Guyot achieves ocean racing miracles
Circumnavigators face a difficult journey to Kiel
06/07/2023, 4:09 p.m
The Ocean Race comes to Germany: stage six takes the circumnavigators with Boris Herrmann’s team Malizia from Aarhus to The Hague. Team Guyot, who had been plagued by bad luck, is back at the start in good time. The highlight of the stage is the Kiel “Fly-by” on Friday afternoon.
Two days before the “fly-by” in Kiel, the Ocean Race fleet is complete again. On Wednesday afternoon, Team Guyot arrived at the Danish port of call Aarhus with their boat that had been repaired in Kiel. Driven by a wave of helpfulness, around 800 hours of work went into the boat at Knierim Yachtbau in six days, which was damaged when the mast broke on May 9th. With a replacement mast from the US team 11th Hour Racing, “Guyot” is back in the game when the sixth stage starts at 6:15 p.m. on June 8th.
The shortest sprint, at 800 nautical miles, takes the circumnavigators to The Hague. In between is the eagerly awaited “Fly-by” in Kiel. Here the Imoca yachts round a turning mark directly in front of the Ocean Live Park on the Kiellinie. The operation on the fjord is considered to be extremely demanding. Tens of thousands of fans are expected on land and an armada of spectator boats on the water. Around 50 boats from the water police and the organizers will be on duty to protect the ocean race yachts and the fleet of spectators. The fairway is closed on Friday afternoon between the Kiel lighthouse and the turning mark between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. and is reserved for racing yachts.
Ocean Race Racing Director Phil Lawrence said: “Our message to the spectators is: you will experience great views, but stay away from the fairway.” Boris Herrmann’s team Malizia, in which the Dutchwoman Rosalin Kuiper celebrated her 28th birthday shortly before returning to her home country on Wednesday, is looking forward to the “home stage” with great anticipation. “Coming to Germany is something very special for our team,” said skipper Boris Herrmann. “I don’t think there’s a sporting advantage, but there’s a big push from the German fans and that’s something that gives me a lot of energy. I hope there can be a real stopover in Germany in the future.”
Before the two final European stages, Team Malizia is in third place in the Ocean Race classification with 24 points behind 11th Hour Racing (28 points) and Holcim-PRB (27 points). The Berlin “Guyot” skipper Robert Stanjek, who knows the Kiel waters well as a former Olympic sailor and keelboat sailor, said before his team’s comeback: “It’s an advantage to sail through our living room.”