{"id":344237,"date":"2025-08-14T15:57:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T15:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/344237\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T15:57:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T15:57:23","slug":"biotherm-seals-win-as-malizias-dover-gamble-pays-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/344237\/","title":{"rendered":"Biotherm seals win as Malizia’s Dover gamble pays off"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

The Ocean Race Europe Leg 1 Finish: Biotherm seals win as Malizia’s Dover gamble pays off
\n by The Ocean Race 14 Aug 08:36 PDT
\n 14 August 2025<\/p>\n

\"Henri-Lloyd
<\/a>\"Switch
<\/a><\/p>\n


\nBiotherm raced into Portsmouth this morning with maximum points and a commanding early lead, while Malizia’s daring inshore gamble at Dover stole second place.<\/strong> \n<\/p>\n


\nThe first leg of The Ocean Race Europe 2025 ended in bright but fickle conditions off the Isle of Wight today, with Biotherm taking a confident win and Team Malizia snatching second after a bold tactical move through the Dover Strait. \n<\/p>\n


\nThe fleet had been poised for a direct run into Portsmouth, but on Wednesday night race management extended the course by 60 nautical miles, adding a two-lap loop just off Bembridge Ledge. This saw the top three teams grinding through another set of upwind and downwind legs before they could cross the finish. \n<\/p>\n


\nFor Biotherm, the extension was little more than a formality. Paul Meilhat’s team had controlled the race since the start in Kiel, staying clear of trouble and keeping their nearest rivals at arm’s length. Even last night’s squall – when 25 knots came in from all directions, forcing them to drop and re-hoist sails – didn’t shake their grip on the lead. \n<\/p>\n


\n“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.” \n<\/p>\n


\nBy the time the leaders reached Bembridge today, Biotherm’s advantage was such that they could work through the laps without serious threat. With the next boat a distant speck on the horizon, Meilhat’s crew could have cruised to the finish, yet they kept trimming and tweaking until the very last minute. By 09:50 UTC, they were confirmed winners of Leg 1, collecting 7 points for the victory and 2 points from the Kiel scoring gate for a perfect 9-point opening. \n<\/p>\n


\nThe real drama played out behind, where Team Malizia and Paprec Ark\u00e9a were locked in a match race for second. For most of the leg, Paprec Ark\u00e9a had held the upper hand, defending third against Malizia’s advances. But late yesterday, Boris Herrmann’s crew rolled the dice. \n<\/p>\n


\nApproaching Dover, they abandoned the mid-channel route and hugged the English coast to escape the full force of the adverse current. It was a high-risk call – inshore meant weaker current but also the possibility of losing breeze. \n<\/p>\n


\nTheir move paid off immediately. In the hour after they tacked towards the cliffs, Malizia clawed back five miles. By sunset, they were just half a mile back. “Right now we are one mile behind Paprec, and they’re only doing 1.9 knots and we are doing 8.2,” said co-skipper Cole Brauer on board Malizia. “This is when we become the hunters.” \n<\/p>\n


\nPaprec Ark\u00e9a responded with textbook defensive tactics, matching Malizia tack for tack through the night. For hours they were separated by barely a mile, holding cover all the way to the start of the Bembridge loop – until a single decision let it slip. \n<\/p>\n


\nSpotting a shift at the bottom mark, Malizia gybed away; Paprec Ark\u00e9a allowed the split, believing it to be safe. However, the manoeuvre worked out for the chasing German team, who rounded the mark ahead and immediately began to slowly stretch their lead. \n<\/p>\n


\nAt the finish Malizia’s locked in a decisive second place. For Paprec Ark\u00e9a, that momentary lapse cost them the place they’d protected all the way from Kiel, relegating them to third. \n<\/p>\n


\nDescribing his team’s comeback, Malizia skipper Boris Herrmann said: “It was an amazing morning for us. 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.” \n<\/p>\n


\n“We definitely got a little lucky this morning, but at one point yesterday we were 15-20 miles behind and we managed to close that gap. I don’t think that can all be thanks to luck!” added co-skipper Will Harris. “It’s a really tough fleet out there, everyone’s pushing the entire time, and the fact we were the only boat to overtake another one I think shows we’ve got a fighting spirit.” \n<\/p>\n


\n“We played it badly, both tactically and in sail choice, and they managed to get through,” said Paprec Ark\u00e9a skipper Yoann Richomme, admitting, “It was a mistake on my part. I was pretty tired at that point, and I let things go. So, there’s a lot of disappointment on my part today.” \n<\/p>\n


\nRichomme continued: “Despite that, I’m really happy with the leg we did. We were second for 99% of the time. The crew was in top shape, and they really made the boat work fast all the time. Everything was really fluid, and we pulled off a lot of incredible manoeuvres – I couldn’t even count them.” \n<\/p>\n


\nWhile the front three battled for podium positions, life was grindingly slow further down the order. Canada’s Be Water Positive team, sitting in fourth, spent much of the approach to 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,” Pip Hare explained, describing their reliance on AIS, radar and the OSCAR infrared system. “The risk here is collisions with other vessels, because you wouldn’t see them coming until it was too late.” \n<\/p>\n


\nCanada would claim fourth place just over three hours behind the winning boat, while for Team Amaala, trailing the leaders by about 80 miles early in the afternoon, conditions have been even more frustrating. “If you want the truth, we’re going to do like 20,000 tacks, in current with no wind,” skipper Alan Roura said this morning with a laugh. “Anyway, that’s part of it. At least now we know how to tack in all conditions!” \n<\/p>\n


\nSam Goodchild (Biotherm) said their win was especially satisfying given how little time the line-up had spent racing together: “Even if the whole crew has experience in their own way on IMOCAs, Paul is leading the team well to find that right balance between experience and his knowledge of the boat. Every leg will bring different conditions and challenges, but we got this one right. \n<\/p>\n


\n“It’s good to get off on a good footing,” he added, “but you can’t get ahead of yourself – there is a long way to go and the goal is to win the whole race.” \n<\/p>\n


\nWith the first leg complete, nine points puts Biotherm in a strong early position. Malizia’s late charge delivers six points for second, drawing them level with Paprec Ark\u00e9a, who added a single point from the Kiel scoring gate to their five for third. Canada Ocean Racing and Team Amaala will close out the leg later Thursday, collecting four and three points respectively. \n<\/p>\n


\nThe first 850 miles of the Ocean Race Europe 2025 have thrown a range of conditions at the sailors, from high-speed foiling in the Baltic to narrow, nerve-wracking lanes in the Channel. From here, the remaining four legs will see the teams tracing a route around Europe that totals a further 3650 miles. If Biotherm can carry their composure and pace into the next stages, they will be hard to dislodge. But as Malizia proved in Dover, bold calls can still turn the tables in a matter of hours. \n<\/p>\n


\nLeaderboard:<\/strong> (provisional) \n<\/p>\n


\nBiotherm — 9 points

\nTeam Malizia — 6 points

\nPaprec Ark\u00e9a — 6 points

\nCanada Ocean Race – Be Water Positive — 4 points

\nTeam AMAALA — 3 points (to be confirmed later Thursday)

\nAllagrande MAPEI Racing and Team Holcim PRB — 0 points \n<\/p>\n


\nThe next leg kicks off on Sunday 17 August, when the fleet will head out of Portsmouth to race 1,400 nautical miles to Cartagena, Spain, with a 3-hour fly-by stopover in Matosinhos \/ Porto, Portugal. Team Holcim PRB and Allagrande MAPEI Racing are continuing their repairs, hoping to join the rest of the fleet for the remainder of the competition. \n<\/p>\n


\nFind out more at www.theoceanrace.com<\/a>
\n
\n
\n \n <\/p>\n

\"Palm
<\/a>\"Seld\u00e9n
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ocean Race Europe Leg 1 Finish: Biotherm seals win as Malizia’s Dover gamble pays off by The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[15002,14997,2000,299,5187,15004,12,14999,6922,1071,14998,14236,15000,14995,15003,15001,14996],"class_list":{"0":"post-344237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-boat","9":"tag-boating","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-lake","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-photographs","16":"tag-photos","17":"tag-racing","18":"tag-reports","19":"tag-results","20":"tag-sail","21":"tag-sailing","22":"tag-sea","23":"tag-yacht","24":"tag-yachting"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115027944983497992","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}