Boris Herrmann's Team Malizia wins leg 3 of The Ocean Race
by The Ocean Race 2 Apr 2023 02:11 PDT
2 April 2023
The Ocean Race 2022-23 - 2 April 2023. Team Malizia wins leg 3 05:20:28 UTC 34 days, 17 hours, 10 mins, 28 seconds 14,714 nautical miles © Sailing Energy / The Ocean Race
It's a well-earned win for a resilient team who outsailed and outlasted the competition on the longest leg in race history.
At 05:20:28 UTC / 02:20:28 local time in Brazil, Team Malizia glided across the finish line off Ocean Live Park in Itajaí to win leg 3 of The Ocean Race, collecting 5 points in the process.
The win comes on the 35th day of racing and after 14,714 nautical miles of intense, close-quarters racing.
Early in the leg, it didn't appear likely that we would see Team Malizia at the front of the fleet for the finish.
Within days of the start in Cape Town the team discovered serious damage to the top of their mast and needed to devote nearly two full days to effecting difficult repairs at sea, with an uncertain result.
Meanwhile, Team Holcim PRB had escaped from the rest of the fleet and was a full weather system and nearly 600 miles ahead.
On board Malizia, the makeshift reinforcement of the top of the spar was successful and the chase was on.
By the time the teams reached the leg 3 scoring gate, Malizia had closed to less than 200 miles from Holcim PRB, moving up into second place, and collecting 4 points.
As the fleet raced south of New Zealand and into the southern depths of the Pacific Ocean, the game closed up significantly within 10 miles and exchanging the lead one to the other as they raced along the ice exclusion zone.
During one of the worst periods of the leg, with the boat lurching a violent sea state, Rosalin Kuiper was tossed from her bunk and suffered a head injury. With a focus on getting Rosie stabilised and recovering, the crew was taxed even more, down to a three-person watch rotation for the rest of the leg.
A day out from Cape Horn and Team Malizia had a narrow advantage of less than 30 miles, leading the fleet around the iconic passage and winning the Roaring Forties trophy in the process.
The final push north was hard-fought. Team Holcim PRB and Team Malizia were racing within in sight of each other - exchanging body blows all the way up the South American coast.
The penultimate night - Friday night - was one of the worst of the leg, with gusts of 50 knots screaming off the coast and whipping up the sea. Boris Herrmann and his crew on Team Malizia handled the conditions with aplomb, and emerged into the daybreak with a 60 mile lead after Holcim PRB did a crash gybe overnight and suffered damage. This was the largest lead any team had enjoyed since New Zealand over 10 days ago.
On the last day of the leg and into the final night at sea Team Malizia sailed fast and confident towards the finishing line, extending its lead to more than 80 miles and taking an historic win.
Congratulations to Boris Herrmann, Will Harris, Nico Lunven, Rosalin Kuiper and on board reporter Antoine Auriol and the entire Malizia team on their victory.
An elated Boris Herrmann commented as he stepped on the dock: "Winning this leg is an unreal moment, it's taking time to realise what we have achieved, that the dream is coming true. Dreaming of doing The Ocean Race, doing this amazing leg through the Southern Ocean, finishing it after all the trouble we had early on, and winning it!! Four weeks ago, if I had been told 'Repair your mast because you might win this leg' I would have not believed it and said that's not possible, we are too far behind and can't push the boat anymore. But it worked out beyond our expectations". The German skipper added: "This was a full team win, and I'm very proud of what we achieved."
Co-skipper Will Harris, whose heroic mast repair put the team back in contention for the win, said: "It is a dream come true to win this leg of The Ocean Race, after everything we went through on this leg I am so happy. We really did this as a team, not just the sailing team but the whole team. Our boat was built for this leg and I think we really showed what the boat and this team can do, not only that but we had a good time doing it, we worked hard but we also enjoyed this race so much! Of course, Cape Horn was a highlight for me but also just the times of being on the deck and feeling the waves hit me, it really made me feel what it was to be in the Southern Ocean."
Nicolas Lunven, master navigator on board Team Malizia commented: "This leg was really a highlight, we worked so well together as a team, we came back from a very big setback but we never gave up. We worked together and pushed each other to get through this and come out on top. It was also a very complicated leg in terms of routing, but that also made it exciting! For me passing Cape Horn for the first time and also being able to see Cape Horn, as often you can't, was the highlight moment for me, it is something all sailors dream of and it will stay with me forever."
The team has faced many challenges during this infamous 14,714 nm leg, at one point early in the race it even seemed that they may have to abandon the race altogether when the boat sustained a large crack at the top of the mast five days out of Cape Town. The sailors, led by Will Harris, managed to repair the damage and push on, losing little time in the light winds.
"It's a very overwhelming moment, it's incredible to be here in Itajaí, it has been such a big leg with many ups and downs", said co-skipper Rosalin Kuiper after winning the leg. "We pushed so hard as a team day by day and it's mind-blowing that we arrived first. We contemplated going back to Cape Town when we had the issue with the mast, and now we are here. We did it, we did it with this boat that is clearly made for the Southern Ocean and with this amazing team."
On completing this long Southern Ocean leg, the team not only won the leg but also collected rare science data on the way using their onboard automated ocean laboratory and deploying measuring devices on route. Amassing a vast amount of CO2 ocean data in the almost unmapped area. This data was live streamed to our scientific partners in order that they can better understand the impacts of manmade climate change on the ocean. The ocean is really the lungs of our planet, with every second breath coming from the ocean it becomes ever more important for us to protect it and learn more about the impacts we are having.