AFTER 3,200 MILES, THE OCEAN RACE ATLANTIC SHOWDOWN CAME DOWN TO 8 MINUTES 56 SECONDS
United by the Ocean edged 11th Hour Racing in a frantic finish off Lorient, with four boats ultimately separated by just 27 minutes 29 seconds.
After nearly eight days across the North Atlantic, Paul Meilhat’s United by the Ocean won The Ocean Race Atlantic in 7d 23h 39m 11s, beating Francesca Clapcich and 11th Hour Racing by 8m 56s. DMG MORI Global One finished third at +22m 29s, with Team Malizia another five minutes behind. The first four boats had crossed roughly 3,200 nautical miles and arrived within 27m 29s of each other.
THE LOWDOWN
United by the Ocean won by 8m 56s.
Four boats finished inside 27m 29s.
11th Hour Racing led on the final approach
DMG MORI led inside the final day
Malizia recovered from foil-control damage to finish five minutes off the podium.
The race also offered the first serious comparison between several new-generation IMOCA programmes before the much bigger test coming in 2027.
“IT’S NOT REALLY ABOUT THE RESULT ITSELF, BUT ABOUT HOW WE ACHIEVED IT.” PAUL MEILHAT
United by the Ocean — 1st
Meilhat’s established former Biotherm stayed in contention through every phase of the race. In the final light winds off Lorient, its northerly position paid and produced enough separation from Clapcich to hold the lead to the line.
“WHEN YOU GET SO CLOSE TO WINNING THE RACE YOU WANT TO FRICKEN WIN IT, RIGHT?”
FRANCESCA CLAPCICH
11th Hour Racing — 2nd
Clapcich led for long periods and came back through DMG MORI on the final morning before losing the final fight with Meilhat. After almost eight days, second place was decided by less than nine minutes.
“IT’S THE FIRST RACE FOR OUR NEW BOAT AND WE ARE HOPING TO BE ABLE TO TEST A LOT OF ITS CHARACTERISTICS.”
KOJIRO SHIRAISHI
DMG MORI Global One — 3rd
The newest boat in the fleet turned its first major race into a genuine victory challenge. A more southerly route put Shiraishi’s team into the lead for around 48 hours and it was still first on the final morning before the light winds reshuffled the order.
“WE’RE GIVING IT EVERYTHING WE’VE GOT.”
BORIS HERRMANN
Team Malizia — 4th
Malizia 4 led early and showed serious raw pace, but an impact damaged its port foil-control system and cost more than 100 miles. It still recovered to finish five minutes from third and won four of the eight Super Sprints.
“WE LEARNED LOADS ON THE RACE COURSE.”
OLIVER HEER
Embrace the Challenge — 5th
Heer’s crew started competitively before major mainsail damage knocked them out of the weather system carrying the leaders east. They repaired the sail, won two Super Sprints and completed the race in fifth.
“IT SHOWS THAT WE’VE MANAGED TO COMPETE WITH THEM.”
CONRAD COLMAN
MSIG Europe — 6th
The fleet’s only non-foiling IMOCA was racing a different speed equation. Colman’s crew also dealt with furling and boom-track problems, but still took third in one Super Sprint and collected valuable comparison data against the newer foiling generation.
Position | Team | Elapsed time | Gap |
1 | United by the Ocean | 7d 23h 39m 11s | — |
2 | Team Francesca Clapcich / 11th Hour Racing | 7d 23h 48m 07s | +8m 56s |
3 | DMG MORI Global One | 8d 00h 01m 40s | +22m 29s |
4 | Team Malizia | 8d 00h 06m 40s | +27m 29s |
NEXT: AROUND THE WORLD
The Atlantic was the test. The Ocean Race 2027 is the examination.
The 15th edition starts from Alicante on 17 January 2027, and immediately sends the IMOCA fleet on a record 14,000-nautical-mile opening leg to Auckland — the longest first leg in the race’s history. From there the route continues through the Southern Ocean, around Cape Horn to Itajaí, then north to St. Pete-Clearwater, across the Atlantic to Cascais and ultimately towards the finish at AMAALA in the Red Sea.
For United by the Ocean, 11th Hour Racing, DMG MORI, Malizia, Embrace the Challenge and MSIG Europe, New York–Lorient delivered something more useful than a warm-up: eight days of race data against the boats and people they are likely to meet again around the world.
And after 3,200 miles produced an 8-minute-56-second winning margin, nobody left Lorient with much reason to think the gaps in 2027 will be comfortable.
