Ocean Race Europe: Route, points system, schedule - what about Orcas?

The 2025 edition builds on the foundations of the debut race in 2021: The Ocean Race Europe is themed 'Connecting Europe'. The 4,500 nautical mile multi-stage offshore race starts on 10 August in Kiel, Germany, and takes the fleet around Europe, with stops in England, Portugal, Spain, France and Italy, before the teams arrive in the Bay of Boka, Montenegro, around 15-16 September and the final scoring race takes place on 20 September. For the first time in its 50-year history, crews from The Ocean Race will be sailing on the Adriatic.

The crews will mostly have to overcome light wind challenges in the European midsummer. But there will certainly also be strong wind phases. The Ocean Race Europe is a strategic game of chess. If you are still on holiday in Europe in August and September, you have a good chance of meeting the Imoca fleet somewhere.

Following recent orca attacks such as in June to a sailor from Hamburg near Porto the race organisers also have this problem on their radar. When asked by YACHT, it said: "The Ocean Race Europe race management team consults marine mammal experts to obtain the latest information on known and observed areas of activity. This information is shared with the teams in a briefing before each leg and updated as necessary during the leg. It may lead to the establishment of exclusion zones to minimise the risk of encounters."

The route

The Ocean Race Europe 2025 will start on 10 August from Kiel, Germany, with the 850 nautical mile opening leg taking the fleet to Portsmouth, England. Leg 2 will see the fleet sail 1,400 nautical miles to Cartagena, Spain - with a flypast in Matosinhos/Porto in Portugal. The 650 nautical mile third leg through the Mediterranean ends in Nice, France, before the fleet sets off for the planned 600 nautical mile fourth leg to Genoa, Italy. The approximately 1,000 nautical mile long fifth and final leg will take the crews into the Adriatic Sea to the finish in the Bay of Boka in Montenegro.

The schedule

The rating

The winner of The Ocean Race Europe will be the team that collects the most points during the race. The winner of each leg will receive the same number of points as there are participants in the race, i.e. seven points. Second place will receive one point less and so on in the ranking.

Additional points can be earned on the offshore legs for the first two teams to pass a scoring gate - usually located shortly after the start - with two points for the first boat and one point for the second boat.

The scoring gates

• Stage 1 Kiel Lighthouse
• Stage 2 Entrance to the Needles Canal
• Stage 3 Longitude of Cabo de Palos
• Stage 4 Monaco turning point
• Stage 5 Latitude of Santo Stefano

Stage 2 from Portsmouth to Cartagena will count double points, with 50 per cent awarded based on the Imoca positions at the Matosinhos/Porto flypast in Portugal and the other half based on the positions at the stage finish in Cartagena. The overall placings for the stage (not the points) will be those at the finish in Cartagena.

The finale

The final in the Bay of Boka in Montenegro will include a short coastal race on 20 September, in which points will be awarded according to an offshore stage, i.e. a maximum of seven. The maximum possible score for a team that wins all stages of the race is 59 points. The Pro-Am races and "Speed Runs" are individual events with no influence on the Ocean Race Europe classification.

Not to forget: The race jury can deduct penalty points from a team for rule violations. These point deductions would decimate a team's overall score. The winner of The Ocean Race Europe is the team that collects the most points over the course of the entire race.