Briefly in advance:
- The seven teams will sail with four sailors on board (plus an on-board reporter, two named per team), representing at least two nationalities, at least one of which must be female. The crew can be changed for legs, therefore more sailors are named per team than can sail at the same time
- Spread across the fleet are 11 skippers from the 2024-25 Vendée Globe and six former winners of The Ocean Race around the world.
Team Malizia
Profile
Boris Herrmann's Team Malizia will be the crowd-puller at the second major sailing week of the year in Kiel from 6 to 10 August. When the seven teams gather in the Sailing City from 6 August, the six-time circumnavigator from Hamburg and his international team will take centre stage. The European fleet is small but mighty, with more podium candidates than outsiders.
- Flag: Germany
- Sail number: MON 1297
- Skipper: Boris Herrmann (44, Hamburg)
- Crew: Will Harris (GBR), Cole Brauer (USA), Francesca Clapcich (ITA/USA), Justine Mettraux (SUI), Loïs Berrehar (FRA).
- On-board reporter: Antoine Auriol (GER/FRA), Flore Hartout
- Boat/year of construction: "Malizia - Seaexplorer"; 19 July 2022
- Designer: VPLP/Boris Herrmann
- Greatest successes: 2nd place Ocean Race 2027, 12th place Vendée Globe 2024/2025, 2nd place Transat CIC & New York Vendée 2024
- Podium chances: Team Mailizia can and wants to finish on the podium.
The German team Malizia is led by skipper Boris Herrmann - a veteran of six races around the world. In 2020, Herrmann became the first German to ever compete in the Vendée Globe, finishing fifth. Herrmann's team finished third in The Ocean Race before returning to the Vendée Globe in 2024-25 and finishing twelfth.
Herrmann has appointed five crew members. He will not be sailing the second leg. British sailor Will Harris first made a name for himself in the French Figaro class and joined Team Malizia in 2019. Since then, he has competed in major double-handed events such as the Fastnet Race and the Transat Jacques Vabre, as well as The Ocean Race 2022-23.
Italian-American Olympian and record-breaking offshore sailor Francesca Clapcich became the first Italian to win the 2022-23 edition of The Ocean Race in its 50-year history.
Justine Mettraux (SUI) is a former Mini Transat sailor who won The Ocean Race 2017-18 and 2022-23 and finished the Vendée Globe 2023-24 in eighth place - as best female skipper.
After starting her racing and offshore career at college, American solo sailor Cole Brauer made headlines when she took part in the Global Solo Challenge aboard her Class40 "First Light" in 2023. She finished the race in second place after 130 days at sea - breaking the speed record for a Class40 around the world - and gaining more than 400,000 social media followers in the process.
French sailor Loïs Berrehar took first place as best rookie in the Solo Maître CoQ and later finished 15th in the Solitaire Urgo - Le Figaro, earning him the 2018 Best Rookie award in the French Elite Offshore Racing Championship and second place in La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec 2024 and in the French Elite Offshore Racing Championship 2024.
The German team has two OBRs in its squad: Antoine Auriol (FRA/GER) is an experienced reporter with a passion for high-speed sailing and visual storytelling through photography and film. Flore Artout (FRA/NED) is an accomplished dinghy sailor and self-taught photographer and filmmaker who has sailed over 18,000 miles with The Clipper Race, reporting from the Pacific and Atlantic.
"I'm really looking forward to The Ocean Race Europe 2025," says Herrmann. "Although I love the challenge of sailing solo, there is something very special about being part of a crew. I'm looking forward to being back on board Malizia - Seaexplorer with a crew of fantastic sailors. Each member brings their own strengths and together we push each other to perform at our best."
Team Holcim-PRB
Profile
She is the youngest and the only female skipper: Boris Herrmann's former crew mate Rosalin Kuiper is leading a select team in her first race as skipper around Europe. At her side: power players, winning expertise and ex-Olympians.
- Flag: Switzerland
- Sail number: FRA 85
- Skipper: Rosalin Kuiper (30, NED)
- Crew: Franck Cammas (FRA), Alan Roberts (BRA/GBR), Carolijn Brouwer (NED/AUS), Nicholas Lunven (FRA)
- On-board reporter: Anne Beaugé (FRA), Adrien Nivet (FRA)
- Boat/year of construction: "Holcim-PRB"; 8 May 2022
- Designer: Guillaume Verdier
- Greatest successes: 4th place in the Ocean Race 2023, 6th place in the Vendée Globe 2024/2025
- Podium chances: Top team with top boat.
Team Holcim - PRB (SUI) is led by Dutch sailor Rosalin Kuiper (NED), who has built her reputation as an offshore sailor in legendary races such as the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, The Fastnet Race and the Caribbean 600. She finished second in the 2021 edition of The Ocean Race Europe aboard AkzoNobel Ocean Racing VO65, before competing in the 2022-23 edition of The Ocean Race around the world aboard Boris Herrmann's Team Malizia.
Joining Kuiper for the European race will be legendary French offshore sailor Franck Cammas - winner of The Ocean Race around the world in 2011-12 on his first attempt, France's Nicolas Lunven - a double winner of the Solitaire du Figaro (2009 and 2017) who sailed Team Holcim-PRB Imoca to sixth place in the 2024 Vendée Globe, British solo sailor Alan Roberts (GBR/BRA), an accomplished dinghy sailor who also made a name for himself as an offshore sailor in the French Figaro Circuit, and Carolijn Brouwer (NED/AUS) - a three-time Olympian and multiple world champion who was one of the first women to win The Ocean Race in 2018, sailing with the Dongfeng Race Team.
"I remember the 2021 edition of The Ocean Race Europe as very intense," says Kuiper. "Compared to the race around the world, the stages are short, but the race is very tactical, with lots of coastal passages. It's hard to get into a proper waking rhythm - but too long not to sleep at all. All in all, a very demanding race."
The two OBRs of the team are Anne Baugé (FRA), who sailed as an on-board reporter on "Biotherm" in The Ocean Race 2023-24 and has a track record as a single skipper herself, and French photographer and videographer Adrien Nivet - a passionate on-board reporter with extensive experience in ocean sailing.
Team Paprec Arkéa
Profile
The favourites for the 2nd edition of the Ocean Race Europe: Skipper Yoann Richomme finished second in an outstanding Vendée Globe on his debut and won the Ocean Race Europe in the VO-65 class in 2021.
- Flag: France
- Sail number: FRA 24
- Skipper: Yoann Richomme (41, FRA)
- Crew: Corentin Horeau (FRA), Mariana Lobato (POR), Gautier Levisse (FRA), Pascal Bidégorry (FRA), Louis Dubois (FRA)
- On-board reporter: Julien Champolion (FRA)
- Boat/year of construction: "Paprec Arkéa"; 22 February 2023
- Designer: Antoine Koch and Finot-Conq
- Greatest successes: 2nd place Vendée Globe 2024/2025, 7th place New York Vendée, winner of The Transat CIC 2024, winner of Retour à La Base 2023
- Podium chances: Almost as if set.
French Team Paprec Arkéa skipper Yoann Richomme is a two-time winner of La Solitaire du Figaro (2016 and 2019) and double winner of the Route du Rhum (2018 and 2022) in the Class40 category. In 2021, he led the Portuguese Mirpuri Foundation Ocean Racing Team to victory in the VO65 fleet in the first edition of The Ocean Race Europe. He finished second in the 2023-24 Vendée Globe after a race of constant ups and downs against the eventual winner, fellow Frenchman Charlie Dalin.
Sailing alongside Richomme will be Corentin Horeau (FRA) - a former winner of the Tour de France à la Voile (2018) and a 10-year veteran of the Figaro circuit, along with Portuguese match racing Olympian Mariana Lobato - who won the VO65 class in the first edition of The Ocean Race Europe in 2021, Gautier Levisse (FRA) - head of the Paprec Arkéa design team, Pascal Bidégorry (FRA) - two-time winner of the Solitaire du Figaro and winner of The Ocean Race around the world 2017-18, Louis Dubois (FRA) - the team's rig supervisor, and OBR Julien Champolion - an experienced reporter who has worked with a number of teams in the Imoca and Ocean Fifty classes in recent years and has been working with Team Paprec Arkéa for two years.
Richomme says he is a big fan of the idea of a race around Europe. "I love races like this with short sprint stages and lots of stops," he said. "It's a format very similar to the Tour de France à la Voile or La Solitaire du Figaro - and one that I really like. Taking the boats and the race to places we don't normally go is a great opportunity for our sponsors to get more visibility."
Allagrande Mapei Racing
Profile
Ambrogio Beccaria opens his Imoca career after outstanding successes in the Class40 as the Italian skipper of an all-French crew in his new team on course for the Vendée Globe 2028.
- FlagItaly
- Sail number: FRA 59
- Skipper: Ambrogio Beccaria (33, ITA)
- Crew: Thomas Ruyant (FRA), Morgan Lagravière (FRA), Manon Peyre (FRA)
- On-board reporter: Pierre Bouras (FRA)
- Boat/year of construction: "Allagrande Mapei" (ex-"Vulnerable"); 16 March 2023
- Designer: Antoine Koch and Finot-Conq
- Greatest successes: It is Beccaria's 1st assignment as Imoca skipper, previously: Winner Normandy Channel Race 2023 (Class40), 2nd place Defí Atlantique 2023 (Class40), 2nd place RORC Caribbean 600 (Class40).
- Podium chances: Ambitious team with good prospects.
The newly formed Italian team Allagrande MAPEI Racing will be led by Ambrogio Beccaria (ITA) - an experienced offshore sailor who is taking on his first Imoca campaign as skipper after graduating in the Mini 6.50 and Class40 classes. Beccaria's team will utilise the Imoca yacht that France's Thomas Ruyant sailed to seventh place in the 2024-25 Vendée Globe - and the highly talented French sailor will co-skipper The Ocean Race Europe.
Ruyant's regular training partner Morgan Lagravière is also on board, along with the 2023 49erFX Junior World Champion Manon Peyre (FRA) and the team's experienced on-board reporter (OBR), French videographer Pierre Bouras.
"The Ocean Race Europe is very attractive from a sporting point of view because I love inshore racing and this race is half inshore and half offshore," says Beccaria. "But there is also a more ideological reason why I like this race. We are at a moment in history where we are afraid of going back to really dark times, so the idea of a race that connects people all over Europe makes me dream of better times."
Biotherm
Profile
With fifth place at the Vendée Globe, Paul Meilhat has proven that he can defy adverse circumstances, fight and position himself unerringly. With a powerful crew and purist Imoca, Team Biotherm can go far around Europe.
- Flag: France
- Sail number: FRA 2030
- Skipper: Paul Meilhat (43, FRA)
- Crew: Benjamin Ferré (FRA), Amélie Grassi (FRA), Jack Bouttell (GBR/AUS), Sam Goodchild (GBR)
- On-board reporter: Gauthier Lebec (FRA)
- Boat/year of construction: "Biotherm", 31 August 2022
- Designer: Guillaume Verdier
- Greatest successes: 5th place Vendée Globe 2024/2025, 4th place Ocean Race 2023, 2nd place Transat Jacques Vabre 2021
- Podium chances: skipper, crew and boat have what it takes.
French team Biotherm is led by Paul Meilhat, who is competing in The Ocean Race Europe for the first time after finishing fourth in the 2022-23 edition of The Ocean Race. Since then, he has achieved a fifth place in the 2024-25 Vendée Globe.
Sailing with Meilhat will be: Amélie Grassi (FRA) - an experienced offshore sailor in the Mini, Class40, Imoca and Ultim circuits, as well as two-time winner of The Ocean Race (2017-18 and 2022-23) Jackson Bouttell (GBR/AUS), former Mini 6.50 sailor Benjamin Ferré (FRA), who finished sixteenth (and first non-foiler) in the 2024-25 Vendée Globe, 2023 Imoca champion Sam Goodchild (GBR), who finished ninth on his first attempt at the 2024-25 Vendée Globe, and OBR Gauthier Lebec (FRA) - an experienced sailor who has built an impressive career in the media role.
On the selection of his crew, Meilhat says the Biotherm line-up is "a serious team of winners, racers with Figaro backgrounds, which will allow us to play tactically, be proactive in this race and tell a great story."
Canada Ocean Racing
Profile
The Canadians' boat is a rocket, won the Ocean Race 2023 with 11th Hour Racing and sailed to third place in the Vendée Globe with Seb Simon. What can the oldest skipper and career changer achieve with a very experienced crew?
- Flag: Canada
- Sail number: CAN 80
- Skipper: Scott Shawyer (53, CAN)
- Crew: Pip Hare (GBR), Christopher Pratt (FRA), Brian Thompson (GBR), Sébastien Marsset (FRA)
- On-board reporter: Georgia Schofield (NZL)
- Boat/year of construction: "Canada Ocean Racing - Team be water positive" (ex-"Groupe Dubreuil", ex-"Mālama")
- Designer: Guillaume Verdier
- Greatest successes: 22nd place New York Vendée 2024, 10th place 1000 Race 2023
- Position Imoca Globe Series: 41
- Podium chances: Not likely, but not impossible.
Scott Shawyer leads Canada Ocean Racing - Be Water Positive with a mission to inspire the next generation of Canadian offshore sailors while advocating for water safety and urgent action worldwide. The Canadian skipper is aiming to become the first Canadian to compete in the Vendée Globe - and also to lead the first Canadian team in The Ocean Race around the world in 2027.
The team recently acquired a latest generation Imoca with foils - the boat with which 11th Hour Racing Team won the 2023-24 edition of The Ocean Race and with which Frenchman Sébastien Simon finished third in the 2024-25 Vendée Globe.
Shawyer will sail with co-skipper Pip Hare, a veteran of the last two Vendée Globe races, along with Chris Pratt - one of France's most respected offshore sailors and crew member on Team Malizia during The Ocean Race 2022-23, Sébastien Marsset (FRA) - a two-time participant in the edition of The Ocean Race (2011-12 with Groupama Sailing Team and 2014-15 with Team Alvimedica), and competitor in the 2024-25 Vendée Globe, renowned British ocean sailor Brian Thompson - whose track record includes multiple circumnavigations and some 40 official world sailing records, and OBR Georgia Schofield (NZL) - a passionate visual storyteller and lifelong sailor who has worked as a photographer and videographer for 14 years.
"This team represents everything we stand for," says Shawyer. "World-class skill, relentless determination and the courage to push boundaries. I'm honoured to sail alongside them and take this next bold step in our journey."
Team Amaala
Profile
Last-minute team from Switzerland: Alan Roura leads the Swiss into the race around Europe. The three-time Vendée Globe participant is thus starting his preparations for the Ocean Race 2027 alongside a new team partner.
- Flag: Switzerland/Saudi Arabia
- Sail number: SUI 7
- Skipper: Alan Roura (32, SUI)
- Crew: Simon Koster (SUI), Conrad Colman (NZL), Jessica Berthoud (SUI/NZL), Lucie De Gennes (SUI/FR), Guillaume Rol (SUI), Mathis Bourgnon (SUI/FRA), Rebecca Gmuer (SUI/NZL), Yann Burkhalter (SUI)
- On-board reporter: Coline Beal (FR), Adrien Cordier (BEL)
- Boat/year of construction: "Amaala" (ex-"Hublot", ex-"Hugo Boss"); 6 August 2019
- Designer: VPLP/Pete Hobson
- Greatest successes: 14th place Retour à La Base 2023, 13th place Transat CIC 2024, 18th place Vendée Globe 2024/2025
- Position Imoca Globe Series: 22
- Podium chances: It will be difficult for the outsiders at the new start.
The Swiss/Saudi Arabian team Amaala is led by Alan Roura (SUI) - a highly experienced sailor who, at the age of 23, became the youngest sailor to complete the Vendée Globe in 2016-17. In 2019 he set a new solo North Atlantic record before finishing seventeenth in the 2020 Vendée Globe. In 2024, he completed his third Vendée Globe and finished the race in eighteenth place.
Sailing with Roura will be Simon Koster (SUI) - who built his reputation as an offshore sailor in the Mini Transat and Class40 fleets, and the highly experienced New Zealander Conrad Colman - a veteran of two editions of the Vendée Globe (2016-17, 2024-25) and winner of the 2012 Global Ocean Race.
The Swiss team recently conducted an intensive physical and psychological test from which seven sailors were selected to form the sailing team for The Ocean Race Europe 2025: Jessica Berthoud (SUI/NZL); Lucie De Gennes (FRA/SUI); Rebecca Gmuer (SUI/NZL); Guillaume Rol (SUI); Mathis Bourgnon (FRA/SUI); Félix Oberle (SUI); Yann Burkhalter (SUI).
"At the heart of this project is the desire to pass on knowledge," says Roura. "Our approach is very different from other teams, as we have not chosen to call sailors who are used to sailing in Imoca. For most of those who join us, it will be a new experience. But that's the exciting thing about it, because all the people we have chosen are already very good sailors in very versatile fields."
