The Biotherm team gave a tour of their boat this morning in the port of Nice. Immersion on the boat, leader of the race and winner of the third stage between Cartagena and Nice.
Welcome aboard! The Biotherm team won the third stage of The Ocean Race Europe yesterday morning. They are currently at the top of the overall rankings. The team allowed various media to access their sailing boat, currently docked at the port of Nice. The tour was led by Amélie Grassi, the team’s co-skipper, and Clotilde Lafont, in charge of partnerships, starting at the front of the boat on the deck.
This is not the first race for this boat. In fact, it was built in 2021 and sailed for the first time in 2022. The French skipper Paul Meilhat finished fifth in the last Vendée Globe, in 2024-2025, with this sailing boat. A monohull he knows inside out.
However, there is a big difference between sailing alone and with a crew. This is what Amélie Grassi explains, especially for the sail change. “For a team race, we prepare the sails. We stop the boat for three minutes, change, and can set off again.” For this, one person is on the deck to take out the new sails and bring in the old ones. The others are in the cockpit to lower and hoist them. Maneuvers that are much less frequent in a solo race and generally take around thirty minutes.
Seven sails per stage and a microscope
In total, each team has nine different sails, but can use only seven per stage. A crucial choice to be made 24 hours before the start of the next stage. The smallest sail measures 30 m² compared to 400 m² for the largest one. All sails are stored in the hold.
In this area, there is another very particular object. Indeed, skipper Paul Meilhat places great importance on the environmental cause. That is why he embarked with him a 40-kilogram microscope. The device records thousands of data on the seabed throughout the race. Data on plankton, which is shared with scientists. NASA uses it for comparisons with what they can observe from satellites.
A cockpit shared by five people
During a stage, there are five people on the sailing boat: four sailors and one media person. Every space on the boat is designed and thought out to optimize performance. On the sailing boat, there are around a hundred ropes, called ropes. “On a boat like this, we have little electronics, few electric or hydraulic controls. Everything used to sail the boat is still done with ropes,” explains Clotilde Lafont.
The electronics on the boat are mainly for communication, weather, and sea positioning. Two small cameras are also placed in the cockpit. The crew does not manage them; they are there only for the organizer to have images of the race.
Two stretched sheets are installed inside the cockpit, serving as beds to rest. The team informs that Paul Meilhat is a skipper who sleeps and eats very little. Habits he must adapt with his crew for this race.
The next stage of The Ocean Race Europe begins this Sunday afternoon, starting at 5 PM. The sailing boats will leave the French Riviera to head to Italy and the port of Genoa. The penultimate stage, before heading to Boka Bay, Montenegro, for the final arrival.
