Bermudian sailor Emily Nagel and her Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team colleagues came from behind to win the third and final offshore leg of Ocean Race Europe from Alicante, Spain, to Genoa, Italy, yesterday.

The Portuguese-based team led the VO65 fleet across the finish line in Genoa shortly before 1am after 3½ days of racing in light and fickle winds on the passage through the Mediterranean.

Nagel and her colleagues rolled the dice when they split from the main bunch in search of fresh wind father offshore in the closing stages of the 600-nautical mile race.

It was a gamble that ultimately paid off as they surged from third to first laying the finish line in better pressure to secure class line honours and consolidate their lead at the top of the VO65 standings.

“Our pre-race weather briefing had suggested that there would be a small corridor of breeze offshore while the wind would shut off along the coast,” Nagel told The Royal Gazette. “As the majority of the fleet hugged the coastline searching for thermal pressure, we took the risky option of splitting from the fleet and going offshore for a few hours at an angle that took us further away from Genoa.

“It felt wrong to be pointing away from the finish but ultimately was the winning move that got us into a brilliant shift that we could tack in and point straight to the finish with ten knots of breeze.

“We quickly caught up the rest of the fleet and overtook around the outside. AkzoNobel, who also followed us offshore were the next boat to finish, two hours behind.”

It was Mirpuri’s second straight leg victory and third overall, having also won the opening coastal race of the inaugural Ocean Race Europe series in Cascais, Portugal.

Nagel’s former team, AkzoNobel Ocean Racing, took second and Sailing Poland, who led most of the leg, third.

Mirpuri, led by French helmsman Yoann Richomme, was among four teams that swapped the lead in the seven-boat one-design VO65 fleet throughout the race contested in benign conditions.

“Three and a half days of snakes and ladders would sum up this leg pretty well,” professional sailor and naval architect Nagel added.

“We had a brilliant start leaving Alicante but then when the fleet split as we approached Majorca it became quite tactical and hard to manage the fleet.”

Mirpuri top the VO65 standings on 18 points followed by AkzoNobel in second on 17 points and Sailing Poland on 15 points heading into tomorrow’s remaining coastal race in Genoa that will determine the overall series winner.

“The team go into the final in port race now in the lead but only one point ahead of team AkzoNobel, which means there’s still all to play for going into the race on Saturday,” Nagel said.

“If we don’t finish ahead of them they could take the overall win and if we don’t podium, Team Poland could still get there as well.

“The conditions for racing on Saturday look extremely light and variable, which of course is every sailor’s nightmare, but we will push hard to the end. It’s not over till it’s over.”

Meanwhile, Offshore Team Germany claimed line honours in the IMOCA 60 class in the final offshore leg of the Ocean Europe Race. LinkedOut crossed in second and 11th Hour Racing Team in third respectively.

Offshore Team Germany top the IMOCA 60 standings with 14 points followed by LinkedOut a point back in second and 11th Hour Racing Team in third on 12 points heading into tomorrow’s coastal race that will also determine the overall series winner in the class.