The seventh and final leg of the race is a complex 2,200-nautical mile (2,532-mile/4,074-kilometre) 10-day stage that takes the fleet from The Hague, through the crowded shipping lanes of the English Channel, across the Bay of Biscay and around the northern tip of Spain at Cape Finisterre, down the Portuguese coast, back into the Mediterranean via the Gibraltar Strait, across the Mediterranean Sea (passing the Spanish race start port, Alicante) to the finish line in Genova, Italy. It is both the first time an edition of The Ocean Race has finished in the Mediterranean and the first visit the race has made to Italy (after The Ocean Race Europe finish in June 2021).
In terms of the concluding leg to a 31,300-nautical mile (36,019-mile/57,968-kilometre) around-the-world yacht race they do not come much more challenging than this one. Once out of The Hague, aside from dodging the multitude of commercial ships that throng the area, the crews will need to be on high alert as they race along the French side of the English Channel – renowned for its strong tides and dangerous rocky coastline.
After exiting the English Channel at Ushant the fleet will press on across the Bay of Biscay – which has a fearsome reputation for fierce storms and boat-breaking sea conditions – towards Cape Finisterre on the northern shoulder of Spain. From there the crews could be in for some fast sailing down the rugged Atlantic coastline of Portugal before they turn eastward off the Portuguese city of Lagos towards their second encounter with the normally wild and windy confines of the Gibraltar Strait.
Having made it back into the Mediterranean the fleet could face a slowdown due to the light and unpredictable winds that prevail there in the summer months.
Choices will need to be made between hugging the Spanish coast in the hope of thermal land effect breezes, or searching for steadier winds further offshore. After picking their way past the Balearic Islands of Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca, the crews will head north east across the Ligurian Sea towards the finish line off Genova.
As the teams competing in the 2021 inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Europe discovered, this final light wind stage could be a nerve-wracking affair, with the final result of the leg – and perhaps the overall race standings – impossible to call until the very end.