Leg 3’s dynamic Mediterranean weather forecast means uncertainty for The Ocean Race crews as the fleet leaves Cartagena, Spain in fresh upwind conditions bound for Nice, France.
The third leg of The Ocean Race Europe 2025 got underway this afternoon in Cartagena, Spain under sunny skies and scattered clouds, as the fleet of seven state-of-the-art IMOCA yachts, each crewed by four-person mixed gender crews, powered away from the 3,000-year-old city at the start of the 680nm passage through the Mediterranean to Nice, France.
The seven teams – representing six countries – spent four days in Cartagena after completing the race’s 1,400nm second leg from Portsmouth, UK – via a Fly-By at Matosinhos / Porto in Portugal – marking the first time The Ocean Race has visited the ancient Spanish city.
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After enjoying all Cartagena has to offer and entertaining local crowds with a spectacular day of speed trials, today it was back to competitive action for the teams as they began what promises to be a complex leg with volatile weather conditions expected on the planned three-day leg to Nice.
“The first 20-hours seems clear,” said Paul Meilhat (FRA), skipper of the overall leader Biotherm, before the teams docked out this afternoon. “But then there is a low pressure on the way. We don’t really know what will happen but it will change the timings a lot – so we don’t really know what the course will be.”
Biotherm have chalked up a perfect score so far, collecting the maximum points available over the first two legs of the race to lead the overall standings. With the race at the midway point, Meilhat has opted to refresh the French team’s four-person lineup, replacing Jack Boutell with Benjamin Ferré (FRA) – a former Mini 6.50 sailor who finished sixteenth (and first non-foiler) in the 2024-25 Vendée Globe.
“We want to keep the momentum and the focus so it was important not to change too much,” Meilhat explained. “Benjamin sailed with us for some of our training in Lorient and he has been here with us for the whole stopover and has been involved with the weather briefings. We are halfway through the race and I think we need some refreshment – some new energy – and I think Benjamin will bring something new and different.”
Rosalin Kuiper (NED), skipper of the Swiss entry Holcim – PRB which currently sits in fourth overall, said she was expecting “a very dynamic leg”.
“It’s going to be super challenging as there’s a low pressure system moving into the Mediterranean Sea. It really depends on how this system is moving, how fast the fleet is. It could either be upwind with a lot of wind – but it could be downwind as well. At the moment we don’t know, but we will prepare for every scenario and we will see when we are out there.”
Ambrogio Beccaria (ITA) – skipper of the Italian entry Allagrande Mapei Racing said that racing in the Mediterranean during the summer is always a tricky prospect weatherwise, but highlighted the variety of possible routing options the teams are faced with leaving Cartagena.
“The weather forecast is so unpredictable,” he said. “We have routing options that go up to the north – and down to the south.”
“It is one of the nice things about racing here, that we need to use our instincts – and we like that. I love Mediterranean sailing, I was born here and it is what made me love the sea. I hope she loves me too, but sometimes it is a difficult relationship and it is hard to understand what she wants. But we will do our best.”
Corentin Horeau (FRA) – co-skipper with Yoann Richomme (who has stepped off for this leg) of the French entry Team Paprec Arkéa, which sits in second place on the leaderboard – said the sailors were enjoying racing in the Mediterranean, as well as being able to introduce the thrills of IMOCA ocean racing to a new audience in the south – rather than the North – of France.
“There is a lot of beautiful landscape,” he said. “We do not come here very much and so it is great to be able to discover the Mediterranean sea with the IMOCA.”
After sitting out the second leg, Team Malizia (GER) skipper Boris Herrmann is back on board the German boat for Leg 3.
“I expect this leg to be full of surprises,” he said. “The uncertainty is massive as to how this low is going to pan out. The centre of that low might coincide with our biggest obstacle – which is the beautiful island of Mallorca. In one scenario we might sneak very close past the northern coast of Mallorca, but other scenarios yield different routes. There will be surprises up until the end.”
After a closely contested start in 12-17 knots of north-easterly breeze the the crews were immediately into upwind mode, with the boats crisscrossing tacks against the wind as the fleet made its way along the spectacular Spanish coastline towards the scoring gate at Cabo de Palos.
An early split in the fleet saw Team Malizia and Allagrande Mapei Racing stage a breakaway offshore move in the south while the other five battled it out closer to the coast in the north but half an hour into the race, Team Holcim PRB had a narrow advantage with the gate still 8 miles away. With upwind conditions expected to continue overnight in the region, the sailors look to be in for a testing first night at sea.
UPDATE: Biotherm win 2 points for leading through the Cabo de Palos scoring gate; Paprec Arkéa earn 1 point for second place
The course for Leg 3 takes the Ocean Race Europe fleet past the Balearic Islands and around the French island of Giraglia at the northern tip of Corsica on the way to Nice on France’s Côte d’Azur, where the leaders are expected to arrive on or around August 29.
