Ocean Race Europe: Richomme wants to know, Malizians put the pressure on

Soon after the restart of leg two, the fleet had a new leader. Although the half-time winner "Biotherm" was the first to set off again after the lightning visit to the fly-by harbour of Matosinhos-Porto, dYoann Richomme's crew on "Paprec Arkéa" played to their strengths in the fast downwind conditions and overtook the land-based crew on the very first night. On Thursday morning, the two French boats were separated by just seven nautical miles.

Team Holcom-PRB, who came third at the halfway point, had also closed the gap to the leader "Paprec Arkéa" to a good eleven nautical miles. Team Malizia was also able to close the gap. However, skipper Will Harris, navigator Justine Mettraux, Francesca Clapcich and Loïs Berrehar still have around 57 nautical miles to make up after fourth place in the first half of the stage with a good 350 nautical miles to the finish.

Fly-by harbour Matosinhos: heartfelt moments

The leading group is expected to reach Gibraltar by the end of the day. The impressions of the short stopover in Matosinhos stayed with the sailors for a while. "It was definitely a bit surreal to only stop for three hours," said "Paprec Arkéa" skipper Yoann Richomme, describing his impressions, "but we all understood how much it meant to everyone there. We shared a really heartfelt moment with the audience."

Loïs Berrehar from Team Malizia agreed with Richomme: "Yes, it was a bit short, but really nice. It makes me want to take a break and visit! In the meantime, competitive instincts have regained the upper hand. "The frustrating thing was stopping for three hours, even though we knew that the others had already moved on," Loïs Berrehar explained the waiting game with a smile.

On "Paprec Arkéa", Richomme Richomme is more than satisfied with his team's performance and said: "Everything went well and we were very efficient." You can say that when you start in second place and have so quickly snatched the lead from the "Biotherm" crew, who have performed flawlessly so far.

Ocean Race Europe: "Biotherm" loses ground

"Biotherm" skipper Paul Meilhat knew beforehand that his boat would be at a slight disadvantage in the forecast conditions and had commented the day before that his boat was "less comfortable on downwind courses". Yoann Richomme, on the other hand, described the restart as "super fast". Click here for the tracker and the intermediate results.

We had a great angle, a good sail configuration. We have four to five magical hours." Yoann Richomme

The fleet rushed past the Berlengas, Cascais Point and Cape St Vincent. The pecking order was shaken up in the process. On Wednesday evening, "Paprec Arkéa" had already caught up with Biotherm. During the night, the blue and red boat moved into the lead near Cape St Vincent and maintained its lead on Thursday morning. Holcim-PRB" was also increasingly able to close the gap after the "kangaroo start" off Matosinhos.

Team Malizia made up around ten nautical miles on Thursday morning alone. Loïs Berrehar is certain that his crew is still fully in the race. "We managed to 'reset' ourselves before the restart. We had a great afternoon and are on the attack!" said the Frenchman on "Malizia - Seaexplorer" after yesterday's start to the second half of leg two of the Ocean Race Europe.

Gibraltar on the horizon

"Malizia - Seaexplorers" leg navigator Justine Mettraux had announced it before halfway two of the second leg: "When we leave Matosinhos, we will probably start with a solid north-westerly breeze and a strong tailwind. That means lots of gybing and manoeuvring as we work our way along the Portuguese coast. Gibraltar looks unsafe and could even mean a restart, so everything is still open."

We know that we can fight for a better result and collect valuable points." Justine Mettraux

For the front runners, the rest of the stage looks easy on paper. "We will cross the Bay of Cádiz during the day with some easy transition zones," explained Richomme. He continued: "We should reach Gibraltar in the late evening. It looks like a really pleasant sail!"

However, nobody in the fleet is relaxed. The battle at the front remains intense. The sailors are well aware that the tide could turn quickly once they reach the Mediterranean and its volatile weather.

Pictures to dream about! Team Malizia's review of the first half of the second leg, in which the Malizians finished fourth. The second half of the 1400 nautical mile leg from Portsmouth to Cartagena is now underway: