The Ocean Race Europe: Biotherm still dominating leg one with excellent upwind pace
by Ed Gorman / IMOCA Globe Series 12 Aug 16:18 BST
10 August - 21 September 2025
The Ocean Race Europe Leg 1 © Gauthier Lebec / Biotherm / The Ocean Race
Upwind speed - not something normally associated with IMOCAs - was always going to be a key attribute of a successful boat in The Ocean Race Europe, and leg one has shown that Paul Meilhat and his crew on leader Biotherm have found an edge in this area.
After nearly two days at sea on the opening stage from Kiel in Germany to Portsmouth on the English south coast, the team on Biotherm have produced excellent upwind pace to build a lead over second-placed Paprec Arkéa skippered by Yoann Richomme.
While the fleet has now compressed after going through a light patch in the central North Sea, which has enabled Richomme to cut the deficit by half to under eight miles, the crew on Biotherm are still ahead having built their advantage during a tough tacking section off the north Danish coast.
Jack Bouttell, the Australian-British crewman on Biotherm, said they matched Richomme's boat reaching up the Danish coast but as the wind progressively headed them, Biotherm was able to pull away.
"We sort of matched them but as the breeze came more upwind, we managed to just get past them which was good and then kept extending," summarised Bouttell who, alongside Meilhat is sailing with Britain's Sam Goodchild and Amélie Grassi of France. "I think upwind, we had a better mode than them and were able to go a bit faster and, with a few nicely-placed tacks, we were able to gain some good distance.
"We had the boat fairly well set-up," he continued. "There were lots of tacks off the north coast of Denmark which was pretty tiring and with a quite a rough sea state, so it wasn't super-fun. But I think tactically and navigationally we put the boat in a good place and had it going well."
The start on Sunday saw thousands of fans throng the race village to watch as the then fleet of seven IMOCAs powered off the line in full foiling mode. However, just a couple of minutes into the race, there was a dramatic collision between Allagrande MAPEI Racing skippered by Ambrogio Beccaria of Italy, and Holcim-PRB skippered by Rosalin Kuiper of the Netherlands.
The boats came together, with the outrigger on Allagrande MAPEI Racing piercing the hull of Holcim-PRB causing serious damage, while its own headsail was destroyed plus there was damage to its rig. Thankfully, no one was hurt on either boat but both return to Kiel for repairs.
Soon after the start at Kiel Lighthouse, Biotherm was the first through the Bonus Scoring Gate for leg one, a new feature in this race with the first two boats through being awarded two and one point respectively. Biotherm thus took the two points with Paprec Arkéa taking one.
Bouttell says all is well on board Biotherm with Meilhat leading a happy team and a boat that is so far free of glitches. The crew has managed to get some reasonable sleep after the tough first night when the noise, motion and the intensity of manoeuvres made that all but impossible.
"We are eating well and the boat's really good - everything's working nicely and it's a really fun crew - everyone gets on well and makes jokes and has a good time so it's really nice," said Bouttell. He added that both him and Goodchild are still learning about Meilhat's boat, underlining that every IMOCA is unique in the way it sails and is set up.
"Each watch we are learning a lot but it's good, everyone's pretty open," he said. "We are trying things and everyone's pretty active so we are learning plenty about the boat."
This morning Biotherm was making about nine knots of boatspeed in a light east-southeasterly wind approaching the halfway mark of the trip to Portsmouth, still 653 nautical miles away and with a light wind forecast all the way to the finish.
Behind second-placed Paprec Arkéa (+8.8nm), Boris Herrmann and his crew on Team Malizia (+12.7nm) continue to hold third place. Scott Shawyer on Be Water Positive (+37.6nm) are fourth with Swiss entry, Team Amaala, skippered by three-time Vendée Globe finisher Alan Roura, the backmarker in fifth place.
Sailing with Simon Koster, Félix Oberle and Lucie de Gennes, Roura says this highly technical leg has got steadily more interesting as it has progressed. "We had a fast start to the race and then everything started to get more complicated," he told the Class. "There are going to be some transitions with no wind and a finish in a current and a headwind. It's really not what we prefer, but we came here to play on the water. At sea, you know when you're leaving but you don't know when you're arriving and what kind of weather you're going to encounter."
Roura is happy with his team's performance on an older boat that was always going to struggle to match the pace of the latest foilers. "I have to say that I expected to lose more miles at the start of the race. We don't have the fastest boat but we've sailed well, making the least distance possible and I think that saves us. I'm very happy to be part of this race and I know that anything can happen right up to the finish line," he said.
Just like on Biotherm, the mood on board seems to be very positive. "The crew is doing really well, but we had to get some rest today because we had a sleepless (first) night," explained Roura. "But on board, it's all about professionalism and a good atmosphere. Everyone loved the start and we'll never forget it."
Back on Biotherm, Bouttell and the crew are well aware that their lead could be further eroded in the light and patchy winds between the coast of Yorkshire and Denmark. But he is hoping they will stay ahead.
"Obviosuly the guys behind us have caught up a bit because we have sailed into the light winds first," Bouttell said. "Normally in this situation you should extend again, but it looks like they are moving as well, so we'll see how that goes. But we've managed to stay a bit in front of them which is nice, and we'll just see how we come out of it now."
After The Ocean Race Europe, the remaining elements of this year's championship are the Défi Azimut 48 Hours in mid-September, and then the season-ending Transat Café L'OR which starts on October 26th. Check the current ranking here.