The second edition of The Ocean Race Europe gets under way from Kiel in Germany this weekend, with seven fully-crewed mixed male and female IMOCA teams contesting a five-leg grand-prix that will take them from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic.

The 4,500-nautical mile six-week race starts on Sunday with a testing and technical stage from Kiel to Portsmouth on the English south coast, where the four-strong crews are expected to arrive on Thursday or Friday next week.

After a short stopover, the next leg starting on Sunday, August 17th is the biggest stage which will score double points. Starting at the Royal Yacht Squadron line off Cowes, it takes the fleet down the English Channel, into the Atlantic and then through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean before finishing at the Spanish port of Cartagena. This leg also includes a three-hour “fly-by” pit-stop at the Portuguese port of Matosinhos.

From Cartagena, the race heads to Nice in the south of France, then Genoa in Italy and finally finishing for the first time in the Adriatic Sea at the Montenegrin port of Boka Bay. It will be from there that a coastal race finale will be staged on Saturday, September 20th that will score the same points as each of the five offshore legs.

The Ocean Race Europe 2025 © IMOCA Globe Series

The Ocean Race Europe race forms a major plank of this season’s IMOCA Globe Series Championship and has attracted some of the best teams in the fleet, among them Yoann Richomme’s crew on Paprec Arkéa, Ambrogio Beccaria and his team on Allagrande Mapei Racing, Rosalin Kuiper leading a crew on Holcim-PRB, Paul Meilhat and his team on Biotherm and Boris Herrmann skippering Team Malizia.

The crews taking part represent an international collection of some of the best ocean racing sailors in the world from 13 different nations including France, Great Britain, Switzerland, Portugal, the Netherlands, Canada, Germany and the USA. The crews also include 11 skippers from the last Vendée Globe and six past winners of The Ocean Race.

The boats, meanwhile, include some of the best performing IMOCAs in the Class right now, among them the two Antoine Koch/Finot Conq-designed sisterships, Allagrande Mapei Racing and Paprec Arkéa. Five of the boats entered are of the latest foiling designs, having been launched in 2022, and four took part in the last Ocean Race including the winner, Canada Ocean Racing-Be Water Positive, the former 11th Hour Racing Mãlama.

Paprec Arkéa – photo © Marin Le Roux / polaRYSE / Paprec Arkéa

Phil Lawrence, The Ocean Race Europe Race Director, says this event which features offshore sailing, but also tricky inshore challenges with variable coastal winds, headlands, tidal gates and exclusion zones to negotiate, is going to be about performing under pressure. “It’s intense racing,” he said. “Most of the legs are four days and the crews will be 100% on it. They are going to get everything thrown at them and it’s going to be a real challenge.”

Allagrande Mapei Racing – photo © Valentin Lauféron / Allagrande Mapei Racing

Like most recent IMOCA races, Lawrence is expecting a close battle for the podium, with fine margins between the top boats. “Looking at the quality of the fleet, the points are going to be shared around which suggests a very competitive race. I am hoping it will be a nice open race and that maybe even the coastal race off Montenegro at the end determines even the winner or the other placings.”

He said the Ocean Race Europe organisation, which will feature full race control staffing at headquarters in Alicante just as in The Ocean Race, is particularly delighted with the quality of sailors taking part. “We are thrilled to bits with that aspect,” said Lawrence, who is hoping IMOCA teams not taking part will watch this event carefully with a view to entering the next Ocean Race in 2027.

“Obviously we are keen that The Ocean Race has as many good teams as possible and that it’s an attractive proposition,” Lawrence said. “The feedback from the last race was that sailors who did either the whole or some of The Ocean Race performed very well in subsequent IMOCA races and we’re hoping others will be attracted by that.”

The Ocean Race 2022-23 – 6 June 2023. The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup skippers Press Conference in Aarhus. Phil Lawrence, Race Director – photo © Sailing Energy / The Ocean Race

One innovation in The Ocean Race Europe this time is the introduction of Bonus Scoring Gates placed – with one exception – early in the offshore legs. There will be two points available to the first boat through and one point for the second-placed boat. In a race where there are seven points available for a leg win, these extra scoring opportunities could be decisive and will reward teams that get away on the pace after each leg start.

“In most legs the Bonus Scoring Gates are very early in the leg – the exception is the leg from Genoa to Boka Bay where the gate is well into the leg,” explained Lawrence. “They are going to reward teams that start well and the bonus point element will mix things up a bit.”

Team Malizia – photo © Marin Leroux / polaRYSE / Team Malizia

Another interesting feature is the return of the “fly-by” stopover, a concept used in the last Ocean Race when Kiel hosted a successful one. In this race, the fly-by at Matosinhos on August 20th will feature a timed, short stopover when the boats will come alongside, where race fans and the media will be waiting for them, before setting sail in a staggered restart exactly three hours after they arrived.

Amaala – photo © Adrien Cordier / Air Vide et Eau

The first edition of this race in 2021 was heavily affected by the Covid pandemic. This time all restrictions on public participation are off and each stopover venue will feature Ocean Life Parks, and guest and client-focused activities, including pro-am speed runs featuring all of the seven boats. For the teams, the race is not just about what happens on the water, but is also a major challenge for their shore crews, who will travel between stopovers ready to support their sailors when they arrive.

As the IMOCA crews battle to win the coveted Ocean Race Europe Trophy over the next six weeks, they will also contribute to the Racing for the Ocean Initiative which is aimed at helping to restore society’s relationship with the ocean. Boats will be equipped with scientific instruments to measure ocean parameters like water temperature, salinity, oxygen and carbon dioxide levels and concentrations of microplastics.

Team Malizia – photo © Flore Hartout / Team Malizia

 

by Ed Gorman / IMOCA Globe Series