Updates -- Start Day - Leg 2 - Portsmouth / Cowes

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1730 UTC / 1830 BST / 1930 CEST:

As the fleet roars off towards a busy night of racing towards the Matosinhos - Porto Fly By, we note that Biotherm remains perfect on the leaderboard, having earned maximum points through one race leg and two scoring gates. Not bad for a team who, as skipper Paul Meilhat noted when he arrived Portsmouth, hadn't won a single stage of The Ocean Race previously. 

Updated Leaderboard (provisional):

Biotherm -- 11 points
Paprec Arkéa -- 7 points
Team Malizia -- 6 points
Canada Ocean Race - Be Water Positive -- 4 points
Team AMAALA -- 3 points
Allagrande MAPEI Racing and Team Holcim PRB -- 0 points

1700 UTC / 1800 BST / 1900 CEST:

Skipper Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm who took the two points, followed in short order by Paprec Arkéa picking up the single - the same as at the scoring gate in Kiel. That leaves Biotherm with an unblemished scoring record and maximum points on the leaderboard. 

Team Holcim PRB was third across the gate, followed by Team Malizia and Canada Ocean Racing - Be Water Positive. Allagrande Mapei Racing was sixth with Team AMAALA seventh. Only the top two teams earn points at the gate.

1655 UTC / 1755 BST / 1855 CEST

At The Needles Scoring gate: 1st Biotherm (2 points) 2nd Paprec Arkéa (1 point)... Paul Meilhat's Biotherm continues its perfect run on the scoreboard...

1645 / UTC / 1745 BST / 1845 CEST:

Watch the start here:

1640 UTC / 1740 BST / 1840 CEST:

In the final push towards the Needles Scoring Gate, it is Team Malizia and Biotherm who are closest to the gate, but on a slightly slower angle. Their strategy to cut the corner following the start appears to be coming good. But do they have the speed?

1625 UTC / 1725 BST / 1825 CEST

As the fleet drag races out towards the Needles Scoring Gate it is Team Holcim PRB leading Biotherm and Allagrande Mapie Racing with Paprec Arkéa very much in the mix. The two teams who missed the first leg are pushing hard to get some points on the board.

1605 UTC / 1705 BST / 1805 CEST

A fabulous start for Yoann Richomme and Paprec Arkéa, leading the fleet across the historic starting line at the Royal Yacht Squadron off Cowes on the Isle of Wight. 

Biotherm and Team Malizia looked to cut the corner on the first gybe, setting up for a fabulous sprint to the Needles Scoring gate. 

1515 UTC / 1615 BST / 1715 CEST:

With 45 minutes to go to the start, the seven IMOCA are in the start area and enjoyin g1-13 knots of wind. It will be a downwind start and downwind out past the Needles Scoring Gate. There will also be a building ebb current, helping push the fleet along and keeping the sea state moderate (at least for the first hours of the leg).

1345 UTC / 1445 BST / 1525 CEST:

Yoann Richomme, Team Paprec Arkéa
“I think we could have a really nice start, a spinnaker start downwind from Cowes down the Solent, so that could be beautiful. Then a fast run down the Channel, which is nice, which is what I like for my boat!
"The first transition is at the tip of Brittany, near Ouessant. The transitions are pretty straightforward, looking at it now, but there could always be a surprise. Then a pretty light wind crossing at the Bay of Biscay, another transition midway, and then we’re able to reach the Portuguese trade winds and arrive in Porto, I think, in time on Wednesday. So it's a lot of downwind, which is going to be nice, a bit of a change from the last leg. I'm looking forward to this one.”

1325 UTC / 1425 BST / 1525 CEST:

Paul Meilhat, Biotherm
“It's true that we started well, but we’re putting that behind us now. It's better to get points in advance, but I think this leg will be really hard, with different conditions. Maybe with downwind at the beginning and later on light winds. First we're going to focus on the scoring gate because it's important to get points, and after it's a long, long race, probably just a bit less than one week. So yeah, we’ll forget the first leg and just focus on the next.”

“It's going to be really fast until Ouessant/Ushant, but it's not many hours, so I think it's important to start well. I don’t think the race will be decided on this part, but it looks like at the start we’ll have a lot of wind downwind. So we’ll see with the other boats, but we already made progress with Biotherm – the boat isn’t made for [these conditions], but I think we can do it.”

1300 UTC / 1400 BST / 1500 CEST:

Pip Hare, Canada Ocean Racing - Be Water Positive
“There’s a fantastic pedigree, but we’re still in our early stages of learning the boat and coming together as a crew. Our mission for this leg is boat speed. We want to hang on to that pack, we want to be with them, we want to make good changes, we want to push the boat for as much speed as possible.
"We've set all of these goals to never lose an opportunity, to always be vigilant, and to make sure that we are rotating people through, so there isn't fatigue and we never ever lose even 0.1 of a knot of boat speed. That’s the most important thing.”

1030 UTC / 1130 BST / 1230 CEST:

The forecast models from PredictWind are predicting fantastic racing conditions this afternoon / evening. It should be a downwind start with favourable tidal and current conditions to sweep the fleet towards the scoring gate at The Needles. Then, the East-Southeast wind will back and increase, with the fleet possibly seeing gusts above 30 knots tonight, before a transition through very light winds overnight. 

0930 UTC / 1030 BST / 1130 CEST:

Bright sunshine this morning at Ocean Live Park at Gunwharf Quays... a perfect day for the sailor's parade, the dock out show and boat parade over to Cowes ahead of the race start off the Royal Yacht Squadron starting line at 1700 local time this afternoon. 

Here's the plan for the day:
Sunday 17th August 2025
Leg 2 Start Day
10:00 – Ocean Live Park Opens
12:55 - IMOCA Teams to gather at the main stage
13:10-13:25- Sailors Parade
13:25-Flag Handover & Baton handover (At arrivals Stage)
13:30 -14:00 Dock out show
13:30 – AMAALA
13:34- Team Malizia
13:38- Canada - Be Water Positive
13:42- Team Paprec Arkea
13:46- Allagrande MAPEI Racing
13:50- Holcim-PRB
13:54 - Biotherm
14:00- All IMOCAs departed from dock.
16:55- Warning signal
17:00– LEG START

0900 UTC / 1000 BST / 1100 CEST:

Why not check out the Leg 1 highlights video?