The Ocean Race Europe: Sailing Poland hold narrow lead over Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team in third leg

Updated 14/06/2021 at 21:38 GMT

The Ocean Race Europe’s inaugural event is down to the third and final leg, which takes place in the Mediterranean from Alicante in Spain to Genova in Italy. Sailing Poland were narrowly in front ahead of Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team as of 10pm BST on Monday – with hundreds of nautical miles remaining.

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Sailing Poland were leading the third leg of The Ocean Race Europe from Alicante to Genova with less than 360 nautical miles remaining on Monday evening.

The inaugural event’s third and final leg in the Mediterranean from Spain to Italy saw Sailing Poland narrowly in front of Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team as of 10pm BST on Monday.

“Mirpuri is right behind us and they have a bit more speed than us so we just have to keep sailing smart,” Bouwe Bekking, Sailing Team Poland first, said.

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“It’s just a matter of finding the best pressure lanes. It’s really tricky. There’s a huge high-pressure system and we have to cross that ridge. All in all I’m pretty content with where we are. It’s better to be first than last!”

Team Childhood I are off the pace in fourth after they sought better winds but the move didn’t pay off.

Double America’s Cup-winner Simeon Tienpont, skipper for the team, said: “We went through a very light night, yesterday wasn’t really our plan to pick the shore but we felt it was good to play this side for a little longer.

“By then we were committed to a route to the north while the rest went south.

“We have a lot less wind than them at the moment, but they still have to cross the light wind area to come up to the north… There are a lot of differences between the weather forecasts, but fingers crossed, we’re here, the fleet is there, and we need to make the best out of it.”