Calm at the Ocean Race
Herrmann’s crew blunders in snail sailing
06/08/2023, 8:55 p.m
A premature start in the Danish summer doldrums briefly slowed down Boris Herrmann’s team Malizia, but didn’t hold it back for long. The tricky sixth stage of the Ocean Race begins one day before the Kiel Flyby. Ship traffic, shoals and wind farms line the course.
Boris Herrmann’s team Malizia opened the sixth stage of the Ocean Race in Aarhus, Denmark, with a false start. In very light winds the crew had to return to the starting line, correct the error and set off in pursuit of the fleet on a course to Kiel and The Hague. Less than half an hour after the slow-motion start, “Malizia – Seaexplorer” had already caught up with the competition on the comeback boat “Guyot”. In the mild summer breeze, all five teams struggled to make progress at one to three knots of boat speed, a real snail race on the water.
At 800 nautical miles, stage six marks the shortest sprint section in the 14th edition of the circumnavigation. On course The Hague, the boats are expected on Friday afternoon between 3.30 p.m. and 4.30 p.m. for the Kiel flyby at the turning mark in front of the shore of the Kiellinie. “This stage will be completely different from what we’ve seen from the offshore stages so far. We’re closer to shore, in cellphone coverage and closer to the opponents,” said Team Malizia’s skipper Boris Herrmann.
For Herrmann, as well as “Guyot” co-skipper Robert Stanjek and his crewmate Phillip Kasüske from Berlin, the home game off Kiel was less than 24 hours away when the race started in Aarhus. “We will then sail in our living room and I am very excited about what we will experience in Kiel,” said Stanjek, whose Guyot team is now sailing back on course home port after six days of repairs in Kiel and a lightning transfer to the stage port of Aarhus. Ship traffic, shoals and wind farms line the course. In Kiel, not far from the turning mark, the Ocean Live Park was opened on Thursday, where a large number of fans is expected for the flyby 21 years after the Ocean Race triumph of the “illbruck”.