Four leaders in six days: DMG Mori grabs it back as Ocean Race Atlantic enters final stretch

The Ocean Race Atlantic has had four different overall leaders in six days, and in the last 24 hours alone the top spot changed hands more than once. DMG Mori, skippered by Kojiro Shiraishi, holds it as of this morning's tracker snapshot, after United by the Ocean surged into the lead a few hours earlier while skipper Paul Meilhat was asleep below. Told by his onboard reporter what he thought the winning tactic would be, Meilhat kept it simple: "I'll just sleep, the rest of the crew seems to be doing a great job."

11th Hour Racing and Malizia remain close enough to the front to strike, though Malizia is doing it with a boat that still can't properly fly one of its foils, six days after striking an object in the water. Onboard audio from 11th Hour Racing captured the gap between the two directly: at one point in the lighter patch overnight, 11th Hour Racing was doing 17.5 knots in 18 knots of breeze, while Malizia had dropped to just 10 knots of wind and a four-hour average boat speed of only 14.5 knots.

Aotearoa Ocean Racing: "Sailing as if we have every chance"

Conrad Colman's crew didn't have a fresh interview out today, but Aotearoa Ocean Racing posted an update of their own. "Trailing the leaders by over 400 miles, we're still sailing as if we have every chance," the post read, a line that matches the tracker almost exactly, MSIG Europe sits 418.5nm off the lead as of this morning.

The post also spells out what this race means for the campaign beyond this leg. Colman lined up with a young Kiwi crew specifically to build the core team for the upcoming round-the-world Ocean Race, fast-tracking their first IMOCA offshore miles under a veteran skipper. It's a similar idea to what Will Harris is doing aboard 11th Hour Racing, using this Atlantic crossing as preparation for the bigger race to come. On the sailing itself, the post described yesterday as pure speed work, 35 knots of breeze, the A3 spinnaker up, sending it downwind at full throttle.

Onboard audio from the boat backs that up with real numbers: "We were doing some good 20-somethings at some point, speed-wise," one crew member said, before the breeze eased off into a gentler patch overnight. The rough stretch before it had been a genuine grind, big swell, crew falling out of bed, most of them barely sleeping, before it mellowed into a welcome 12 knots and, for some, their first proper sleep in days. It also matches the tracker's gap-closing story from earlier in the week: "We caught up to Ollie and them a little bit when they had their main issue. Now that they've repaired it, they're ripping away again," a crewmate said, referring to Embrace the Challenge's mainsail repair.

Asked what it's like learning to race an IMOCA in the middle of the Atlantic, one line said it all: "Not many people get that opportunity... you're thrown in the deep end. It's all or nothing, you can't really bail halfway, can you?"

Malizia's foil fix, in their own words

Malizia's damaged foil, struck days ago and still unrepaired, has left the boat stuck at what crew member Cole Brauer described on board as "negative one rake," meaning they effectively can't fly it at all. The plan, once conditions ease enough to attempt it safely: build makeshift bumpers out of line wrapped in duct tape, wedge them into the foil mechanism as a manual spacer, then press the rake against them to bring it back to something workable.

As the broadcast's own commentary put it, a boat launched only a few months ago is now relying on the kind of improvised seamanship, tying line, wedging gear, working with whatever's on board, that has never gone out of fashion offshore.

Super Sprint upset

Embrace the Challenge won the day's Super Sprint outright, 7.34 nautical miles in the 20-minute window, a genuine result given they're still sailing with a repaired three-metre tear in their mainsail. Malizia took second, MSIG Europe third, DMG Mori fourth, United by the Ocean fifth, and 11th Hour Racing, so recently the overall race leader, last. Malizia had gone into today's sprint with three wins from the first five, its dominance in this side-competition now interrupted for the first time.

What's ahead

Race organisers are now estimating arrival in Lorient Thursday evening into the early hours of Friday morning, French time, weather permitting. There's a catch before then: the front four boats need to navigate a developing light-wind patch carefully. Get through it cleanly and there's a reward of stronger breeze on the other side. The Bay of Biscay, usually known for its temper, is forecast to disappoint that reputation this time, expected to run light and fluky rather than delivering one final blast to the finish.

Standings, Day 6

DMG Mori – 1092.7nm to finish

United by the Ocean – 1114.0nm (21.3nm behind)

11th Hour Racing – 1118.5nm (25.8nm behind)

Malizia – 1166.6nm (73.9nm behind)

Embrace the Challenge – 1424.8nm (332.1nm behind)

MSIG Europe – 1511.2nm (418.5nm behind)

Six days in, and for the first time all week, the front of the fleet is genuinely too close to call.