Fleet storms out of Portsmouth as Leg 2 of The Ocean Race Europe begins
Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm continues on a roll taking maximum points at The Needles Scoring Gate
The second leg of The Ocean Race Europe 2025 kicked off Sunday evening in Portsmouth in bright sunshine, with seven IMOCAs lining up off Cowes at 17:00 local time. From here the fleet will race 1,400 nautical miles to Cartagena, Spain, with a brief fly-by stopover in Matosinhos-Porto midweek.
The first target was the scoring gate at The Needles, with points up for grabs before the long run past Brittany and into the Bay of Biscay. Conditions were perfect at the start – downwind sailing in 10-14 knots of wind, with a favourable tidal current pushing the fleet down the Solent.
Yoann Richomme and his Paprec Arkéa crew led the fleet across the historic Royal Yacht Squadron starting line – the same starting line used for the 1973 Whitbread Round the World Race (the precursor to The Ocean Race).
But by the time the fleet reached the scoring gate it was once again skipper Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm who collected the maximum two points on offer, followed in short order by Paprec Arkéa picking up the single – the same duo who cashed in at the scoring gate in Kiel.
Team Holcim PRB was third to cross the gate, followed by Team Malizia and Canada Ocean Racing – Be Water Positive. Allagrande Mapei Racing was sixth with Team AMAALA seventh, but only the top two teams earn points at the gate.
Race Leaderboard (provisional):
Biotherm — 11 points
Paprec Arkéa — 7 points
Team Malizia — 6 points
Canada Ocean Race – Be Water Positive — 4 points
Team AMAALA — 3 points
Allagrande MAPEI Racing and Team Holcim PRB — 0 points
The fleet is expected in Porto by Wednesday 20 August for the short fly-by, before resuming racing immediately towards Cartagena.
