Offshore Team Germany — the non-foiling IMOCA 60 skippered by German Olympian Robert Stanjek — has pulled off a spectacular victory in the third and final offshore leg of The Ocean Race Europe.

After almost four days of racing since leaving Alicante, Spain on Sunday afternoon (13 June), the German team arrived in Genoa, Italy at 0936 UTC today, Thursday 17 June, having taken full advantage of their yacht’s superior light-wind performance compared to the four other foil-equipped entries.

Stanjek and his crew — navigator Benjamin Dutreux (FRA), Annie Lush (GBR), Phillip Kasüske (GER) and onboard reporter Felix Diemer (GER) — made an early split away from the rest of the fleet when they headed north soon after leaving Alicante.

At the same time, the four foiling IMOCAs — Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Team (USA), Louis Burton’s Bureau Vallée (FRA), Nicolas Troussel’s CORUM L’Épargne (FRA) and Thomas Ruyant’s LinkedOut (FRA) — elected to stay closely grouped on a more south-easterly route over the first 48 hours.

Despite some slowdowns in the light and patchy winds around the Balearic Islands, Offshore Team Germany were mostly able to make steady progress along the 600-nautical-mile course and at one point had opened up a close to 100nm lead over the chasing pack.

Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team celebrate their Leg 3 victory in the dock at Genoa | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

That lead was eroded considerably in the last 36 hours as the foilers found some stronger breeze that allowed them to sail closer to their true potential. But when the German entry crossed the line in the Gulf of Genoa this morning, the chasing pack was still over 20nm away.

“Actually, it was not our plan to escape from the fleet, but sometimes things turn out a bit different than your plan it,” Stanjek said. “All our routings were north of the Balearics and so this was, for us, a clear call — and I thought some other teams would decide the same.

“We climbed up the Spanish coastline north and then we found a lane offshore with good pressure, and all of a sudden we lifted from the fleet like crazy. Within five or six hours the split was so massive and for us it was a gift. Since that moment, we were aware that we have to sail our own race because the difference between the fleet and us was already 50 miles.

“But this race was about so much more than the hardware,” Stanjek said. “I think one of the key factors to me was Benjamin [Dutreux] in this race. He’s a very good navigator, very clear and tough strategist. I think we both worked well together. It was probably me doing a little bit more the risk management on his advice — but he did a great, great job.

“And the whole team also stayed focused and awake. We had difficult parts in the race where everyone closed in, and we had no breeze at all. Sailing upwind in an IMOCA in three knots is not really fun.

“This is just the start of… let’s call it a second career. I’m not a standard offshore sailor. I’ve raced in the Olympic classes for a long, long time. But after the Olympics, I started to enjoy offshore sailing. So I hope this race will bring us closer to the start to the next Ocean Race. I can’t actually wait to to get to the starting line.”

Second place in the IMOCAs went to the blue-hulled LinkedOut, whose skipper Thomas Ruyant had been downbeat before the leg about his boat’s chances of performing well in the forecast ultra-light wind passage.

Nevertheless, Ruyant’s crew, who led the fleet offshore last night in search of more wind, were today able to overhaul the American 11th Hour Racing Team in a drag race on the approach to Genoa.

As the wind dropped away closer to shore, LinkedOut slipped across the Leg 3 finish line at a sedate seven knots with 11th Hour Racing Team completing the IMOCA podium places just minutes later.

Nearly three hours would pass before the two remaining IMOCAs crossed the line, with less than three minutes separating Bureau Vallée in fourth place and CORUM L’Epargne in fifth.

LinkedOut’s crew are all smiles at their second-place finish in the IMOCA 60 class | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

The points awarded to the top three IMOCA finishers in this leg mean that each of Germany, LinkedOut and 11th Hour Racing Team will have an opportunity to win The Ocean Race Europe with the right result in the Coastal Race on Saturday.

Earlier today, it was the Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team earning a spectacular come from behind win in the VO65 class over AkzoNobel Ocean Racing and Sailing Poland.

It was pitch black in Genoa when the Portuguese team, led by eminent French offshore skipper Yoann Richomme, finished the leg at 22:51:57 UTC late Wednesday night, after around three-and-a-half days of racing.

Hours earlier, Richomme’s crew — who started leg three tied on 11 points with AkzoNobel Ocean Racing at the top of the VO65 leaderboard — had been in third place, 10nm behind the longtime fleet leader Sailing Poland (POL), skippered by Bouwe Bekking (NED), and four nautical miles adrift of the second placed Netherlands entry Team Childhood I, led by Dutchman Simeon Tienpont.

Sensing that the breeze along the Italian coast would fade away as night fell, the Portuguese team made the bold decision to tack away from the fleet in search of new wind further offshore. It was a move that looked risky initially, especially given that their heading initially appeared to be taking them away from the finish line.

11th Hour Racing Team on the final approach | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

Ultimately, though, the gambit paid huge dividends as they were eventually able to tack back towards Genoa in the best breeze of the evening, and within a couple of hours had leapfrogged themselves into the lead.

“What a comeback!” Richomme exclaimed shortly after the finish. “A crazy, crazy leg — it felt like two weeks of sailing. We fought hard. We knew that until the finish it wouldn’t be over because Genova is complicated. It’s more of a game of chess in these conditions than proper sailing.

“The crew was amazing, we kept on fighting all the way, very calm. Team Poland moved into the lead with a tiny move near Mallorca and we thought we would never get them back.

“But we knew there was a little move to do in the Gulf of Genoa. We knew it was the favoured side, but then all the others kept on moving inside the bay. We thought it wasn’t going to happen for us and then suddenly things turned.

“We knew we were in the right position, but we didn’t expect to overtake Team Poland and win it — we thought we would be fighting for second.”

Also benefitting from the offshore route was Chris Nicholson’s AkzoNobel Ocean Racing. The Netherlands team was in fifth place before heading offshore in parallel with Mirpuri, but soon moved up to second as the new breeze brought them powering in from the southeast at speeds over 13 knots, overtaking Erik Brockmann’s Viva México (MEX), Team Childhood I and Sailing Poland to take second place.

“This was a big relief,” Nicholson said moments after stepping off the AkzoNobel boat. “We got ourselves behind early on in this leg and when that happens all you hope for is another chance. Fortunately, there was plenty of opportunity to be had today and we grabbed hold of several of them.

“There was plenty of thought that went into it. Our routing and everything we had told us to go the way we did go. But sailor’s instinct would have sent us closer to the shore. For once, I listened to the science, and in the end we chose what we thought had the best chance of success.”

In contrast to the excitement aboard the first two finishers, there will be disappointment for the Sailing Poland crew who had led the VO65s since early in the leg, but as a result of the late-stage reshuffle dropped back to third place and crossed the line just before 3am UTC.

Next was Team Childhood I some 80 minutes later, with Viva Méxio in fifth (04:46:44 UTC), Ambersail-2 in sixth (05:25:48 UTC) and tThe Austrial Ocean Race Project trailing in seven place, more than nine hours behind the leader (07:53:39 UTC).

Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team consolidates its position at the top of the leader board on 18 points, with AkzoNobel Ocean Racing second on 17 points.

This sets up Saturday’s final coastal race — where points will be awarded to the top three teams only (3 points for a win, 2 points for second, 1 point for third) — as a showdown to decide the overall VO65 class standings in the inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Europe.

For the weary sailors, Friday holds the promise of a quieter day of scheduled, local pro-am sailing.

But the pressure stays on as today’s results mean both the IMOCA and VO65 podium positions for The Ocean Race Europe — and the winners of The Ocean Race Europe trophy — will be decided on Saturday 19 June.

Tune into live coverage of the coastal race in Genoa on The Ocean Race YouTube and Facebook platforms as well as www.theoceanrace.com before 11am IST on Saturday (start time TBC).

Another 24 hours of light-wind racing out on the Mediterranean on the third and final leg of The Ocean Race Europe saw both the VO65 and IMOCA 60 fleets compress significantly today, Wednesday 16 June, as they push towards the finish line in Genoa, Italy.

In the five-boat IMOCA 60 class, the trailing group of four foilers — 11th Hour Racing Team (USA), LinkedOut (FRA), Bureau Vallée (FRA), and CORUM L’Épargne (FRA) — started to make better progress in new breeze, eating considerably into the leg-long lead established by the non-foiling Offshore Team Germany (GER) skippered by Robert Stanjek (GER).

At 0000 UTC this morning, Stanjek and his crew — navigator Benjamin Dutreux (FRA), Annie Lush (GBR), Phillip Kasüske (GER), and their onboard reporter, Felix Diemer (GER) — were 97 natural miles/180km ahead of the pack.

A moment to reflect on board 11th Hour Racing Team | Credit: Amory Ross/11th Hour Racing/The Ocean Race

This afternoon at 1600 UTC/1700 CEST that lead had been more than halved to 45nm as the American-flagged 11th Hour Racing Team — made up of skipper Charlie Enright (USA), past winners of The Ocean Race Pascal Bidégorry (FRA) and Simon Fisher (GBR), Swiss round-the-world sailor Justine Mettraux and onboard reporter Amory Ross (USA) — leads a charge from the foilers in new breeze that has seen the yachts accelerate to consistent double-digit speeds for the first time in 48 hours.

“We’re trying to push hard for sure,” said Stanjek from on board the German boat. “But it’s just very tricky on this coastline. Overall, I’m very happy with the sailing on a big lead over the rest of the fleet. We just have to sail our race and bring it home safe. But we have to stay focussed — it’s not a given.”

“Well, we’re sailing these ocean-going machines inside the Mediterranean Sea, so it's very complicated,” said 11th Hour Racing Team’s Charlie Enright.

On board The Austrian Ocean Race Project | Credit: Stefan Leitner/The Austrian Ocean Race Project/The Ocean Race

“There's not a lot of wind and they don’t go well in not a lot of wind. So you need to squeeze every ounce of performance out of them or you may never get started again if you stop. And we’ve done more manoeuvres in this leg probably than we have in the rest of the race combined already. So it’’s really tricky. And you got to stay on your game.”

There’s more of that to come, with another night of light winds and calm areas forecast before the IMOCA fleet finds its way to Genoa tomorrow, Thursday 17 June.

But further ahead, the seven VO65s continue to make the best of light-to-moderate conditions with the entire fleet of identical one-design yachts now within 100nm of Genoa.

Sailing Team Poland was still in front this afternoon, albeit with a dramatically reduced lead over their nearest rivals, second-placed Team Childhood I (NED) and Mirpuri Foundation racing Team (POR) in third.

The Polish-flagged yacht, skippered by Dutch serial round-the-world racer Bouwe Bekking, has led the VO65 class for the majority of this third leg from Alicante in Spain and at one point was 27nm/50km ahead of the pack. Since yesterday that advantage has been pegged back to just over 7nm at time of publication, and at one point was less than 5nm.

With just over 35nm still to race to Genoa, some 40nm separates the VO65 leader Sailing Team Poland from seventh-placed The Austrian Ocean Race Project (AUT), which is currently the fastest in their class.

The Polish team’s nearest rivals — Team Childhood I, skippered by Simeon Tienpont (NED), and the Yoann Richomme (FRA)-skippered Mirpuri Foundation Ocean Racing — are between 7 and 8nm behind and ready to pounce.

Facing the elements on board Ambersail-2 | Credit: Aiste Ridikaite/Ambersail-2/The Ocean Race

But with the chances high of a breeze shutdown tonight on the approach to Genoa, at this stage none of the chasing fleet can be ruled out of a leg-three podium position.

“We managed to get away from Mallorca and Minorca with the Polish, although they were leading by 10 miles and managed to pull away from the rest of the field by almost, you know, 20 miles…” said Yoann Richomme on board the Mirpuri Foundation boat. “Luck can turn and it’s still a long leg to Genoa.”

“There’s still a lot to fight for,” said navigator Will Harris with the fourth-placed AkzoNobel Ocean Racing. “We’ve got Poland who were 22-23 miles ahead of us last night; now that’s down to 13 miles. So we’ll see kind of how the opportunities come up. But still a whole load of snakes and ladders to play before we get to finish.”

Forty winks for the crew on board VO65 leaders Sailing Poland | Credit: Ewa Fijoleck/Sailing Poland/The Ocean Race

Latest estimates predict that the earliest arrivals in Genoa would be near midnight tonight, but there is significant uncertainty in that ETA. If the wind holds as it is, the leading VO65s could arrive over two hours earlier.

But if the wind dies out as forecast, the boats could be drifting, becalmed, within just miles of the finishing line well into the morning hours.

There will be live coverage of the finishes in Genoa on The Ocean Race YouTube and Facebook platforms as well as www.theoceanrace.com. Track the latest fleet positions on The Ocean Race website HERE.

The crews competing in The Ocean Race Europe have spent a second restless night out on the Mediterranean searching for wind to help them along the race’s third and final leg from Alicante to Genoa.

Racing in two classes – seven identical one-design VO65s and five development rule IMOCA 60s – the crews representing nine countries made a fast exit from the Spanish mainland last Sunday afternoon in 15-knot winds and under clear skies.

Since leaving Alicante, both classes have made stop-start progress due to patchy winds and large glassy areas of total flat calm littering the route to Italy.

On board with Viva Mexico on the third leg | Credit: Jen Edney/Viva Mexico/The Ocean Race

The VO65 class has made the best collective progress so far, having made it past the Spanish islands of Mallorca and Menorca overnight, and into some welcome fresher northerly breeze filtering out across the Mediterranean from the French interior.

The leading pair — Sailing Team Poland, skippered by Bouwe Bekking (NED), with Norway’s Aksel Magdhal as navigator, and Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team led by Yoann Richomme (FRA) with fellow Frenchman Nico Lunven navigating — benefitted from being first into the new breeze and considerably extended the gap between them and the chasing pack.

However this afternoon (Tuesday 15 June) the Polish boat has been going it alone after Mirpuri slipped back and found themselves in a battle for second with Team Childhood I.

11th Hour Racing Team finds some speed | Credit: Amory Ross/11th Hour Racing/The Ocean Race

There was relief on board that Dutch-flagged vessel, skippered by two-time round-the-world racer Simeon Tienpont (NED). The crew had bet everything on an alternative northern passage past the Balearic Islands, but yesterday had struggled to find any meaningful wind along the northwest coast of Mallorca.

Speaking today from the foredeck of the Team Childhood boat, Lars van Stekelenborg said: “We’re all sailing east and into a tricky area again as fast as we can and then we’ll have to see what happens when we get there.”

In the IMOCA 60 class, the northern route taken by Robert Stanjek’s non-foiling Offshore Team Germany has continued to pay dividends.

“We never planned to split from the other IMOCAs,” said Stanjek. “But all of our weather routings were all north of the Balearics. So to us it was obvious we go this way to the coastline. Some of the others did as well. But then somehow we found a lane where we were lifted brutally away from the fleet.

“Within a few hours the separation was so big… It was never our plan to split, but a chance opened and we took it. And now it is like two different races. Four of the IMOCAs are south and they are sailing their race and we have to sail ours.”

Since yesterday evening the German yacht has managed to pull away into an 82-nautical-mile lead over the four foiling IMOCAs — Thomas Ruyant’s LinkedOut in second, Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Team in third, Louis Burton’s Bureau Vallée (FRA) in fourth,and Nicolas Troussel’s CORUM L’Epargne (FRA) fifth.

Time to rest on board CORUM L’Epargne | Credit: CORUM L’Epargne/The Ocean Race

“All of the foiling IMOCAs are close together [this morning] off the coast of Mallorca,” said Pip Hare on Bureau Vallée. “Offshore Team Germany went north of the Balearic Islands, which was a punchy move and it looks like it may pay off for them — they’re looking good.

“We’re all battling it out on the south side, though. It’s very close racing. We’ve had complete [wind] shutdowns and then at one stage we were doing 16 knots upwind. It’s great. Let’s see where it goes!”

Despite today’s better breezes and the large separation seen in both fleets, the wind is expected to drop away again, which may result in both fleets compressing before the end of Leg 3.

Twilight on board Ambersail-2 | Credit: Aiste Ridikaite/Ambersail-2/The Ocean Race

“Leading into the light air zones is always tricky as the boats behind have more speed and manoeuvrability and can wait for us to slow down before they try another way to attack,” admitted Sailing Poland navigator Aksel Magdahl.

“We will just have to be patient and not start giving away too much to cover the boats behind, otherwise the lead will slip quickly.”

Track the latest fleet positions on The Ocean Race website HERE.

The 12 international teams competing in The Ocean Race Europe have been dealing with light and stubborn breezes on their first night at sea after setting off yesterday (Sunday 13 June) on the inaugural event’s third and final leg from Alicante, Spain to Genoa, Italy.

Pre-start weather forecasts predicted light winds throughout the leg and overnight the five-boat IMOCA 60 and seven-boat VO65 fleets made slow progress away from Alicante with boat speeds rarely breaking 10 knots in the benign conditions.

Despite the slow pace of the action, sailing fans have been glued to the race tracker after breakaway moves from two teams have split both fleets as they pass the Balearic Islands today (Monday 14 June).

In the IMOCA 60s, the crew of Robert Stanjek’s non-foiling Offshore Team Germany (GER) made an early commitment to taking a northern route by tacking away immediately after rounding the final mark of the course off the Tabarca islet, close to Alicante.

On board with Ambersail-2 | Credit: Aiste Ridikaite/Ambersail-2/The Ocean Race

“The need to stay in the breeze that we have means that we’re not always sailing the optimum heading,” said Annie Lush from Offshore Team Germany. “But it’s been about finding an angle that works for the wind we have.”

Likewise, in the VO65s, when it was clear that the bulk of the fleet was positioned to pass south of Ibiza, the Dutch-flagged Team Childhood I — skippered by double America’s Cup winner Simeon Tienpont (NED) c— hose to stay north of the rhumb line course in search of better winds. It didn’t pay immediate dividends.

“We went through a very light night, yesterday wasn’t really our plan to pick the shore but we felt it was good to play this side for a little longer,” Tienpont said. “By then we were committed to a route to the north while the rest went south.

“We have a lot less wind than them at the moment, but they still have to cross the light wind area to come up to the north… There are a lot of differences between the weather forecasts, but fingers crossed, we’re here, the fleet is there, and we need to make the best out of it.”

Today at 1840 UTC/2040 CEST as the teams pass south of the largest Balearic island, Mallorca — still in painfully light wind conditions — Offshore Team Germany still held a healthy 11.6-nautical-mile lead over the nearest IMOCA 60 LinkedOut, with CORUM L’Epargne (FRA) and 11th Hour Racing Team (USA) battling for third another 7nm behind and Bureau Vallée (FRA) trailing the leader by 24.7nm.

“This is not going to be the fastest leg for sure,” said LinkedOut skipper Thomas Ruyant. “It’s typical Mediterranean conditions and it’s going to be complicated to find the fastest way to Genoa. But we’re staying focused and determined despite the light conditions. It’s a real test of our patience!”

In the VO65s, hugging the coast of Mallorca, Bouwe Bekking’s Sailing Team Poland (POL) remain first with Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team (POR), skippered by Yoann Richomme, just 4nm behind.

AkzoNobel Ocean Racing are a further 10nm adrift, while the racing is tight at the back some 20nm behind the leader between Team Childhood I in fourth, Ambersail-2 in fifth, The Austrila Ocean Racing Project in sixth and Viva México in seventh.

On board current VO65 class frontrunners Sailing Poland | Credit: Ewa Fijoleck/Sailing Poland/The Ocean Race

“Mirpuri is right behind us and they have a bit more speed than us so we just have to keep sailing smart,” Bekking said earlier. “It’s just a matter of finding the best pressure lanes.

“It’s really tricky. There’s a huge high-pressure system and we have to cross that ridge. All in all I’m pretty content with where we are. It’s better to be first than last!”

With wind conditions in the region likely to remain light and fickle for the rest of the week, no one can say for sure whether the north or the south route will turn out best by the time the teams arrive in Genoa, where they are expected on Thursday (17 June).

More immediately, the focus for all the crews will be on somehow keeping their boats moving as they pick their way carefully through the myriad of wind holes strewn across the waters of the Mediterranean overnight.

The third and final offshore leg of The Ocean Race Europe got under way today in Alicante, Spain where the 12-boat international fleet of yachts — representing nine countries and crewed by sailors from around the world — set off into the Mediterranean, bound for Genoa in Italy.

The Ocean Race Europe fleet arrived in Alicante on Wednesday 9 June after a three-day second leg from Cascais in Portugal, having previously raced there from Lorient, France on Leg 1.

In contrast to the predominantly breezy conditions the crews experienced on the first two legs, the weather forecast for Leg 3 calls for light winds throughout the 600-nautical-mile/1,100km passage to Genoa.

The points spread among the top three teams in both the VO65 and IMOCA 60 classes could not be closer as the fleet left Alicante for the final offshore stage on the new professional yachting event.

The fleet sails out of Alicante at the start of Leg 3 to Genoa, Italy | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

In the seven-boat VO65 class, Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team (POR) and AkzoNobel Ocean Racing (NED) are in first and second, tied on 11 points, with Sailing Team Poland (POL) in third, just one point behind.

Remarkably, the scores in the five-boat IMOCA 60 class are even tighter, with the top three teams — LinkedOut (FRA), Offshore Team Germany (GER) and 11th Hour Racing Team (USA) — all sitting on nine points.

Although the focus may be mainly on the podium teams, there are several other crews in either class with enough points to challenge for overall victory, given a strong performance on the leg to Genoa.

With so much resting on the outcome of Leg 3, the atmosphere on the pontoons in Alicante was understandably tense as the crews left for the final stage of the three-week event.

Racing out of Alicante at the start of Leg 3 to Genoa, Italy | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

“It’s going to be tight all the way to the end,” said Thomas Ruyant, the skipper of LinkedOut, the nominal leader in IMOCA. “The race likely won’t even be decided on this leg, but on the coastal race in Genova.”

Adding to the pressure, particularly for the skippers and navigators, was the uncertainty of the weather forecasts for the coming week. Even as the boats left the dock there was no clear indication of which side of the three Balearic Islands — Ibiza, Mallorca and Minorca — the fleet should pass.

“There are options to the far right, the far left, even in the middle,” Ruyant continued. “It will be hard work for the navigation options for sure.”

“It’s going to be very tricky,” confirmed Spanish navigator Juan Vila — an America’s Cup and round-the-world racer who has been drafted in by the Viva México VO65 crew for Leg 3.

“There’s a big decision to make whether to go south or north of the Balearic Islands and when to cross a ridge of high pressure — that’s basically light winds — around Ibiza and Mallorca,” Vila said.

“There could be some big splits north and south as the [weather] models keep changing their minds — one day they tell you to go north, the next day they tell you to go south. So we will just have to see what we get.”

Third-placed in the VO65s, Sailing Team Poland skipper Bouwe Bekking (NED) said his team were up for the challenge on a leg which he believed would not be decided until finish line in Genoa.

“It’s going to be a long race, but it’s going to be fun, too,” Bekking said. “We know the score is wide open and lots of teams can end up on the leader board in Genova.”

Mirpuri sails out of Alicante at the start of Leg 3 to Genoa, Italy | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

Simon Fisher, the British navigator with the American 11th Hour Racing Team, said the IMOCA fleet would have to choose between trying to find gradient wind out to sea, or rely on picking up thermal winds closer to land.

“Do we use the gradient to try and make as much progress as possible, and then see what develops?” Fisher said. “Or do we commit early on to dealing with sea breezes and land breezes? That [the second option] is obviously going to be a messy and fairly long affair, battling up the coast.

“So I think it's going to be an interesting leg and looking at how the different teams decide to deal with, that's going to be fascinating.”

The course for Leg 3 took the fleet away from the start line off the Alicante city front, first upwind to the Alicante exit mark where the yachts bore away towards mark two, located off the nearby Tabarca Island. From there the crews are now free to choose their own fastest routes north through the Mediterranean to Genoa.

The V065s at the start of Leg 3 | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

Conditions were near perfect with 8-12 knots of breeze and sunny skies as the VO65 class set off first at 1300 CEST/1100 UTC, followed 20 minutes later by the five IMOCA 60s.

In the VO65s, AkzoNobel Ocean Racing made the best of the first beat, taking an inshore route that saw them lead at the Alicante exit mark, with Mirpuri Foundation Sailing Team in second and Viva México third.

In the IMOCA 60, class Robert Stanjek’s Offshore Team Germany (GER) took full advantage of their non-foiling configuration to rocket up the first beat to lead at the Alicante exit mark from 11th Hour Racing Team (USA), skippered by Charlie Enright, in second, and Louis Burton’s Bureau Vallée (FRA) in third.

But as soon as the foiling IMOCAs were able to hit their angle and lift out of the water, the Germans were left behind. Stanjek and his crew can take solace in the fact that light, upwind conditions are forecast to return soon.

The IMOCA 60s at the start of Leg 3 | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

Based on the forecast for predominantly light winds, the crews are expected to take up to four days to complete the course, and are estimated arrive in Genoa on Thursday 17 June.

The final points scoring opportunity of The Ocean Race Europe will be a coastal sprint race in Genoa scheduled to take place on Saturday 19 June when bonus points will be awarded to the top three finishers in each class.

With the leaderboard so close, it is likely this coastal race will be decisive in determining the winners of the inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Europe.

Track the latest fleet positions on The Ocean Race website HERE.

The second leg of The Ocean Race Europe finished in Alicante, Spain early this morning (Wednesday 9 June) with the Mirpuri and LinkedOut teams at the top of their respective classes after three days of tight racing between the 12 international crews since they left Cascais, Portugal on Sunday afternoon (6 June).

Leg 2 proved to be a challenging affair with the professional ocean racing teams facing a wide range of conditions along the 700-nautical mile course which finished in the home port of The Ocean Race, which is also the start venue for the round-the-world race in October 2022.

Conditions on the leg ranged from fast downwind sailing in the Atlantic on the first day and night along the Portuguese coast to battling gale-force headwinds in the Strait of Gibraltar on day two, and culminating with light-wind, ghosting conditions for the final night in the Mediterranean Sea.

The VO65 one-design yachts proved to be versatile across all these weather conditions, with all seven making it to Alicante by midday local time Wednesday, around 11nm/20km ahead of the five IMOCA 60s.

The first VO65 home was Portugal’s Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team who managed to prevail following a prolonged cat-and-mouse battle with Netherlands team AkzoNobel Ocean Racing which had been looking to pounce since the fleet entered the Mediterranean on Monday.

LinkedOut on the final approach | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

Before dawn today the pair drifted the final miles to Alicante under the cover of darkness and on mirror-flat seas. The Portuguese yacht crossed the line just before sunrise at 0336 UTC/0536 CEST — a little under half an hour ahead of the Dutch team.

Although the final 24 hours of close quarters match racing had been nerve-racking for the two sleep-deprived crews, both skippers admitted the sailors thrived on the intensity of the racing.

“It was a long fight with Akzo,” said Yoann Richomme (FRA), skipper of the Mirpuri Foundation crew. “We manged to overtake them yesterday afternoon and then managed to hang on to our lead after that, which was very tough.

“We got very little sleep; the whole crew is very tired now. It was a full-on spinnaker run until the south of Portugal, then some strong upwind stuff through Gibraltar, and then straight into some light wind sailing. We were doing a manoeuvre — changing sails or something — every hour, so it was hard to get any rest.”

Both Richomme and his rival skipper Chris Nicholson on AkzoNobel Ocean Racing admitted to being relieved to finish the leg ahead of the chasing pack, unlike on Leg 1 when these two crews led virtually all the way from Lorient before cruelly being overtaken in drifting conditions in the final miles to Cascais.

Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

“You knew at any stage on this last day that it could end badly,” Nicholson said on the pontoon today.

“We have been chasing Mirpuri for a long time — we were in the lead for a little bit of it — but there were so many occasions where things went good, and then things went bad. We got to within a mile of these guys at the finish, when they had stretched it out to five miles a few hours before hand. You learn, you just never, never give up.”

The Leg 2 results see these two teams top the overall VO65 standings. Both are on 11 points, but Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team claims first place by virtue of the tie-break rules, which favour the most recent result.

The third spot on the overall podium goes to Sailing Poland who led the fleet out of the Strait of Gibraltar but struggled for speed in the lighter winds.

This morning though they came from behind to snatch third place by overtaking both Erik Brockmann’s Viva México and Simeon Tienpont’s Childhood I (NED) in the final miles to the finish.

“Childhood and the Mexicans had a little private battle, and that was our chance to come up on the right of them and then we passed them,” Bekking said, describing the finish. “We led the leg for a long time, especially in the windy part. So I think we deserve third place.”

In the IMOCA fleet, Thomas Ruyant’s LinkedOut crew successfully defended what had been almost an entire leg-long lead against final-hour challenges from a trio comprising Robert Stanjek’s non-foiling IMOCA, Offshore Team Germany (GER); the American 11th Hour Racing Team, skippered by Charlie Enright (USA); and Louis Burton’s French foiler Bureau Vallée.

The Leg 2 results have created a three-way tie in the IMOCA 60s, with LinkedOut, Offshore Team Germany, and 11th Hour Racing Team, filling the respective podium positions on Leg 2 — all tied on nine points apiece.

“It’s cool that we’re all on equal points — anything can happen! It’s not going to be easy,” said LinkedOut sailor Clarisse Clemer.

Analysing the Leg 2 performance, she noted: “We had a good start, we were fast and we managed to go to the right places on the water and so it all worked out. We didn’t expect to have no wind at times during this last night, so we were a bit nervous, and in the end it was tense and close, there was a bit of pressure on board.”

Bureau Vallée makes haste to the finish line in Alicante | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

But in the event, the French team was just able to hold off a hard challenge from Offshore Team Germany, the only one of the five IMOCAs to be in a non-foiling configuration.

With an older generation boat and his newly formed crew, German skipper Robert Stanjek, says he’s pleased with the results as his team is still on the steepest part of the learning curve.

“We are still learning heaps about the boat,” Stanjek said. “Even in this leg we were faced with racing without instruments through the night, and then the tricky light wind conditions, so it’s a huge learning curve. And of course we are also learning about our team and the different skills we bring to the table so I’m happy with where we are.”

Having arrived in Alicante a full day ahead of the ETA predicted by weather models before the fleet left Cascais, the teams now have some extra downtime to rest their bodies and repair their boats before the start of the third and final leg of The Ocean Race Europe to Genoa, Italy on Sunday 13 June.

With such a close leaderboard at the top of both the IMOCA and VO65 classes, there is a lot at stake on leg three, with the reasonable possibility that the final results could be decided by the outcome of the coastal race in Genova — which assigns bonus points to the top three finishers in each class.

Offshore Team Germany celebrate their second-place finish in the IMOCA 60 class | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

Leg 2 Provisional Results

VO65:

• Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team (POR) – 7 points
• AkzoNobel Ocean Racing (NED) – 6 points
• Sailing Poland (POL) – 5 points
• Viva México (MEX) – 4 points*
• Team Childhood I (NED) – 3 points
• The Austrian Ocean Race Project (AUS) – 2 points
• Ambersail-2 (LTU) – 1 point

IMOCA 60:

• LinkedOut (FRA) – 5 points
• Offshore Team Germany (GER) – 4 points
• 11th Hour Racing Team (USA) – 3 points
• Bureau Vallée (FRA) – 2 points
• CORUM L’Épargne (FRA) – 1 point

Overall standings after Leg 2

VO65:

• Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team (POR) – 11 points
• AkzoNobel Ocean Racing (NED) – 11 points
• Sailing Team Poland (POL) – 10 points
• The Austrian Ocean Race Project (AUS) – 9 points
• Team Childhood I (POL) – 8 points
• Ambersail-2 (LTU) – 7 points
• Viva México (MEX) – 6 points*

IMOCA 60:

• LinkedOut (FRA) – 9 points
• Offshore Team Germany (GER) – 9 points
• 11th Hour Racing Team (USA) – 9 points
• CORUM L’Épargne (FRA) – 6 points
• Bureau Vallée (FRA) – 3 points

*The Race Committee is checking Viva México for a possible infringement of the TSS (traffic separation scheme) which may have an impact on their score in Leg 2.

Weather conditions for The Ocean Race Europe fleet have moderated considerably from yesterday’s fierce headwinds winds that funnelled against them through the Strait of Gibraltar.

However, despite the Mediterranean’s gentler breezes and flatter seas, the high intensity of the racing remains undiminished as the closely packed fleet closes in on the Leg Two finish in Alicante, Spain — now expected tomorrow morning, Wednesday 9 June, a day ahead of schedule.

The screaming winds that pounded the yachts for most of the day in the strait eventually gave way to ultra-light Mediterranean zephyrs yesterday evening, offering a chance for the sailors to rest a little and take stock of any damage to their boats.

While some faced a more difficult passage than others, the fleet appears to have made it through the notorious strait relatively unscathed — a testimony to the sailors’ seamanship and the resilience of the IMOCA and VO65 classes, which are both designed to race around the world.

“You do all this tacking with 35-plus knots of wind in Gibraltar to gain zero-point-something of a mile, and then at the end you're all floating in the Med within a mile of each other,” lamented Jolbert van Dijk, the Dutch navigator aboard The Austrian Ocean Race Project VO65.

The crew of Louis Burton’s IMOCA 60 Bureau Vallée (FRA) had a torrid time yesterday as they passed the Cap Spartel lighthouse close to Tangiers on their way into the strait. The tackline on their J2 headsail suddenly exploded, and in the ensuing chaos the mainsail was damaged, costing the crew a lot of time to get the boat back in full racing mode.

CORUM L’Épargne racing in Leg 2 | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

Meanwhile, the crew of the American 11th Hour Racing Team IMOCA 60 has continued to make impressive progress on their quest to close down the rest of fleet since restarting several hours late yesterday due to damage to their port foil incurred in a collision with the anchor line of a moored boat.

They closed to within 35 nautical miles/67km on the approach to the Strait of Gibraltar yesterday. Today (Tuesday 8 June), having made quick work of the strait, the team managed to overhaul the non-foiling Offshore Team Germany, are are sitting in fourth place, 17nm off the lead.

“I think we did a pretty picture-perfect job carving it up with 30 to 40 knots and two reefs and the J3, crossing the channel a couple times,” said skipper Charlie Enright (USA). “Eventually we went north of the TSS [traffic separation zone] and snuck in kind of under Tarifa.

Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team currently lead the VO65 class to Alicante | Credit: Martin Keruzore/Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team/The Ocean Race

“We seemed to get back up to speed after Gibraltar quite well. Just shaking reefs, sail changes, stuff like that. So, closing the gap, I don't know if it's going to be enough, but we're pushing hard. It's all we can do and, you know, if we make it close and hopefully we can make it exciting at the end.”

At the front of the VO65 class, there is a familiar scene with the two front-running teams for most of the first leg from Lorient to Cascais — Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team (POR) and AkzoNobel Ocean Racing (NED) — once again match-racing for the lead.

At 1400 UTC/1600 CEST this afternoon, the Portuguese crew — led by French solo racing skipper Yoann Richomme — had edged ahead of the Dutch boat skippered my multiple world champion and round-the-world sailor Chris Nicholson from Australia.

Just seven nautical miles (11km) behind lies Sailing Team Poland, skippered by serial round-the-world racer Bouwe Bekking (NED).

In the IMOCA 60s, Thomas Ruyant’s LinkedOut (FRA) crew continue to hold on to the lead as they have for almost the entirety of the second leg. Sixteen nautical miles (30km) behind them, the pack has compressed with a fraction of a nautical mile separating second-placed Bureau Vallée from Nicolas Troussel’s CORUM L’Épargne (FRA) in second and, with the hard chasing 11th Hour Racing Team (USA) a further only one nautical mile adrift.

On board Bureau Vallée at twilight | Credit: Bureau Vallée/The Ocean Race

With a little over 100nm/185km still to race to Alicante, there is the very real prospect of an ultra-close finish to the leg, perhaps even a repeat of what was seen at the end of leg one in Cascais.

Current weather routing estimates suggest the leaders could now reach Alicante as early as 0700 UTC/0900 CEST tomorrow. Track the latest fleet positions on The Ocean Race website HERE.

A day after leaving Cascais, Portugal on the second leg of The Ocean Race Europe, this afternoon (Monday 7 June) the race’s 12-boat fleet battled fierce headwinds in the Strait of Gibraltar — the narrow and congested waterway dividing mainland Europe from North Africa — on their way to Alicante, Spain.

One of busiest commercial shipping routes in the world, the strait marks the crews’ transition from the vast expanses of the Atlantic Ocean to the enclosed waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

As expected, strong easterly headwinds gusting over 40 knots made for brutal conditions for The Ocean Race Europe yachts for the three-hour passage.

The five IMOCA and seven VO65 crews had made short work of the opening stage of Leg 2. They enjoyed mostly fast downwind conditions on their way south along the Portuguese coast to Cape St Vincent, before they turned southeast overnight and this morning began to feel the effects of easterly headwinds flowing from the Mediterranean on the beat across the Gulf of Cadiz.

AkzoNobel Ocean Racing off Portugal before the turn to the Med | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team (POR), skippered by France’s Yoann Richomme, made much of the early running among the VO65s during the first night at sea. Richomme’s international crew of men and women led until around 40 nautical miles/74km from the Moroccan coast where they ceded the lead to Sailing Poland, led by Bouwe Bekking (NED).

“We are in the Strait of Gibraltar and are actually on the Moroccan coast and currently Sailing Poland is in the lead so that’s quite nice but it has been very, very windy,” Bekking said on Monday afternoon.

“We saw up to 46 knots. Right now the breeze is going down a little bit but it is still a stiff 30 knots. Battling with Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team just behind us and then the IMOCA LinkedOut is just a little bit further offshore and AkzoNobel Ocean Racing has crossed to the other side so we have to see how it is all panning out in the next 10-12 hours.”

Ever since leaving Cascais on the second leg, two French teams — Thomas Ruyant’s LinkedOut and Louis Burton’s Bureau Vallée — had engaged in a fascinating downwind match race at the front of the IMOCA 60 class.

Cape St Vincent is the southwesteanmst point of mainland Europe | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

The pair had never been more than a few miles apart until, as they tacked north close to the coast of Morocco, a problem on board Bureau Vallée dropped them back behind Robert Stanjek’s non-foiling Offshore Team Germany (GER), and Nicolas Troussel’s CORUM L’Epargne (FRA).

“We’ve got 38 knots of wind which is a bit over-the-top,” said Clarisse Cremer from on board LinkedOut. “But it doesn’t matter because we are going a bit faster, doing many, many tacks between Spain and the African coast, a tack every 10 and fifteen minutes, so everybody is up on the deck. We want to go as fast as possible which is a bit tiring as nobody is able to have a nap or anything because we have to be as efficient as possible.”

Meanwhile, Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Team (USA) has made remarkable progress since restarting racing yesterday afternoon, sailing without a port foil which was damaged in an incident with an anchored boat shortly after the start.

“We’ve restarted Leg 2, on our way to our Alicante, with everybody safe and sound,” Enright noted. “The objective is to keep it as close as possible here to push the boat within reason and see if we can get a couple of points and keep this show on the road and not throw in the towel.”

Having set off 77nm/143km behind the pack yesterday, this afternoon they were just 36nm/67km behind LinkedOut as they closed in on the Gibraltar Strait.

Prior to the start of Leg 2 there had been much discussion in Cascais about what the winning strategy might be for negotiating the Strait of Gibraltar. The consensus was to pick a side — either south, short tacking along the Moroccan coast, or north, doing the same along the Spanish shoreline — and nothing in between would do.

Led by Sailing Team Poland, the bulk of the VO65 crews opted for the southerly option, but two of them — first Erik Brockmann’s Viva México (MEX), and then AkzoNobel Ocean Racing (NED) — made a break to the north in the hope of smoother sailing.

In the IMOCAs, the LinkedOut and Offshore Team Germany crews kept a close eye on each other along the southern route, while the third-placed CORUM L’Epargne sailors tried their hand on the northerly route.

On Board Bureau Vallée | Credit: Bureau Vallée/The Ocean Race

In the end there appeared to be little to choose between the north or south options. At 1300 UTC today, as the leaders cleared the exclusion zone formed by the Gibraltar traffic separation zone and began to converge again, the Sailing Team Poland VO65 held a lead of a fraction more than one nautical mile over AkzoNobel Ocean Racing in second.

Emerging from the strait racing bow-for-bow with the Polish leading VO65, the crew of the LinkedOut IMOCA 60 had established a healthy 10nm/19km lead over CORUM L’Epargne and Offshore Team Germany in second and third respectively.

Conditions are expected to moderate for The Ocean Race Europe fleet as they move further into the Mediterranean tonight.

With a little under 300nm/556km still to race on this second leg, the fleet is expected to arrive in Alicante, Spain on Wednesday (9 June), although with light conditions forecast before the finish this ETA could slide back. Track the latest fleet positions on The Ocean Race website HERE.

Viva México racing as the sun goes down off the Portuguese coast | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

The second leg of The Ocean Race Europe got underway today (Sunday 6 June) in Cascais, Portugal where the event’s 12 professional yacht crews — representing nine countries from around the world — set off on a four-day, 700-nautical-mile offshore passage to Alicante, Spain.

Having arrived in Cascais on Wednesday 2 June at the end of the three-day opening stage from Lorient in France, the crews of the seven one-design VO65s and five development-rile IMOCA 60s had only a few days to recover before returning to points racing yesterday in a coastal sprint as part of the local Mirpuri Foundation Sailing Trophy regatta hosted by the Clube Naval de Cascais.

Overnight the teams had to quickly switch mindsets from inshore to open-water offshore racing as they take on what weather forecasters predict will at times be a wild and windy trip to Alicante.

The course for Leg 2 sees the fleet pass Portugal’s coastal capital city Lisbon and then south on to Cape St Vincent, the southwestern-most point in Portugal and Europe.

Here the boats will turn southeast towards the Strait of Gibraltar — the narrow and highly congested waterway which divides the Iberian Peninsula from Morocco in North Africa, and marks the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea.

IMOCA 60 Bureau Vallée at the Leg 2 start | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

Conditions in the Gibraltar Strait are expected to be fierce, with headwinds peaking to 40 knots tomorrow (Monday 7 June) when The Ocean Race Europe yachts are expected to pass through.

Once into the Mediterranean, the most direct route is along the Spanish coast to the finish in Alicante. However, depending on the prevailing weather conditions the crews may opt to sail a longer route in the hope of finding better winds that will get them there quicker. Track the fleet positions on The Ocean Race website HERE.

“The wind starts to go up a lot in the Strait of Gibraltar,” said renowned French yachtsman Sébastien Josse who is racing aboard the IMOCA 60 CORUM L’Épargne (FRA) that tops the class standings leaving Cascais.

“We have two options in the Strait: one is to stay in the north on the left coast. It’s maybe a lot of tacks in a narrow zone but with less wind. The second option is to cross the Strait and go to Morocco, but we are in really strong wind — 40 knots and less tacks.

“That’s just a few hours and after that the wind drops completely and we start the new race upwind in light air to Alicante — and we don't know yet what weather we have.”

Having proved right the old sporting adage of never, ever giving up with a surprise win in the VO65 class on Leg 1, the skipper of The Austrian Ocean Race Project, Gerwin Jansen, said his young crew would be giving their all like always on the way to Alicante.

“We enjoyed the win like we should,” Jansen said. “But we have also tried to get the expectations down a little bit. It’s not quite normal that the young team wins like that for the very first race. So now we are ready for Leg 2, we’re going to try to push as hard as we can.

“It’s going to be downwind sailing to the southern part of Portugal. Then we go into the Straits of Gibraltar and we’re looking at pretty strong winds upwind with choppy waves. So it’s going to be tough on the crew, tough on the boat, and we have to survive the fight.”

After a short delay to allow a new breeze to stabilise, the IMOCA 60s were the first fleet to start the second leg, with all five boats powering off the line on a short fast northwest reach to a turning buoy marking the exit point from Cascais, where Thomas Ruyant’s LinkedOut was the first to round.

Some two miles from the start, 11th Hour Racing Team was involved in a collision with a small, anchored motorboat. There were no injuries on either boat, and the motorboat returned to port under its own power and unassisted. 11th Hour Racing Team also returned to port, having suspended racing, to assess damage to its port foil.

On board with VO65 Viva México at the Leg 2 start | Credit: Jen Edney/Viva México/The Ocean Race

“We’ve been able to confirm through race management that everybody on that motorboat is okay and we sent a group of our support team to accompany them into the marina, which they were able to do unassisted and under their own power. I can also confirm that everyone on our crew is also okay,” said Charlie Enright, the skipper of the 11th Hour Racing Team.

“We take full responsibility for what happened on the water today. We are back in the marina assessing exactly what happened to our boat. We’ve definitely sustained some damage to our port foil. We’re working with the shore team and the design team to see what that means for our participation.”

After approximately two hours ashore, the team signalled its intent to restart the leg later on Sunday evening.

Meanwhile, the seven VO65s were a spectacular sight as they lined up in close formation on the first reach. As if to prove that their Leg 1 win was no fluke, The Austrian Ocean Race Project crew got the jump off the line to lead the VO65s at the Cascais exit mark.

IMOCA 60 CORUM L’Epargne races out of Cascais | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

Before leaving the dock in Cascais, a baton from the Relay4Nature initiative was passed from the Portuguese Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team VO65 skipper Yoann Richomme (FRA) to Chris Nicholson (AUS), skipper of the Dutch AkzoNobel Ocean Racing VO65.

The Relay4Nature is a baton relay for the ocean, which aims to encourage world leaders to radically increase their ambition for nature, human and ocean rights across all policy and actions and to unite for stronger ocean governance.

On Leg 1 from Lorient the Relay4Nature baton was carried aboard the winning IMOCA 60 11th Hour Racing Team (USA) and passed to the Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team by Swiss crew member Justine Mettraux.

Based on the latest weather models, the teams are predicted to complete second keg in four days, and so are expected to arrive in Alicante this Thursday 9 June.

The home team topped the V065s while Offshore Team Germany took the IMOCA class as The Ocean Race Europe fleet returned to competitive action in Cascais, Portugal today (Saturday 5 June).

The 12 international teams representing nine countries took on the Mirpuri Foundation Sailing Trophy coastal race ahead of the start tomorrow (Sunday 6 June) of the second offshore leg to the city of Alicante, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain.

Having arrived in Cascais on Wednesday at the end of a fast and furious three-day opening leg from Lorient, France which saw breathtakingly close finishes in both the VO65 and IMOCA 60 classes, the competing crews had just a few days for rest and recuperation before returning to the racecourse for today’s four-hour, 40-nautical-mile/75km sprint from Cascais to the Portuguese capital Lisbon and back.

In what was a dress rehearsal for tomorrow’s Leg 2 start, the course for the coastal race initially took the fleet on a tight northwest reach from the town’s waterfront to a turning mark at nearby Cabo Raso.

From there, a long downwind leg gave the crews plenty of gybing practice as they jockeyed for position on the way to a marker southeast of the entrance to Lisbon’s Tagus River. The final leg was a long beat back upwind again to the finish line positioned off the Clube Naval de Cascais.

Racing in the Mirpuri Foundation Sailing Trophy between Cascais and Lisbon on Saturday 5 June | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

Conditions were close to perfect for racing, with blue skies and warm winds ranging in the 15–20 knot range.

“It’s going to be about a four-hour race,” said AkzoNobel Ocean Racing skipper Chris Nicholson dockside before the start. “So it’s not long, but it’s certainly not quite a sprint either.

“Normally for an in-port race, you wouldn’t even be stacking the sails side-to-side. But at this course length, yeah, it’ll be full stacking, for example. So in a lot of ways it will be a bit harder than normal.”

As the day progressed, he was proven right. The racing was characteristically tight amongst the fleet of seven identical VO65s. Cascais-based Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team held a narrow lead at the first mark over Nicholson’s team and this pair were tied neck-and-neck as they rounded the leeward mark at the bottom of a long downwind leg.

The local team then put their local knowledge to good use on the final upwind section to the finish, crossing the line first for a three-point win.

AkzoNobel Ocean Racing took a close second for two points, with Sailing Poland, led by Dutch skipper Bouwe Bekking claiming one point for third.

Offshore Team Germany ahead of French teams CORUM L’Épargne and LinkedOut in the IMOCA class | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

“It was just awesome to to get out today and show everyone what we could do,” said Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team sailor Jack Bouttell. “We wanted to put on a good show in Cascais and it’s fantastic to give back after what Paulo [Mirpuri] has given us the chance to do.”

In the IMOCA 60s, Charlie Enright’s American entry 11th Hour Racing Team made most of the early running. But having led the five-boat fleet around the first two marks, on the way back upwind the United States foiler could not hold off the non-foiling Sailing Team Germany, skippered by Germany’s Robert Stanjek.

At the finish, Offshore Team Germany took the win to collect three points, 11th Hour Racing Team took two points for second, with Thomas Ruyant’s LinkedOut closing out the podium for the final single bonus point.

“I think we managed very well in the conditions which were not suiting us, we managed to survive and keep in contact,” said German skipper Robert Stanjek. “Then we just had a smashing downwind and Ben [Dutreux] made a really good layline calls and we were in a good flow and we just closed in. I think technically we sailed pretty smart on the last upwind. It’s a great feeling ahead of the leg two start tomorrow.”

Starting at 1300 local time in Portugal, the course for the second leg of The Ocean Race Europe first takes the teams south to Portugal and Europe’s southwestern-most headland, Cape St Vincent, before the yachts turn south-east towards the Strait of Gibraltar – the narrow and highly congested waterway between the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco, North Africa which marks the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea.

From there the most direct route to the finish in Alicante is along the Spanish Mediterranean coast. However, depending on the prevailing weather conditions the crews may opt to sail a longer route further offshore, in the hope of finding better winds that will get them to Alicante quicker.

In contrast to the mainly straight-line, fast-reaching conditions the crews experienced on the three-day opening leg of The Ocean Race Europe, the latest weather models being pored over by the team’s navigators in Cascais this evening suggest the second 700nm/1,297km leg will be a longer more complex affair, featuring several key transitions between weather systems for the crews to deal with.

In particular, the passage through the Strait of Gibraltar looks set to be a wild and windy experience where the funnelling winds are expected to peak at 35–40 knots.

“The leg is going to be intense,” said France’s Yoann Richomme, skipper of the Portuguese entry Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team.

“It's a very long downwind all the way to Cape St Vincent and then a big transition before coming into some very strong winds at the Strait of Gibraltar with maybe some tacking on the Moroccan coast. Then it’s [into] the Med, so the wind is going to be a little bit on and off. It’s going to take quite a bit of time, almost four days to get to Alicante.”

The crew of Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team celebrate the VO65 class win in their home coastal race | Credit: Sailing Energy/The Ocean Race

Having incurred some bumps and bruises amongst the crew the first leg, Ambersail-2’s Lithuanian skipper Rokas Milevičius said the team would be taking extra measures to ensure everyone on board the VO65 stayed safe on the passage to Alicante.

“I think the next leg will be very challenging — very difficult safety wise,” Milevičius said. “We had injuries already on the first leg, so we are taking extra precautions for the next one, because it looks like we are going to have a really bumpy, upwind ride through Gibraltar.

“Later on, when we are in the Med everything is more calm and easy to play — like the breeze and the light area — so should be fine. But I think the most crucial part will be the Gibraltar Strait and going in [to the Mediterranean] with the least damage as possible.”

Results of the Mirpuri Foundation Sailing Trophy Coastal Race

VO65

• Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team (POR) – 3 points
• AkzoNobel Ocean Racing (NED) – 2 points
• Sailing Poland (POL) – 1 point
• Viva Mexico
• Team Childhood
• Ambersail2
• Austrian Ocean Race Project

IMOCA 60

• Offshore Team Germany (GER) – 3 points
• 11th Hour Racing Team (USA) – 2 points
• LinkedOut (FRA) – 1 point
• Corum L’Epargne
• Bureau Vallée

The Ocean Race Europe Overall Standings

VO65

• The Austrian Ocean Race Project (AUT) – 7 points
• Ambersail-2 (LTU) – 6 points
• AkzoNobel Ocean Racing (NED) – 5 points
• Sailing Poland (POL) – 5 points
• Team Childhood I – 5 points
• Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team (POR) – 4 points
• Viva México (MEX) – 2 points

IMOCA 60

• 11th Hour Racing Team (USA) – 6 points
• Offshore Team Germany (GER) – 5 points
• CORUM L’Épargne (FRA) – 5 points
• LinkedOut (FRA) – 4 points
• Bureau Vallée (FRA) – 1 point