Fresh Breeze, Fresh Battles: Fleet Accelerates Toward France After a Gruelling Night off Mallorca

The leg from Cartagena to Nice has already shown the full character of the Med: punishing heat, teasing calms, and now, at last, a freshening breeze carrying the seven-strong IMOCA fleet north-west toward the French coast. By midday Thursday, speeds had climbed as the leading boats found themselves in reaching mode, bows pointed toward a waypoint off the Îles d’Hyères.

Neck-and-neck through the night

If Biotherm hold the advantage now, it is only by the finest of margins after a knife-edge duel against Rosalin Kuiper’s Holcim-PRB along Mallorca’s spectacular coastline. The two crews gybed repeatedly, working every puff and shift, sometimes within sight and sound of each other as they tested inshore and offshore lanes.

“It was a proper slugfest,” admitted one Biotherm crewmember over the radio. “We were side by side, both trying to read the breeze off the cliffs. You could hear their grinders going in the night.”

By dawn, it was Meilhat’s team that had threaded the transition best, squeezing out into stronger air while Holcim found themselves momentarily parked. The difference: eleven hard-earned miles.

A punishing workload in the heat

The move into fresher conditions has been a relief, but not a rest. Crews report a brutal workload through the long, breathless night. “I don’t know how many times we changed headsail – maybe five or six – but it was relentless,” Meilhat said this morning, clearly drained but still smiling.

Holcim’s Carolijn Brouwer painted the picture bluntly: “Hot, sticky, sweaty – but fun.” Hydration, calories, and energy management have become as critical as tactics. “You burn through so much in this heat, so we’re constantly eating, constantly drinking. And then there’s no sleep because you’re always on the sheets or changing sails.”

But even in exhaustion, there are moments to savour. Brouwer described the beauty of the night sail close under Mallorca’s cliffs: “There was enough depth to go right in, and it was spectacular. At the same time, we were locked in a duel with Biotherm. It doesn’t get more intense than that.”

The chasing pack

Behind the leading pair, the fleet has begun to spread slightly. Allagrande Mapei (ITA), under Ambrogio Beccaria, hold third but with less than 50 miles separating them from backmarker Team Amaala (SUI), there is little breathing room.

The chasers had their own fireworks overnight. Both Team Malizia and Allagrande Mapei hit speeds above 30 knots before slamming into the same windless hole that cost Paprec Arkéa so dearly. “At one point we were touching 35 knots,” said Allagrande’s Manon Peyre. “It was a crazy ride – hanging on for dear life – and then, in minutes, it was gone. Dead calm.”

Will Harris aboard Malizia summed up the mood: “We’re happy to have someone to race against. We’re here to chase higher, not just fight for fourth or fifth. The Med keeps it all alive.”

New course, new dangers

Race Control issued a course amendment on Thursday afternoon, shifting the final turning mark away from the infamous Giraglia rock off Corsica. The decision, taken for safety reasons, will keep the fleet clear of a forecast mix of thunderstorms and gale-force squalls expected to strike the northern tip of Corsica overnight. Instead, the yachts will round a virtual waypoint 20 miles further north, sparing crews a hazardous night rounding of the rock but adding yet another tactical twist.

“It could still be messy,” warned Holcim helmsman Franck Cammas, a veteran of Med campaigns. “Biotherm have a little jump, but nothing is safe. These conditions can turn upside down in minutes. There is a long way to Nice.”

Final miles into Nice

As of Thursday evening, Biotherm’s lead sat at 18 miles, with Holcim-PRB in second and Paprec Arkéa clinging to third. Less than 300 nautical miles remain, but the fleet faces one more grind: patchy breezes around the Îles d’Hyères and another collapse of wind forecast off the French Riviera.

“The finish could be anything between 6am and late afternoon Friday,” noted Race Control. “Light airs close to shore could compress the fleet again.”

For now, Biotherm have their noses in front, but after 48 hours of sweat, strain, and constant trimming, nobody is counting chickens. As Kuiper put it with a grin as she wiped salt from her eyes: “It’s full-on, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.”