Simon Fisher: The Ocean Race Europe Leg 3 is proving a real test of crew focus and concentration
by Ed Gorman / IMOCA Globe Series 27 Aug 2025 14:44 BST
23 August 2025
Leg 3 of The Ocean Race Europe is anything but straightforward from a meteorological point of view, and the seven boats in the fleet face an uncertain picture as they continue on their way from Cartagena in southern Spain to the French port of Nice.
In the early stages, it has been overall race leader Biotherm, skippered by Frenchman Paul Meilhat, who has been setting the pace as the boats have tracked upwind towards the Balearic islands. This morning Meilhat was just ahead of second-placed Team Holcim-PRB (+0.6 nautical miles), skippered by Rosalin Kuiper, with Paprec Arkéa, skippered by Yoann Richomme in third place (+11.8).
The British two-time Ocean Race winning navigator, Simon Fisher, who finished second in the inaugural edition of this race in 2021, has been watching their progress with interest. He says this leg is going to be all about responding to changing conditions, and being efficient through the many weather transitions the crews will face before they reach the Côte d'Azur on Friday.
"From a weather perspective, it's all kind of unpredictable, so it's really a case of staying on your toes," said Fisher. "You've got to be sharp, you've got to be thinking about how to make the best progress down the track in the short term, and how that affects your long term position. A team would have to be pretty brave to make a big split with the other boats right now, just because it's so variable. I expect the fleet will stay quite tight.
"Through the various transitions ahead," he continued, "again it's about having everyone on their toes all the time and being ready for the next change and anticipating it, doing it efficiently and being willing to do another change, and another one, and another one, if conditions demand it."
Fisher says the key variable is a low pressure system that is tracking north from the Algerian coast up towards the Gulf of Genoa. At some point, after beating up the coast of Mallorca, the skippers will have to decide when to tack off to the north. "The big challenge for them is positioning themselves," explained Fisher. "The timing of that tack out to the north will dictate where they are when this low pressure comes through and obviously they want to try and be on the good side of it and get the best conditions."
But nothing is certain and local wind and land effects could be decisive. "As they go north, initially they will be upwind, but this is when it gets really variable because a small change in the position of the low pressure, east and west, could change things. More than likely they will end up going upwind and get a northerly Mistral effect out of the Gulf of Lion. But things don't have to change very much for them to be in downwind conditions," said Fisher.
The 47-year-old veteran of six Ocean Race campaigns, and victories with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in 2014-'15 and 11th Hour Racing in 2023, Fisher has been impressed with the way Meilhat and his team on Biotherm - Benjamin Ferré, Sam Goodchild and Amélie Grassi - have been sailing. So far they have won the opening leg from Kiel to Portsmouth and both of the two sections of Leg 2 from Portsmouth to Cartagena, while also clinching the maximum bonus points from three scoring gates.
"When you look at how Biotherm has sailed for the whole race so far, they have done a great job; they have managed the situation really well, they have sailed really smart and they have had good boatspeed," said Fisher. "They seem to be really comfortable being at the front now and they are well into their stride, which is good to see."
Fisher reckons Meilhat's experience in the last Ocean Race on board his Guillaume Verdier foiler may have given him an edge in this fully-crewed format with short stopovers. And he has been impressed with the Biotherm team's determination to build scoreboard pressure on their rivals, via the bonus gates, which have helped them to sit eight points clear at the top of the leaderboard from second-placed Paprec Arkéa.
"Every point always counts, especially in these crewed races, and then they are in the Med when things can turn inside out quite quickly, so any sort of buffer you can build for yourself is always good. It's a nice psychological advantage on your competitors as well. In Biotherm's case this has come from good starting on each of the legs and pushing hard off the startline. Compared to more short-handed style racing, where you see people take a more measured approach to the startline, in this crewed stuff you've just got to be hammer down from the offset," said Fisher.
Fisher himself has not ruled out returning to The Ocean Race for a record-breaking seventh campaign. He has been enjoying a busy season this year, with commitments on TP52s, in the Transpac Race, the Middle Sea Race, the Maxi worlds and the Superyacht Cup, but says if the right IMOCA team comes along he would be interested in another lap of the planet.
"It's been a bit of a test to watch this Ocean Race Europe play out to see how bad the FOMO (fear of missing out) is," he joked. "And certainly when you see all the boats racing, it's sort of tough not to be involved. I was up in Lorient a few months ago helping The Ocean Race out with a few things, and it was cool to see the boats and jump on board and all that - all the good memories came flooding back!"