Stage finale will be a nail-biter
Herrmann’s crew caught up in a game of cat and mouse
2/9/2023, 4:46 p.m
The final sprint on the second leg of the circumnavigation has begun. But the last few days on course Cape Town will be a nail-biter in calm winds. The cat and mouse game has begun. The lead of Boris Herrmann’s team Malizia is shrinking.
Boris Herrmann’s team Malizia is fighting for victory on stage two of The Ocean Race. On the 15th day at sea, the boat under the German flag continued to lead the field on course Cape Town. However, the lead over the US rivals from Team 11th Hour Racing had melted to almost four nautical miles on Thursday. The reason: The “Malizia – Seaexplorer” had reached the lighter wind fields off Cape Town first. The organizers expect the first boats to arrive on February 12th.
This opens the cat-and-mouse game in calmer winds, which allows the fleet to move even closer together because the pursuers can sail under better pressure for longer. So taillight “Guyot” can make up ground with the Berlin skipper Robert Stanjek. The Franco-German team has already reduced the gap of more than 500 nautical miles to 395 nautical miles.
“We have to master a very, very light wind zone before we cross the finish line. Anything can happen there,” announced Malizia navigator Nico Lunven. Boris Herrmann, who recovered from his scalded foot on stage one during the injury break, is expecting his team around British skipper Will Harris in Cape Town. Herrmann told the German press agency with a view to the upcoming battle of nerves in the doldrums around Cape Town: “My team is super strong. Especially Will.” When asked what the relationship between navigational skills and luck must be in order to get through the weak winds, the 41-year-old from Hamburg said: “In the end, the best are always in front.”