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Team Malizia passes Porto and heads for Spain

  • 20 August 2025
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After 2 days 19 hours 30 minutes 20 seconds of racing, Malizia-Seaexplorer crossed the Port flyby in 4th place. The race had started in Portsmouth on a demanding route through the English Channel, Bay of Biscay and onto the Portuguese coast. Three hours after arriving, Will Harris and his crew were already on their way to Cartagena, Spain, where the second half of Leg 2 of The Ocean Race Europe 2025 will be decided.

A tight battle all the way to the end of Bay of Biscay

As soon as they’d left the Solent, the IMOCA fleet regrouped off Ouessant. In the Bay of Biscay it was a long tight race with tiny gaps, sometimes less than five nautical miles between the top five. Biotherm took the lead and retains its position at the top of the provisional ranking ahead of Paprec Arkéa (2nd), Holcim-PRB (3rd) followed by Malizia-Seaexplorer (4th). “We fought hard all the way until yesterday evening when a small mistake cost us dear,” acknowledges Will Harris. “We expected a little more from the first half of the leg, which shows how close the race is. The team is sailing very well, we have proved that we are among the best and may even have surprised some of the others, particularly in light winds”.

Heading for the Strait of Gibraltar

The crew are now heading down the Portuguese coast, propelled by a favourable northwest flow. The next bit promises to be tricky, with the notorious bottle-neck of the Strait of Gibraltar a possible game-changer, before an expected arrival on Saturday 23 August in Cartagena.

Midway points, but stakes double on arrival

The Porto flyby saw half the points of Leg 2 distributed, with the 4th place of Malizia-Seaexplorer earning the team four points. The stage to Cartagena earns double the points.

Competition and ocean science

As with every race, the Team Malizia crew continued to collect oceanographic data with their OceanPack system (CO₂, temperature, salinity). An experimental scientific buoy was also deployed in the Bay of Biscay to track surface currents.

A tricky Mediterranean in sight

After Gibraltar the IMOCA fleet leave the Atlantic and enter the Mediterranean. “People don’t really realise how difficult the Mediterranean can be,” says Francesca Clapcich. “The weather is unpredictable, particularly in August, you need a lot of mental strength to get through it, but it’s also an opportunity to gain a few miles, we’ll see!”. The fleet should arrive in Cartagena Saturday 23 August 2025.
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