind, reaching, we have always been fast,” Escoffier said. “I’m very happy to start like this. It was our first race together as a full crew and I don’t regret any of the the choices. They are all great and together we went for the win.”

Second across the line was Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Team, who held off a late challenge from Team Malizia on the final day of the leg.

“I think the competition is good,” said Enright on the dock after finishing. “We have fast boats, good sailors. There are different strengths and weaknesses in the boats. Everyone is going to have their day and we’re certainly not taking anything for granted but if we focus on what we can control I think we’re going to be fine. We’re jumping at the opportunity to get going on the next leg.

For Boris Herrmann, securing a podium finish puts the German team in a safe position after the opening leg, with six more legs of racing left to gain points.

“I’m super-happy with the performance of the boat and the team,” said a jubilant Herrmann moments after the finish. “It took nearly three days before we could even speak to each other as the boat was so loud and brutal in the tough conditions after the start. Then we started to an almost champagne sailing situation, quite fast and nice.”

The top three IMOCAs finished within five and a half hours, while fourth-placed Biotherm and GUYOT environnement – Team Europe arrived in Mindelo later on Saturday night.

Photo: The Ocean Race

VO65 winner

Beating the last two IMOCA 60s across the line, was the leading VO65 as Poland’s WindWhisper Racing Team finished earlier on Saturday with an impressive class victory.

As Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm and Benjamin Dutreux’s GUYOT environnement – Team Europe completed the IMOCA rankings overnight on Saturday, the Dutch Team JAJO earned a strong second place finish in The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint.

Dutch skipper Jelmer van Beek led his team across the finishing line at 17:52:52 UTC for a leg time of 6d 4h 52m 52s.

“We struggled a little bit in the first part of the race, we couldn’t keep up with the others, but when we came out of Gibraltar we were getting better and better, sail changes were better, we sailing sharper,” van Beek said. “We can always find a little bit more speed, get a little quicker, but we are happy with a second place finish. It’s really nice to be here in Cabo Verde.”

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How to follow The Ocean Race 2022-23

It’s taken a long time to get the latest fully crewed around the world race off the ground, but finally…

The Ocean Race 2023 preview: What’s in store for the new race

It’s been a long wait for the next fully crewed lap of the planet since the last one finished in…

With the top two positions decided, it appeared Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team would claim third position. But as the team approached Mindelo, it announced it would retire from Leg One after having missed a mark of the race course back in the Gibraltar Strait.

Observant fans of the race tracker will recall the Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team boat traced a course to the south of, and into, an exclusion zone, which was also designated as a mark of the race course. By not correcting the error, the team would not have scored points for its efforts in stage one of the race, and elected to retire from the leg before finishing.

A statement from the team read: “… technical issues onboard resulted in us failing to leave the South Gibraltar Exclusion Zone to port as per the racing instructions. As we have missed a mark of the course the team has made the decision to retire from Leg One of The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint 2023.”

“We are very disappointed for this,” admitted skipper Antonio Fontes. “But the crew has done an amazing job getting us out of the Mediterranean in very hard conditions. Then we had the super fast sailing conditions in the Atlantic and it was a lot of fun racing from Gibraltar to here.”

The retirement opened the door to a podium finish for Austrian Ocean Racing powered by Team Genova, who were the last team enter The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint and only arrived in the start port of Alicante, Spain days before the beginning of the event.

The fourth VO65 to finish was the Lithuanian-flagged Ambersail 2, arriving on Sunday morning.

That leaves Viva Mexico as the only team still racing. Skipper Erik Brockmann and his team is still 600 miles away from Cabo Verde after stopping in the Spanish port of Almeria to make changes to their mainsail.

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The post The Ocean Race: Holcim-PRB win Leg One appeared first on Yachting World.

The Ocean Race start, the latest iteration of the crewed multi-stage around the world race, set off today from Alicante, Spain. But the 11 crews – five IMOCA teams, six VO65 crews – face something of a baptism of fire over the opening stages of Leg 1.

Flat water and WNW breezes of 12-14 knots off the Spanish coast gave the five IMOCAs a chance to show off their foiling skills. Paul Meilhat’s brand new Biotherm (FRA) was fastest off the line, lighting up through the last gate mark after the Ocean Race start at speeds of 29 knots.

15 January 2023, IMOCAs at The Ocean Race start in Alicante. Photos: Sailing Energy / The Ocean Race

However, the forecast for the Ocean Race fleet’s exit from the Mediterranean is challenging. Despite an initially light start, the forecast to come is for 25-30 knot breezes with gusts topping mid-40s and 4m-sea states as the fleet approaches Gibraltar.

The IMOCA crews in particular will have to endure some hard upwind miles to begin with, and the kind of potentially boat-breaking conditions that all skippers would prefer to avoid, but those with newer launches must be dreading.

The VO65s, meanwhile, have a strong track record of punching through punishing conditions, but the opening days could be a brutal induction period into ocean racing for the relatively inexperienced and youthful crews that make up many teams in the one-design fleet.

“The north-westerly winds will allow us to sail quite fast reaching angles down to the southeastern corner of Spain,” explained Team Malizia’s Will Harris ahead of the Ocean Race start. “Going into tonight, we will have to fight our way through the light winds, not sleeping much, and doing lots of sail changes. Finally, once we get through this transition, we will be hit by the strong westerlies funnelling through the Alboran Sea, slowing our progress to Gibraltar as we tack upwind in a heavy sea state and up to 40 knots of wind.”

By the time the fleet passed Cabo de Gata this evening, the IMOCAs had overhauled the VO65s, hitting 20-plus knot boat speeds (you can follow the race on the online tracker).

Balancing act

This first leg is also unusual: while the Ocean Race starts from its recently established home port of Alicante in the Mediterranean, setting a course south down the Atlantic, the first finish will be in Cabo Verde, rather than racing non-stop to Cape Town. This makes Leg 1 something of an opening sprint, at around 1,900 miles, and is expected to take the teams around six days.

However, it’s also part of an endurance ‘stage’ of the race, as the Cabo Verde stopover is officially a pitstop, rather than a full stopover, and once in port in Mindelo only the race crews will be allowed onboard. This means that not only do the crews have to provision for the full Atlantic course to Cape Town, but they also have to carry all their spares and tools in case of breakages – a stark contrast to the shared ‘Boatyard’ one-stop-shop that serviced the fleet in the previous Volvo Ocean Race.

It also increases the importance of getting through this first leg unscathed. In the pre-race press conference, 11th Hour Racing skipper Charlie Enright voiced his view that the boats likely to dominate the podium will be the boats that complete the most legs of this seven leg around-the-world epic.

11th Hour Racing Team flying high at the start of Leg 1 of the 2023 Ocean Race in Alicante. Photo: Sailing Energy / The Ocean Race

Long before the Ocean Race start, there has been much speculation about how a fully loaded, fully crewed IMOCA would stand up to the demands of this punishing course. There is potential for retirements around the track, and nobody will want to ‘use up their discard’ on this early stage.

Several boats in the IMOCA fleet are relatively untried: Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm only sailed with his complete race crew for the first time in the final 10 days, after his boat was launched in September. Boris Herrman’s Malizia team, meanwhile, was frantically fitting a new set of hastily purchased foils just hours before the in-port race, after the boat’s original set was discovered to have structural damage. Kevin Escoffier only confirmed his Ocean Race entry in Holcim-PRB, a new IMOCA launched last summer, less than six months ago. These are all relatively early stage campaigns, but unlike the last minute VO65 teams that have been pulled together in previous editions, they are sailing extremely complex, and significantly varying, machines.

While the five IMOCAs entered in this race show some marked design differences, they do share the IMOCA one-design mast. IMOCA skipper Alex Thomson pointed out that a spare rig could become a very valuable commodity indeed, when he posted his thoughts on the race:

“There’s only one spare mast in the whole fleet right now, and that is owned by 11th Hour Racing. If a team were to order one today, it won’t be complete until the end of summer this year – after the finish of The Ocean Race. This could put the teams, and the organisation, in a tricky spot. What would you do if you were 11th Hour Racing? Another team breaks a mast and asks to use your spare, but what if yours then breaks? It’s not a nice position to be in.”

Ocean Race future plans

The VO65s take their start for Leg 1 in Alicante: Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team & Ambersail 2

Today’s Ocean Race start marks 50 years of crewed around the world racing, since the first Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973. Organisers today also confirmed that they intend to run the next around the world race in three years time, starting from Alicante, Spain over 2026-27.

Meanwhile, following the the inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Europe last summer, another edition of that event will be held late in the summer of 2025.

Richard Brisius, Race Chairman of The Ocean Race, explained: “This is an important and exciting moment for The Ocean Race.

“We are on the eve of an historic around-the-world Race starting tomorrow. It is our first as The Ocean Race, the 14th edition in our history, and it comes as we celebrate our 50th anniversary year.

“We understand that we are standing on the shoulders of all of those who have built this Race into the iconic event that it is today. From the Whitbread Round the World Race back in 1973, through 20 years of Volvo stewardship, to where we are today as The Ocean Race, the race has seen many changes.”

He continued: “With that in mind, it is important that we provide certainty to all of our stakeholders, partners, teams and fans in terms of the future of the Race. Looking forward, we are confirming The Ocean Race Europe in Q3 of 2025 and we will be starting conversations with candidate stopover cities and other partners in the coming weeks. The next two editions of The Ocean Race around the world are confirmed to take place in 2026-27 and 2030-31.”

Follow all of our The Ocean Race coverage and read our race preview.

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The post Baptism of fire for The Ocean Race crews as fleet starts from Alicante appeared first on Yachting World.

It’s taken a long time to get the latest fully crewed around the world race off the ground, but finally The Ocean Race will start from Alicante on 15 January 2023 five years after the last race was run (then the Volvo Ocean Race). The total fleet is expected to comprise 11 boats in two classes, including the VO65 one-designs from the previous two events and a fleet of five fully crewed IMOCA 60s.

It has been a long, hard slog to get the event up and running again with the Covid 19 pandemic taking it’s toll, but there have been many other challenges too. A reflection of the difficulty in getting the race underway is the change from the initial promise of two fleets sailing around the world down to a single fleet of 5 IMOCA 60s taking on the full course whereas the VO65s will sail just the first and last two legs in what the organisers have called The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup.

Despite this disappointing outcome, racing fans will be excited by the thought of seeing five fully-crewed IMOCA 60s racing around the world, particularly when they take on a mammoth Southern Ocean leg of 12,750 miles from Cape Town, South Africa, to Itajai, Brazil passing south of all three Great Capes.

The 5 fully crewed IMOCA 60s will make a full lap of the planet. Photo: Sailing Energy / The Ocean Race

How to follow The Ocean Race

The Ocean Race website will be providing key content for 2022-23 edition including latest news and analysis, videos and photos from the yachts (each IMOCA 60 has a dedicated reporter onboard) and a full racing section featuring the offshore race tracker, rankings and scoreboard.

Each leg start and finish will be covered live by Warner Bros. Discovery and shown on Eurosport platforms, including Eurosport.com. Outside of Europe, and depending on the territory, you may be able to access live coverage via YouTube.com/theoceanrace.

At 1200 UTC every day during the offshore legs, there will be a programme called The Race Report – a two-minute quick fix that tells the story of the previous 24 hours in the Race.

During the offshore legs, Niall Myant-Best will host The Ocean Race Show, a longer format programme that takes a deeper dive into the stories at sea. This too will be available on the race website YouTube and The Ocean Race Facebook channels.

You can also catch all the latest The Ocean Race content on our The Ocean Race homepage.

You can also find additional updates from the teams on their own websites and social channels. [LINK: teams landing page]

Fans watching the prize giving for the first The Ocean Race in port race in Alicante. Photo: Sailing Energy / The Ocean Race

The Ocean Race Streaming & Broadcast TV

Warner Bros. Discovery is The Ocean Race’s live broadcast and news distribution partner and fans will be able to watch live coverage from every leg of the Ocean Race 2022-23 with Eurosport and Discovery+, including:

– Eurosport TV channels
Live coverage of leg starts, the Grand Finale arrivals in Genova, as well as the In Port racing in Alicante and Genova

– Eurosport player and on Discovery+
Streaming live coverage of all leg starts and finishes as well as every in-port race

– Eurosport linear channels (free to air locally), Eurosport player and Discovery+
A highlight show summing up the action on each of the offshore legs (two shows for the five-week third leg from South Africa to Brazil)

– Eurosport.com
Regular feature-length shows about life on board The Ocean Race boats will be available throughout the six months of the race

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Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.

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The post How to follow The Ocean Race 2022-23 appeared first on Yachting World.