Update 12.8.2025
The cases filed by Team Holcim PRB and Allagrande Mapei Racing following a collision shortly after the start of the leg in Kiel will be heard by an international jury approved and appointed by World Sailing. The hearing is scheduled to take place during the stopover in Cartagena after the second leg.
Race Director Phil Lawrence cites two reasons for the timing of the hearing: "Firstly, the teams involved are currently focussed on repairing the damage and doing everything they can to get back into the race. Should they successfully get back on the water in the next few days, they are unlikely to have enough time in Portsmouth to adequately prepare their case for a hearing," he said.
"Secondly, a possible outcome of the hearing is that a team is granted compensation by the jury. In this case, compensation could consist of awarding average points for the missed stage based on previous race results. That would not be possible in Portsmouth."
The jury consists of International Jury Members (IJ) and International Judges (IU) qualified by World Sailing:
- Andrés Pérez, IJ & IU, ESP, Chairman
- Miguel Allen, IJ & IU POR
- Chris Atkins, IJ & IU, GBR
- Corinne Aulnette, IJ FRA
- María Toriijo, IJ & IU ESP
- Sofia Truchanowicz, IJ & IU, POL
Why did Holcim suddenly lure PRB?
Holcim PRB was clearly ahead, leeward of Allagrande Mapei Racing, which quickly came up from behind. The collision was triggered by Holcim PRB's relatively rapid lapping. It is unclear why this luffing happened. Was it an incorrect keel position or an overshot on the genoa sheet? Boris Herrmann saysI saw in the videos that the keel had swivelled to leeward, others said they saw it in the middle. That can be an advantage in the initially light wind.
However, the boat then got a strong gust for which too much sail area was set. Commentator Timmy Kröger says that he heard the genoa trimmer shout "I can't open" in the video with the recordings below deck, which would indicate that there was a defection on the sheet.
Both aspects, or just one of them, obviously resulted in too much sail pressure, the mainsail of Holcim PRB already inverted, the profile bulged to windward, the boat heeled too much and the empty rudder could no longer generate sufficient counter pressure. The boat luffed uncontrollably.
The crash from all perspectives
Could Allagrande have got out of the way?
Obviously, the Allagrande Mapei Racing team was taken by surprise by this attack. They came up from behind at significantly higher speed and crashed into Holcim PRB. Both boats suffered considerable damage. According to the rules, the question of blame seems clear at first: leeward before windward. Holcim PRB has the right of way to leeward, Allagrande must keep clear to windward.
But could Allagrande do that? The video shows that Allagrande also luffed slightly. However, this is probably due to the same gust in which the crew will have had their hands full keeping the boat under control.
In return, Holcim PRB must give the yacht obliged to give way sufficient time and space to keep clear. This part of the right of way rules serves to avoid collisions.
The aerial shots show that it takes around ten seconds from the first clear luffing of Holcim PRB to the crash. That is an eternity in a normal regatta, for example with dinghies. But for Imocas too?
These boats are not designed for fast manoeuvres. Once set up, they sail for hours without any further changes, especially in single-handed mode. Anyone who watched the boats before the start, for example during the speed runs, could see that the large J0 genoa, for example, always has to be rolled away for a tack and then unrolled again on the new bow. There are so many lines to handle that every manoeuvre has to be discussed and carried out step by step. In addition, there was probably a lot of action on board Allagrande in this situation.
Should Allagrande have kept a lookout?
Nevertheless, Allagrande appears to have been able to shoot up to avoid the collision. Immediately after the collision, a hard luff is finally made. However, the crew would have had to have seen the Holcim PRB boat approaching from below. Apparently they did not, at least the footage shows no attempt to evade.
However, with these boats you can't see anything downwind in such a situation. The huge genoa lies with the foot almost on the water and forms an opaque wall without a window. Even under the main boom you can't see through from windward when the boat is heeling. This is the case with all larger regatta yachts, but with the Imocas there is an additional complicating factor.
The boats are built to be operated below deck to protect the crew or, in solo races, the skipper from harsh environmental conditions such as storms and rough seas, especially in the Southern Ocean. The Ocean Race Europe is sailed with four crew members plus an on-board reporter. Two crew members were below deck to operate the sheets and the grinder, the helmsman sat upwind together with the onboard reporter, the remaining crew member was also on the windward lookout facing forwards. No one could see the situation to leeward, someone would have had to be sitting aft to leeward. Why was nobody sitting there?
Are the skippers overwhelmed?
Obviously no-one on board Allagrande was expecting Holcim PRB to be shot up. Which is not entirely inexplicable when you look at the CVs of most of the sailors. Very few of them come from dinghy sailing, where such tight and sudden situations are normal and the active sailors are prepared and trained for something like this. They are long-distance sailors who, once underway, often don't see another boat for several days and have to rely on technology such as AIS or the Oscar anti-collision system mounted in the masthead.
However, this technology was probably of little use in the mass of spectator boats accompanying the starters, if anyone had time to look at the monitors at all.
There was a similar situation in the previous Ocean Race Europe, when there was a serious collision off The Hague after the start of the seventh and final leg of the race. to the collision between the front-runners from the US team 11th Hour Racing and Team Guyot. Even then, it was incomprehensible how Guyot's crew, who were obliged to take evasive action, could have overlooked their rivals.
Apparently, either the crews are not sufficiently trained to sail these boats in tight boat-to-boat situations, or the boats are simply so demanding to sail that the crew is confronted with too many tasks at the same time. It was not for nothing that the skippers had warned of just such situations before the start.
Did Allagrande have enough space to keep clear?
Another issue that could concern the jury is the narrowness of the course. There was an armada of spectator boats to windward of all the boats. Some of the other teams wisely kept well to leeward of this fleet. Allagrande was furthest to windward, an estimated 100 metres to leeward of the fleet, with a few support and press boats in between. It may well be that the crew of Allagrande saw that their own course was very close to the wake of Holcim PRB, and they could only see her wake. But that they didn't dare go any further to windward to avoid getting too close to the spectator and escort boats. And thus accepted the risk of no longer being able to react to the competitor if necessary.
After the collision it could be seen that Holcim PRB shot into the wind and drove into the spectator boats, which scattered wildly.
In this respect, the jury would also have to consider whether the fleet of spectators was an obstacle from which Allagrande wanted to keep clear. In this case, the question would again be whether Holcim PRB prevented her from keeping clear because of the shooter.
So it's not an easy task for the jury, and their decision, and above all the reasoning behind it, should be interesting.
Lessons learnt from the collision?
Of course, it's always easy to pass judgement from the sofa and with hindsight. But as this is the second time there has been a serious collision that has affected the course of the race and will probably do so in this case, the question arises as to how something like this can be avoided. The way of starting, with a short line and surrounded by spectator boats, could be changed and the boats could start further out where there would have been more space. But that would also take away a lot of the appeal of the event, which is based precisely on this proximity to the fans.
But what about an additional observer on board? A crew or jury member who sits downwind and observes the competition? And then, after a certain predetermined distance, when everything has equalised, jumps off the boat? Like Kiel's Lord Mayor did from on board the "Malizia" shortly before the start? However, there would then also be a risk of being run over by a competitor coming from behind.
In this respect, too, the organisers will have a lot to think about.
