Collision, wind shifts and possible orca attacks combined with hunger, bland food and sleep deprivation are daily fare on the 42-day Ocean Race Europe, which has now entered the Mediterranean Sea.<\/p>\n
This 2025 European event is the second iteration since race inception in 2001.<\/p>\n
Seven boats now compete in this six-leg race. Each is crewed by four sailors plus an on-board photographer. Race teams represent Germany, Switzerland, France, Canada, Italy, and Switzerland\/Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
Beginning in Germany in the Baltic Sea, racers will eventually have passed through the North Sea, English Channel, Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea before ending in the Adriatic Sea at cliff laden Boka Bay in Montenegro. The start, finish and five stops en route are in seven countries.<\/p>\n
Each 60-foot long IMOCA 60 boat is a high-performance monohull yacht equipped with massive foils to lift the bulk of its mass out of water. Competitors departed on August 10th from Kiel in Germany and sprinted to Portsmouth in the U.K. for a three-day respite before they flashed south through the Atlantic Ocean and took a mere three-hour \u2018fly-by\u2019 stop at Matosinhos\/Porto in Portugal on August 20th.<\/p>\n
After departing Matosinhos, teams transitioned from cold, windy Atlantic waters to the balmier and calmer Mediterranean Sea. Team Biotherm from France was the first to complete this second leg of the race\u2014between Portsmouth and Cartagena, Spain\u2014in darkness on August 23rd, followed by Team Holcim \u2013 PRB from Switzerland (also before sunrise). Team Paprec Ark\u00e9a of France arrived next, in daylight.<\/p>\n
Eugenia Manzanas, a multilingual Ocean Race Media and PR Specialist, coordinates sailing crews with media outlets during this race and moves to each landing site before boats arrive. She described the challenges of the brief three hour \u2018fly-by\u2019 stop for race teams in Portugal.<\/p>\n
Team Paprec Ark\u00e9a on Leg 2 from Portsmouth, U.K., to Cartagena, Spain<\/p>\n
Julien Champolion \/ The Ocean Race<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Fly by\u2019 is new. To get skippers to stop for just three hours is not easy. But they arrived [at Matosinhos] and felt super welcome. They spoke with local media, came upstairs and had time to relax, eat a hot burger and ice cream. We had two massage chairs and showers. They also appreciated walking upstairs because they can\u2019t do that on boats. Our biggest fear was there would not be enough time for all this. But they crossed the finish line and three hours later they departed. It worked for all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aiding this logistical efficiency were sunny weather and creative technology.<\/p>\n
Left to right: Ocean Race Europe 2025 Skippers Herrmann, Roura, Shawyer, Meilhat, Beccaria, Kuiper, Richomme<\/p>\n
Lloyd Images \/ The Ocean Race Europe 2025<\/p>\n
A work colleague of Eugenia created an application called \u2018timer.\u2019 Once opened, the face of a smart phone displayed seven different colored circles, each with the name of a different skipper inside and each showing a different timer which indicated how many minutes, out of three hours, teams could remain onshore.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really helped,\u201d said Eugenia. \u201cOtherwise we may have lost track of how much time everyone had left.\u201d<\/p>\n
Team Amaala navigating Leg 2 between Portsmouth, U.K., and Cartagena, Spain<\/p>\n
Cob Tar \/ The Ocean Race<\/p>\n
Skippers and crews relished this \u2018fly by.\u2019 One shot an Instagram video for his tens of thousands of followers showing him splashing water in a shower. Skipper Rosalin Kuiper of the Team Holcomb \u2013 PRB from Switzerland walked around carrying her foil wrapped burger as though it were treasure. [Most food on racing boats is freeze dried, although Italian Team Allagrande Mapei Racing shared a video of their concocting, in a cramped space, conchiglie pasta with tomato paste, garlic, olive oil and parmesan cheese].<\/p>\n
During the fly-by in Matosinhos four skippers\u2014each appearing trim and tired but radiating enthusiastic energy\u2014shared thoughts on the challenges and rewards of the route from Portsmouth. They also identified concerns for continuing to Cartagena in Spain.<\/p>\n
Team Be Water Positive between Portsmouth, U.K., and Cartagena, Spain<\/p>\n
Richard Mardens \/ The Ocean Race<\/p>\n
What have been the greatest challenges during the last portion of the race?<\/strong><\/p>\n Skipper Paul Meilhat\u2014Team Biotherm from France:<\/p>\n \u201cThis race is an addition of really small challenges every day and every hour. It’s always changing in ranking and scoring first. In the Gulf of Biscay there were many turnovers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest challenge for us is to manage the boat, to try to be as fast as possible downwind. Our boat Biotherm is the older design of the fleet and it’s not really made for heavy downwind. We were a bit afraid. I think Paprek Ark\u00e9a and Malizia are faster than us in downwind. It\u2019s good to have this advantage. But we are faster in light wind, in upwind.\u201d<\/p>\n Skipper Paul Meilhat of Team Biotherm<\/p>\n Anne Beauge \/ Biotherm<\/p>\n Skipper Yoann Richomme\u2014Team Paprek Ark\u00e9a from France:<\/p>\n \u201cWe were leading the fleet down the channel. And there was a transition zone at the tip of Brittany. It was all going well until we had a full shutdown of wind and we couldn’t get through. Everybody behind us went around us and we ended up last. So, we’re here second. We’re crawling place after place from the last position. It was a big effort on our side to make some ground on the leaders and then finish just 40 minutes behind. It\u2019s a really good situation for us now.\u201d<\/p>\n Skipper Rosalin Kuiper\u2014Team Holcomb – PRB from Switzerland:<\/p>\n \u201cIn leg one we had a collision with a competitor. We had to repair our boat and that took the entire team working 24-7, and we arrived only 18 hours before the start of this leg. So that was the most challenging to make the race, to make the starting line.\u201d<\/p>\n Co-Skipper Will Harris\u2014Team Malizia from Germany:<\/p>\n \u201cThe greatest challenge is managing your emotions on these racecourses. You saw on this leg there were so many reversals in places. You could be leading one moment and then you could be at the back of the fleet. We saw several boats doing that. Trying to keep a level head 24-7 is the hardest thing to do on these boats.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you don’t do that, or the less you manage to do it, the harder your life becomes on the boat and the more energy you spend, and then you have less energy for actually racing the boat and doing what you think is best.\u201d<\/p>\n Co-Skipper Will Harris of Team Malizia<\/p>\n Flore Hartout \/ Team Malizia<\/p>\n What have been the greatest satisfactions and rewards of the race so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n Skipper Paul Meilhat\u2014Team Biotherm from France:<\/p>\n \u201cThe group, the crew, the way we are working together. Really efficient. Amelie [Grassi] and I used to sail a lot together, but Sam [Goodchild] and Jackson [Bouttell] are new, and they are really quiet, really focused on the boat. They bring probably more serenity, and I think it’s good, because it’s peaceful, and we try to have maximum of rest during the race, and to not lose energy.\u201d<\/p>\n Skipper Yoann Richomme\u2014Team Paprek Ark\u00e9a from France:<\/p>\n \u201cComing back from last to second and seeing the effort we put together and as well the satisfaction of seeing the crew work better and better every day together. That is for me a great satisfaction because I put this crew together, picked every one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Skipper Yoanne Richomme of Team Paprec Ark\u00e9a<\/p>\n Eloi Stichelbaut – polaRYSE \/ Paprec Arkea<\/p>\n Skipper Rosalin Kuiper\u2014Team Holcomb – PRB from Switzerland:<\/p>\n \u201cThe teamwork, and especially last night after we rounded the mark there were very challenging conditions, and we had a lot of changes, and they went really well. We saw with our team that training really paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n From Co-Skipper Will Harris\u2014Team Malizia from Germany:<\/p>\n \u201cThe sailing is awesome. When you get to be on the water and wake up from a watch and look out the window, there’s just nothing like it. Getting those things, or experiencing those things, I think is what always draws you back to wanting to do it, even if it’s hard on the water.<\/p>\n \u201cWhenever I’m coming back from one of these races, the best thing is to appreciate the small things in life again that we have on land which you don’t have on the boat.\u201d<\/p>\n Team Biotherm on Leg 2 between Portsmouth, U.K., and Cartagena, Spain<\/p>\n Gauthier Lebec\/Team Biotherm\/The Ocean Race<\/p>\n What are your greatest concerns about the next leg of the race? <\/strong><\/p>\n Skipper Paul Meilhat\u2014Team Biotherm from France:<\/p>\n \u201cMatosinhos to Cartagena is a bit of a transition because we have half of the race in the Atlantic and half of the race in the Mediterranean. I think it will be totally different in the Mediterranean. So the key leg is this one because you can have a lot of advantage in Gibraltar, and lose in Cartagena.\u201d<\/p>\n Skipper Yoann Richomme\u2014Team Paprek Ark\u00e9a from France:<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not too worried all the way down to Gibraltar. But the Mediterranean, between the entrance to Cartagena, is going to be very, very slow with very light winds. I can be afraid of every boat coming back from the back and having a restart anywhere. That’s always a bit scary.\u201d<\/p>\n Skipper Rosalin Kuiper\u2014Team Holcomb – PRB from Switzerland:<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve ended up third now, and on every leg there’s a new round, new chances. In two hours we start again, and there are again points to divide. When I look to the future of the race we will fight hard to get better and better every leg.\u201d<\/p>\n Skipper Rosalin Kuiper of Team Holcim – PRB<\/p>\n Anne Beauge\u0301 \/ Holcim – PRB<\/p>\n From Co-Skipper Will Harris\u2014Team Malizia from Germany:<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we go back out there this afternoon, we’re going to have 25 knots of wind, and it’s going to take us all the way down to Gibraltar. And then we’re going to go through this tiny passage of Gibraltar, and we’re going to be thrown into the Mediterranean, which currently has no wind whatsoever. So, I think the race can reverse.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s an unknown, something we’re not sure about. It could not go our way; it could also definitely go our way. I’m very excited about it because we can hopefully bump up our position from fourth to first. Something like that. It can go any way, basically.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other unknown is orcas. Around Gibraltar. We’re going to have light winds through there and there’s lots of these orcas about and they can cause problems. We’ve had them sort of attack our boat once before. That’s definitely unknown\u2014how to deal with it or how to manage it. Let’s see if we have any problems with them.\u201d<\/p>\n Team Paprec Ark\u00e9a on Leg 2 between Portsmouth, U.K., and Cartagena, Spain<\/p>\n ean-Louis Carli \/ The Ocean Race<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Collision, wind shifts and possible orca attacks combined with hunger, bland food and sleep deprivation are daily fare…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[128589,2000,299,128588,5187,128584,128583,128581,128587,30464,128585,128586,128582],"class_list":{"0":"post-367257","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-adventure-travel-racing","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-europe-travel-sports","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-foiling-yachts","14":"tag-high-performance-sailing","15":"tag-ocean-race-europe-2025","16":"tag-porto-matosinhos-travel","17":"tag-portugal-travel","18":"tag-team-biotherm","19":"tag-yacht-races","20":"tag-yacht-racing"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115078185809330598","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367257","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=367257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}