MSIG Europe crossed the line in Lorient to close out the inaugural Ocean Race Atlantic in sixth place, and for a predominantly Kiwi crew sailing the oldest, least favoured boat in the fleet, that result carries more weight than the placing alone suggests.
The team, skippered by Conrad Colman with Anna Marchant, Megan Thomson and Elie Pirnay aboard, was given its finish by the race committee on a shortened course, roughly 15 miles from the actual finish line. Extremely light winds and an unhelpful tidal current made completing the full distance impractical. Official time: 12 September 2026, 07:40:00 UTC, after 9 days, 7 hours and 40 minutes of racing.
That's nearly two days behind winners United by the Ocean. MSIG Europe was the only boat in the fleet running a straight keel and daggerboards rather than foils, a significant handicap once conditions turned foil-friendly.
Colman knows this boat better than most skippers know anything. Designed by Verdier and launched back in 2007, it's the oldest hull in the fleet, and he's owned it since 2022. A year on from racing The Ocean Race Europe alongside Alan Roura, he was back aboard familiar territory, fronting a crew stacked with New Zealand talent for this campaign.
Anna Marchant, Megan Thomson and Georgia Schofield, the onboard reporter, formed the core group. Elie Pirnay, a shore and technical crew member, joined just days before the start, stepping in after Aaron Hume-Merry was injured during the delivery trip to New York.
Nothing about the race went to plan.
They started strongly, sitting within 50 miles of the leaders through the opening day. Then the gap opened up as conditions built: over 100 miles adrift by Friday, stretching to 400 miles by Sunday. Technical trouble piled on top, with a furling system failure on the headsail on Friday, then the boom track torn away on Sunday.
"The boat is struggling, and we're being thrown around like we're in a washing machine in this rough sea," Colman said mid-race. "With the violent impacts on the rig, I'm worried we're eventually going to break everything."
They didn't break, and they didn't just survive either. Three days in, the crew took third in the "Super Sprint," a genuine surprise given the circumstances. As conditions eased later in the race, they began clawing back distance on the fleet ahead.
"We've been eating into the deficit," Colman said on the Wednesday. "It's allowed us to claw back quite a few miles on Embrace the Challenge. It shows that we've managed to compete with them."
Colman and fellow skipper Paul Meilhat share more than a passion for offshore racing. Both are the type to move mountains just to get a project on the water, then give everything once they're out there.
The crew reached Lorient with the result they'd fought hard for, given the tools they had. There were smiles on the dock, by all accounts, a fitting close to a hard-won campaign and the first edition of this race.
