Team Malizia's dream has come true - The day after the win
by Team Malizia 4 Apr 2023 00:09 PDT
Team Malizia's Onboard Reporter Antoine Auriol hugging Team Director Holly Cova - The Ocean Race © Marie Lefloch / Team Malizia
It had been less than 24 hours and the news hadn't fully sunk in in our minds just yet: Our team has won the third leg of The Ocean Race. Yesterday, we turned our Southern Ocean dream into reality.
The emotional rollercoaster lasted for 34 days, 17 hours, 10 min, 28 seconds. For 14,714 nautical miles in the longest leg of The Ocean Race's history, we Malizians stayed hopeful that our sailing crew would turn a challenging beginning of the leg into a success story. Little did we know that we would achieve more than that, and not be held back by further difficulties we faced along the way.
The Southern Ocean leg is called a mammoth leg for a reason: the huge waves, storms, and beautiful brutality of this incredibly remote region make it the sailor's Everest. Dealing with many ups and downs, our team stayed strong and gave it its all, pushing until the very end. For both our sailing and shore crew, crossing the finish line in the first position felt a bit unreal. However, when our Malizia - Seaexplorer appeared in the Brazilian night warmly welcomed by a cheering crowd, the feeling was quickly taken over by the happiness and joy of seeing our crew coming back safely and as Southern Ocean winners.
Celebrations of a win also meant that the night was marked by very little sleep. After a wave of media requests on the dock, many hugs and a bit of non-freeze-dried food, our team headed to the prize-giving ceremony. About 30 Malizians stepped on the stage for a very proud and happy moment, with our team lifting both the Leg 3 and Roaring Forties trophies.
A couple of hours later, after finishing interviews and doing a press conference, our sailors headed to their accommodation to find a comfortable and more stable bed than their IMOCA bed bunks. Rosalin Kuiper, who had stepped off what was her floating home for the last months wrote in a message to her fellow crew members: "Thank you boys for the amazing leg, I miss you already. I'm happy to know that you are all sleeping in the same room as me but all on different floors!"
Whilst the communication team pulled an all-nighter to share the news and amazing photos and videos of the arrival, the technical team went back to the team house to get a few precious hours of sleep before a busy day ahead. Once back at the base, they emptied and cleaned the boat, and started the dismasting procedure. They then lifted our beloved Malizia - Seaexplorer out of the water and on her high cradle, marking the first steps in a two-week long refit period.
Until our racing yacht is back in the water, our sailing crew will head home or on holiday for some days off in Brazil to recover from an intense leg. By then, our team - which has climbed to second place in the overall ranking - will be fully prepared and motivated to take on Leg 4 to Newport, USA, starting on Sunday 23 April 2023 and to continue making dreams come true.