The 2025 Ocean Race Europe could scarcely have opened more chaotically. Just moments after the Leg One start in Kiel, Team Holcim-PRB and Allagrande Mapei Racing came together in a high-speed collision, sending both IMOCAs back to the dock with serious damage and their campaigns suddenly in jeopardy.
For Holcim-PRB skipper Rosalin Kuiper, the only female skipper in the race and 30 years old, the sight of her stricken boat was devastating. "We had to suspend racing. It is very disappointing for our entire team, and for Allagrande Mapei and The Ocean Race as well," she said dockside. The carbon hull had been holed and rigging damaged. Without repairs completed in record time, the race was finished before it had really started.
What followed showed what a committed shore team, working flat out under enormous pressure, is capable of. Holcim-PRB's crew mobilised within hours alongside specialists from Knierim Yachtbau in Kiel. Naval architects Guillaume Verdier and Hervé Penfornis worked closely with the team to design and mould a replacement carbon section. Rigging repairs ran concurrently, including the replacement of an outrigger stay, with the Leg Two restart in Portsmouth providing an unforgiving deadline for every decision made.
By 13 August the hull breach had been closed. Kuiper was clear about the scale of the collective effort. "Each team member demonstrated exceptional resilience, teamwork, and deep commitment," she said. "Our return to the water would not have been possible without their skill and dedication."
Late on 14 August, the repaired Holcim-PRB slipped lines and headed through the Kiel Canal on the delivery passage to Portsmouth. Sailors Carolijn Brouwer and Alan Roberts were aboard, alongside technical crew and an onboard reporter. The departure carried genuine emotional weight. Crew member Nicolas Lunven put it plainly: "While we may have missed the first leg, our readiness is as strong as it was in Kiel. We cannot wait to rejoin the fleet."
With just 48 hours before the restart, Holcim-PRB arrived at Gunwharf Quays. Kuiper, watching her boat come in, found the moment almost beyond words. "It's very special and hard to describe all the emotions. I'm super happy and proud. There she is, back with us, and ready to go," she said. The repair story had grown into something larger, a statement about the character of ocean racing itself.
Kuiper had no interest in simply being back on the water. "I can't wait to get off the dock and show the world what we can do," she said.
The collision protests will not be heard until the Cartagena stopover, but both Holcim-PRB and Allagrande Mapei Racing are now back on the startline. The Leg Two restart off Cowes gives Kuiper and her crew a second chance to make their mark, and the passage from Portsmouth to Cartagena will determine whether this unlikely comeback can be converted into a genuine podium challenge.
