Ocean Race Europe premiere gets underway: Offshore Team Germany gets off to a good start in light winds

The starting signal for the new Ocean Race Europe was given at 1.45 pm on Saturday afternoon in Lorient, Brittany. Twelve teams in two classes will sail via stopovers in Cascais (Portugal) and Alicante (Spain) and a total of 2000 nautical miles to Genoa in Italy. With Offshore Team Germany, skippered by Robert Stanjek (Berlin), there is also a German crew in the race. The Ocean Race Europe is the little sister of The Ocean Race and is regarded as the overture and first test for the 2022/23 circumnavigation. The four-strong crew on the German Imoca yacht "Einstein" includes 40-year-old Robert Stanjek, Berlin trimmer Phillip Kasüske, British Olympic participant and circumnavigator Annie Lush and French Vendée Globe ninth-placed Benjamin Dutreux. Felix Diemer from Bremen will be the on-board reporter.

"I am delighted that we have managed to put our team together in this way. We have important input from all areas. Annie and Ben have a large mileage account, Phillip and I bring the intensive training from Olympic classes with us," said Stanjek, Starboat Olympic sixth in 2012. The German boat from 2011 is the oldest and only one of the five Imoca yachts known from the Vendée Globe without so-called foils in use, but was initially able to perform well in the light starting winds. The sailing three-parter will be held in the VO65 (7 boats) and Imoca 60 (5 boats) classes. The mixture of sprints and middle distances, in which the results of three legs and two races close to the coast are included in the classification, comes to an end with the final in Genoa in mid-June.

In the slow-motion start, the boats initially made slow progress at speeds of four to six knots. The four-man "Einstein" sailing team with crew members from three countries was able to place well without foils and was the fastest boat in its class at times. It was no surprise that the Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team with French skipper Yoann Richomme made the best impression at the start. The black yacht flying the Portuguese flag is the only VO65 yacht in the class of the already well-known and proven Volvo Ocean Race boats to be equipped with new sails. The crew of ten is peppered with sailors from the 2017/18 Ocean Race and has completed a full eight weeks of intensive training together. The second watch leader alongside skipper Richomme himself is Jack Bouttell. As navigator, the experienced Nicolas Lunven sets the course. The top favourites immediately took command.

Bouwe Bekking's Team Sailing Poland quickly got going after a difficult leeward start and had already worked its way up to second place in its class after two hours. Viva México" was in third place at the time. At the same time, Offshore Team Germany defended third place in the Imoca class behind the French co-favourites "Corum L'Épargne" and "LinkedOut". Click here for the interim results (please click!).