Paul Meilhat & his crew complete an immaculate start to The Ocean Race Europe with victory in Leg 2
by Ed Gorman / IMOCA Globe Series 23 Aug 2025 02:27 PDT
23 August 2025
Paul Meilhat and his crew on Biotherm haven't won the second edition of The Ocean Race Europe yet, but they have produced a perfect start to this unique event and they are going to take some beating.
Arriving at the Leg 2 finishing port of Cartagena in southern Spain in the early hours of this morning, Meilhat and his team - the British sailor Sam Goodchild, the Australian-Briton Jack Bouttell and the French sailor Amélie Grassi - completed a clean sweep of the first two legs.
That comprises victory in Leg 1 from Kiel to Portsmouth, then wins in both stages of Leg 2, from Portsmouth to the "fly-by" stopover at Matosinhos in Portugal, and then from Matosinhos to Cartagena. To cap it off, Biotherm was also first through the first two Bonus Scoring Gates of the race.
In all, it gives the French team a comfortable seven-point lead at the top of the seven-boat table, ahead of Yoann Richomme's Paprec Arkéa, with the longest leg of the race now completed and three more legs to come.
Biotherm has been sailed by a young and hugely talented crew who have been masters of the many transitions this race has already featured, between episodes of heavy downwind sailing and areas of calms and very light winds. The boat is fast upwind and fast in medium conditions, while the crew has managed to hold onto their quicker rivals in heavy air, ready to pounce when conditions change.
Meilhat started this race confident he could compete for the top of the podium in a proven boat, but he is taking nothing for granted as his team now moves on to preparations for Leg 3, from Cartagena to the French port of Nice.
"We knew winning The Ocean Race Europe was possible, but it's definitely not decided yet," Meilhat said on the dockside at Cartagena, having arrived just under an hour ahead of Team Holcim-PRB in second place, and nearly three hours ahead of Paprec Arkéa.
"Still, we are surprised to have won the first two legs. We're simply enjoying it and I think it comes down to the four of us, plus the OBR (On Board Reporter) working really well together on board with a strong team spirit. We'll just try to keep the momentum going for as long as we can."
Biotherm started the second half of Leg 2 from Matosinhos in powerful downwind conditions which favoured Richomme's crew, who duly took the lead off Cape St Vincent and then held it through the Strait of Gibraltar, until a key transition zone off the Spanish coast when Meilhat managed to get ahead.
"I'd say around 60% of the race was sailed in heavy downwind conditions," explained Meilhat. "Those were definitely not the best conditions for us, but we tried to close the gap with the leader. We knew that the race would be decided in the transitions and there were a lot of them. Paprec Arkéa was really fast, but each time the wind shifted we focused on choosing the best position for the new breeze."
Richomme acknowledged he had let a leg-winning position through his fingers and he complimented his rivals. "One little mistake came at a huge cost for us, but that's the way it goes," he said. "Still it's a good result and it keeps us in second place. Biotherm is sailing amazingly - it's hard to beat them for sure. We're not completely happy with the result, but we are definitely happy with how we sailed. I think there's still room for improvement with us and we're looking forward to good results in the next legs."
Richomme also made the point that The Ocean Race Europe is far from over with three stages still to come to Nice, Genoa in Italy and the finish at Boka Bay in Montenegro. "It's a long race and we're not even halfway through the points yet," he said, "there's still a lot of sailing ahead."
All the skippers enthused about the extraordinarily fast downwind conditions on this leg that saw the latest IMOCA foilers flying at top speeds of over 30 knots on flat water. The French star Franck Cammas, who was delighted to bring Holcim-PRB to finish of this leg in second place to follow third at Matosinhos, talked of "supersonic" speeds off the Portuguese coast.
"But after Gibraltar everything changed," said Cammas. "The typical shifty Mediterranean conditions - but the boat performs well in light winds, so we were able to fight with the best and that's important."
Alongside Rosalin Kuiper of the Netherlands, Nico Lunven of France and Alan Roberts of Great Britain, Cammas enjoyed the battle for the leg podium. "It's actually a good position to be in when you're third and chasing the two boats ahead, rather than being chased yourself," he said. "It gave us the mindset of hunters, always hoping to gain a place in every transition. And that's exactly what we managed to do in the final Mediterranean transition against Paprec Arkéa."
While the top-three teams enjoyed the start of another brief stopover, the race continued behind them, with a close battle for fourth place in this leg being led by Ambrogio Beccaria and his crew on Allagrande MAPEI Racing, just ahead of Will Harris and his crew on Team Malizia. In sixth place it was Be Water Positive led by Pip Hare, with Alan Roura's Swiss entry, Team Amaala in seventh place.