Backlog grows at Ocean Race
Even a world record does not prevent Herrmann’s damper
05/29/2023, 7:35 p.m
Boris Herrmann’s team Malizia finished the fifth Ocean Race stage with ups and downs: The fabulous 24-hour world record was followed by a setback in the fight for overall victory with third place at the finish. “It will be settled,” says Boris Herrmann, “at the finish line.”
Boris Herrmann’s team Malizia suffered a setback in the battle for overall victory in the Ocean Race. With third place on the fifth of seven stages of the circumnavigation, the German racing yacht dropped back in the classification. The stage winners from the US team 11th Hour Racing (28 points) took the lead for the first time ahead of the Swiss team Holcim-PRB (27 points). Team Malizia’s deficit increased to third place with 24 points before the last two stages.
“We’ll keep fighting. We’ll settle the score at the finish line,” said Team Malizia’s founder and skipper Boris Herrmann, setting the motto for the final sprint in the Ocean Race. The 42-year-old was not dissatisfied with his team’s performance: “We experienced good sport and an exciting finale on this stage. A small wind shift, a small control error by our opponents could have turned the tide in the last few miles.”
Apart from less than a nautical mile, Team Malizia had once again come close to the rivals from Team Holcim-PRB in the final sprint on Whit Monday. However, Kevin Escoffier and his crew defended their position and finished second behind 11th Hour Racing and ahead of Team Malizia. Because the results of the 3500 nautical miles transatlantic leg from Newport to Aarhus are awarded double points, leg five alone was worth the last two legs combined.
The world record will remain
Boris Herrmann’s British co-skipper Will Harris said: “We came so close to catching Holcim-PRB at the end. Unfortunately we didn’t quite get the result we wanted. We really would have liked to have scored a few more points.”
On the plus side, the sailing quartet on the German racing yacht has a historic success: Boris Herrmann, Will Harris, Yann Eliès and Rosalin Kuiper set a 24-hour world record of 641.13 nautical miles. “Many have already tried to get this record. Me too for many years. It’s really something very special,” said Herrmann.
Team Malizia became the eleventh team to break the 24 hour record since the first record set by an ocean racing yacht in the 1993/1994 Whitbread Round the World Race. The European “Intrum Justitia” with British skipper Lawrie Smith impressed the sailing world 30 years ago with 428.7 nautical miles over 24 hours. During the stormy ride from Punta del Este to Freemantle, the Hamburg sailing professional Tim Kröger was present on “Intrum Justitia” as a forecastle on his first circumnavigation. Three decades later, the 58-year-old said of Team Malizia’s current performance: “That’s a distance of more than a Fastnet race in 24 hours and a crazy achievement. It’s phenomenal how the boats have evolved!”