Matosinhos-Porto Fly-By completes the route for The Ocean Race Europe and reaffirms joint commitment
by The Ocean Race 23 Apr 2025 23:45 PDT
29-31 August 2025
The Ocean Race Europe will bring top-flight IMOCA foiling action to Portugal this summer © Marin Le Roux / Holcim - PRB / The Ocean Race
The Fly-By, during the second leg of the European race, will bring The Ocean Race back to Portugal with a strong focus to mobilise action for ocean health.
The Ocean Race Europe will come to Portugal this summer with Matosinhos-Porto set to host an exciting Fly-By, with the race teams making a quick stop at the Porto Cruise Terminal on the 20th August and activities on shore highlighting the need to strengthen efforts for ocean health protection and restoration.
The Matosinhos-Porto event offers racing fans a front-row seat to an exhilarating moment of The Ocean Race Europe, with the foiling, flying IMOCA boats charging down the Portuguese coast to the Fly-By finish, before restarting the leg three hours later and continuing on to Gibraltar and into the Mediterranean Sea.
It all happens during the second leg of The Ocean Race, which starts from Portsmouth, UK on the 17 August and takes the fleet to Cartagena, Spain. This is a double-points scoring leg, and half of the points are awarded at the Fly-By finish, making Matosinhos-Porto a significant sporting milestone on the race route.
"It's very special to know that The Ocean Europe is stopping in Matosinhos because I know I will feel the warmth of Portugal and the Portuguese people in this extreme and hard competition," said Mariana Lobato, the only female Portuguese sailor who competed in the last round the world race and who will now be racing with Team Paprec Arkéa (FRA). "We will not only be racing around Europe but I will also feel at home arriving in Portugal and that is very special to me."
The Matosinhos-Porto Fly-By was confirmed on Wednesday during an event at the Porto Cruise Terminal, the same venue where the international teams and sailors will appear this summer.
"Few competitions can claim to connect Europe more completely than The Ocean Race Europe," said Richard Brisius, Race Chairman of The Ocean Race. "This is a race that truly connects our continent, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, and into the Adriatic Sea.
"This summer, The Ocean Race Europe will also connect Europe to Matosinhos and Matosinhos and Portugal to Europe, showcasing a country with a firm commitment to sport, adventure, sustainability, innovation, culture and hospitality.
"The Ocean Race is built on a tradition that dates back to 1973, but today it is an event at the pinnacle of our sport, testing the best sailors, athletes, engineers and designers in some of the most extreme conditions on the planet," Brisius continued. "We make use of the latest technologies and demand the very best of the brave men and women who take on the challenge."
"We are proud to welcome The Ocean Race Europe to our coastline," said Luísa Maria Neves Salgueiro, Mayor of Matosinhos. "There is an obvious relationship between us: the city of Matosinhos promotes blue economy, fishing, and aims to be carbon neutral by 2030. This sports event will complement our strategy and commitment to preserving the marine environment — a cause that is essential for our future."
Science, Summits and Learning
At the heart of Matosinhos-Porto Fly-By will be activations and engagements that will spotlight local and international efforts to restore ocean health. The teams competing in The Ocean Race Europe will be collecting critical ocean data with specialised onboard sensors and filters, which will be shared with international scientists studying the ocean.
The Ocean Race will also be promoting its learning programme and educational outreach to younger generations at all stops on the European race and as part of the announcement today, it was confirmed Portugal will host The Ocean Race Summit in 2026, as part of a global series of highly acclaimed ocean health events.
"I'm happy to say The Ocean Race is looking forward to staying with you a little bit longer," Brisius confirmed. "Our commitment doesn't end when the fleet sets sail to the next stopover as I am delighted to announce that in 2026 The Ocean Race will host one of our most iconic events here in Portugal: The Ocean Race Summit, a high-level event where we will gather scientists, sailors, policy makers, youth and academia to discuss and come up with solutions for the ocean's most pressing challenges. I invite all of you to join us in our contribution to the greatest race of all: the Race for the Ocean."
Full event details for The Ocean Race Summit will be confirmed in due course.
"Hosting The Ocean Race Europe and The Ocean Race Summit is a very important milestone for us in Portugal as they certify and invoke our maritime tradition. We were the first to discover, to invent the astrolabe - an astronomical instrument dating to ancient times that serves as a star chart - and to sail with the wind against us and that is why this race is so important to remember the ambition, tradition and the globalization that Portugal started centuries ago" said Pedro Machado, Portugal's Secretary of State for Tourism.
The around the world edition of The Ocean Race has previously held stopovers in Lisbon, Portugal in 2012, 2015 and 2017. And the inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Europe stopped in Cascais, Portugal in 2021.
During the announcement on Wednesday, there was a round table discussion around sport, science and sustainability, with contributions from Mariana Lobato; Sandra Ramos, a Senior Researcher at CIIMAR (the Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, a leading research and training institution of the University of Porto); and Luís Monteiro, the Head of Environment at the Port Authority of Douro, Leixões and Viana. Each speaker emphasised the importance of ocean literacy and informed, science-based policy to protect and restore ocean health.
Connecting Europe
The announcement on Wednesday completes the race route for The Ocean Race Europe 2025, which will start from Kiel, Germany on 10 August, racing into Portsmouth, UK; Matosinhos-Porto, Portugal (Fly-By); Cartagena, Spain; Nice, France and Genova, Italy, before the fleet races into the Adriatic Sea for the Finale at Boka Bay, Montenegro.
The Ocean Race Europe 2025 will be an intense, immersive and engaging event with a strong focus on competitive racing and ocean health and sustainability, all built around the theme of Connecting Europe.
The foiling IMOCA race boats will ensure fast, intense racing in 'fully crewed mode' which means four sailors, plus an on board reporter. At least one of the crew must be female and two nationalities must be represented across the race crew.
Specialised equipment will be carried on board to provide water sampling data to international scientists, building on the science programme developed over previous editions of The Ocean Race.
On shore, each host city will have an Ocean Live Park fan experience providing interaction with sailors and teams alongside engaging, immersive content around ocean health and sustainable practices.