United by the Ocean wins Ocean Race Atlantic after close finish

Paul Meilhat’s United by the Ocean has won the inaugural Ocean Race Atlantic, finishing just eight minutes and 56 seconds ahead of Francesca Clapcich’s 11th Hour Racing after almost eight days of racing.

The two 60ft foiling IMOCA yachts remained closely matched through the final stages of the 3,248.2-nautical-mile race from New York to Lorient, with the lead changing hands before United by the Ocean gained the advantage approaching the finish.

Clapcich’s 11th Hour Racing campaign was backed by B&G. She was the only female skipper in the six-boat fleet.

For 11th Hour Racing, the result came after the crew dealt with a major foil problem on the final night.

At around 2310 CEST, the upper bearing securing the shaft of the boat’s foil completely failed. The crew slowed the boat and tried several solutions before packing the cavity with bound rope to push the foil back into position.

The temporary repair allowed the boat to resume racing.

“After a race, you always want more. When you get that close to winning, you want to win it even more,” Clapcich says. “In the end, we had a shot at winning and finished second, and we’re super happy about it.”

Clapcich says the close racing made the result particularly rewarding.

“Doing a transat like that, over 3,000 miles, and ending up just minutes from each other, that’s a dream; that’s why we race.”

11th Hour Racing completed the course in seven days, 23 hours, 48 minutes and seven seconds. United by the Ocean finished in seven days, 23 hours, 39 minutes and 11 seconds.

The winning boat’s northerly position proved advantageous in the lighter and more variable breeze approaching Lorient, allowing Meilhat to hold on to the lead through the final 10 nautical miles.

Challenges across the fleet

DMG MORI Global One finished third in eight days, one minute and 40 seconds, while Team Malizia took fourth in eight days, six minutes and 40 seconds. Embrace The Challenge completed the fleet in fifth place after its own difficult crossing.

Embrace The Challenge suffered a two-metre tear in its mainsail in 40-knot winds on 5 September. The crew lowered the sail in darkness before repairing the damage the following day, with Liz Wardley spending around seven hours stitching the torn section and applying a reinforcing patch.

The Ocean Race Atlantic required every crew to have a 50/50 gender split, with each boat carrying two women and two men. In previous editions of The Ocean Race Europe, two boats collided minutes after the start, forcing both teams to return to port for damage assessment.

For Clapcich, the second-place finish is also a confidence boost for the boat and team ahead of the final solo race of her 2026 season, the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe, which starts from Saint-Malo on 1 November.