North Sea Needle Match - The Ocean Race Europe Gets Under Way - Leg 1

It was an explosive start for the Ocean Race Europe into a tactically complex and demanding first leg from Kiel to Portsmouth. Within two minutes two boats were heading back to base with serious damage while the rest of the fleet had their pedal to the metal as they made a headlong charge for the first scoring gate just a few miles into the race. This is an event that has been specifically designed to put the pressure on from the start and then keep it there, so getting a nose ahead was crucial in gaining the upper hand in the first stage of this six leg, 4,500mile race around Europe. Matt Sheahan reports from the start in Kiel where he talks to some of the key players about why a fully crewed multi leg race around Europe, (rather than the world), is considered to be tough by the teams. As the boats left the Baltic he then headed to the Portsmouth finish to provide a report on the opening leg. CHAPTERS & LINKS 00:00 Intro titles 00:52: Setting the scene 02:26 Why is it so hard? 04:44 Who are the teams? 10:03 Leg 1 Report 23:20 A Race to the start Produced in association with Yanmar in a new series that takes a look at the IMOCA scene Facebook - @planetsail.org Website - www.planetsail.co.uk Linkedin - www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-sheahan Instagram - matthewsheahan