After two days of soft breeze, the Med finally bared its teeth. Through the third night of The Ocean Race Europe leg 5, the leading quartet rode a surging westerly, with boats leaping into the thirties and crews hanging on. The thunder line that lit the sky also scrambled the airflow, sending teams from steady slides to sudden broaches in a heartbeat. It was fast, raw, and very Mediterranean.
The Ocean Race Europe leg 5 turns volatile near Sicily
As the low rolled in, Paprec Arkéa, Biotherm, Allagrande Mapei, and Team Malizia were first to hook into pressure over 30 knots. The result was a four-boat drag race on the edge of control. “We were going so fast we caught the thunderstorm,” said Paprec Arkéa skipper Yoann Richomme. “The wind switched so fast the boat lay on its side. We were coming in at 32 plus knots and then, bam, we hit the wind from the other direction.”
Paprec Arkéa righted, changed a damaged headsail sheet, and pressed on, though the crew later found the radar had ripped off its mast bracket. Still, the blue French boat held a narrow edge on the tracker as the fleet eased toward a virtual mark north-west of Sicily.
Broaches at 30 plus: handling at the limit
It was not just Paprec Arkéa riding the edge. On Allagrande Mapei and Team Malizia, cameras caught classic broach recoveries: sheets flying, foils humming, helms fighting for grip. The Swiss entry Holcim-PRB copped a big one as well. “We laid the boat on its side,” said Briton Alan Roberts. “There was a gust, the boat broached and then tacked. A bit of work to get upright, and we are going again. All’s good and everyone’s safe.”
Team Malizia kept their rhythm in the leading wave. “We had intense sailing crossing the low, but we squeezed through without too much pain,” said Francesca Clapcich. “We are a little more to the south-east, so we will see how that pans out. The goal is simple, score points and finish on a high. Will Harris is guiding us through a very tricky Med.”
The thunder gap that split the pack
The Ocean Race Europe leg 5 also delivered a classic Med sting. Holcim-PRB became trapped behind the storm line, stuck in 12 knots from the south-east while the front four ripped downwind in 30 from the north-west. “We are under a thunder area,” said navigator Nico Lunven. “The boats ahead have 30 knots, we have 12. At least we are moving, Canada Ocean Racing and Team AMAALA are stopped.”
Carolijn Brouwer broke it down bluntly. “We are sailing upwind at 11 knots. They are sailing downwind at 22. Same waypoint, two very different races. The clouds messed up the picture. They were ahead of the line, we were just behind it.”
The Ocean Race Europe leg 5: a four-way charge to the virtual mark
By mid-afternoon, the leaders slowed in a soft patch ahead of the virtual turning point, with Paprec Arkéa three miles clear and the other three almost bow to bow. Earlier, Ambrogio Beccaria on Allagrande Mapei had lived a sailor’s fever dream. “A speed test in the middle of the Med with Paprec Arkéa. Both boats at 35 knots, maybe 100 metres apart. Scary, unreal, one of the best moments of my life.”
Behind, Holcim-PRB held fifth, about 120 miles back, while Canada Ocean Racing and Team AMAALA trailed by 260 and 300 miles in lighter air.
What comes next around Sicily
Once the front five round the virtual mark, the game shifts again. The track skirts the west and south coasts of Sicily before the fleet reaches east toward Greece and then down the Adriatic to Boka Bay. Expect a jigsaw of acceleration zones, wind bends off headlands, and troughs that can trap a boat for hours. Routing still points to a long starboard slide, but coastal effects could shuffle the order more than once.
For Paprec Arkéa, the task is to protect clear air while keeping the throttle open without another wipeout. Biotherm, Allagrande Mapei, and Team Malizia will hunt the next pressure line and any leverage near the capes. Holcim-PRB need a door to open, a fresh pulse that pulls the fleet back together. Canada Ocean Racing and Team AMAALA must keep the boat fast and the mood strong, because the Med has a habit of giving late chances.
The stakes of a final leg
This is the fifth and final leg, a 1,600 nautical mile run from Genova to Boka Bay. Points still matter everywhere on the course, from scoring gates to the final gun. Every sail change counts. Every broach avoided saves miles. The teams that stay patient in the soft patches, and bold when the squalls line up, will write the last lines of this story.
For now, the image that lingers is pure modern ocean racing: two foilers side by side at 35 knots, spray lifting like smoke in thunderlight, each crew trusting hands, instincts, and a boat on the very edge of grip. Sicily is ahead. The leg, and the race, remain wide open.
