Boris Herrmann ahead of The Ocean Race Leg 7: The initial band is back together for the final push

by Team Malizia 15 Jun 2023 19:22 AEST

Team Malizia will set sail to conclude the 31,300-nautical mile race around the world - The Ocean Race © Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia

This Thursday, the fleet of five IMOCA race yachts will depart The Hague in the Netherlands and be on their way to Genova in the seventh and final leg of The Ocean Race. Team Malizia will see their crew from the very first leg and the Southern Ocean leg reunited for a final push back into the Mediterranean Sea after 5,5 months of racing around the world. Skipper Boris Herrmann, co-skippers Will Harris, Rosalin Kuiper, Nico Lunven, and onboard reporter Antoine Auriol will sail 2,200 nautical miles in both coastal waters and offshore, and give their all to try to finish second in the overall ranking.

Skipper Boris Herrmann feels strong with his crew going into the final leg of The Ocean Race - photo © Ricardo Pinto / Team Malizia

"I feel very strong going into this leg", said skipper Boris Herrmann the day before the start. "For this final leg of The Ocean Race, we have our 'initial' crew from Leg 1 reunited. It feels like the family is back together with Nico the navigator back on board. It makes us feel very strong with him covering the navigation and the weather. Rosie, Will, and I can really focus on making the boat go fast. We won the Southern Ocean leg together and I feel very strong going into the next leg with them."

The German sailor added: "The previous leg was kind of decisive in the sense that it took away the hope for an overall victory of The Ocean Race. The hope was already slim before Leg 6, nevertheless we are super motivated and very proud to have secured being on the podium. We can go all in, we can really try to win this one, and maybe, with lots of good circumstances, we can still be second overall. So there is still a lot to play for."

Co-skipper Will Harris is ready for the final push to Genova, Italy - The Ocean Race - photo © Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia

Co-skipper Will Harris, who will have sailed every leg of this edition commented: "I would love to win The Ocean Race, it's definitely a dream to try and win it one day. I think we can be really proud of what we have achieved so far, we have done a fantastic race. When I think back to Alicante, we've come a really long way. We've had some very close results which could have kept us in the hunt. We were probably one of the less experienced teams, with almost all of us being new to the race and one of the youngest crews, we gained a lot of experience and it is great to be fighting against these more experienced boats and more experienced sailors. We are definitely still in the fight to try to win this Leg 7, and if we do and Team Holcim-PRB finishes last, then we take second place overall. So we will give it everything. I really hope that we can have a fantastic race, enjoy it, and appreciate what we have done in the last few months."

Co-skipper Rosalin Kuiper will be the only female sailor in this year's Ocean Race to have sailed the full lap around the world - The Ocean Race - photo © Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia

"We will approach the final leg as we approached any other leg", added co-skipper Rosalin Kuiper, who will be the only female sailor to have completed the full lap around the world in this edition of the race. "We will give our 100%, keep pushing the boat, pushing each other, and try to win it!"

Nico Lunven, who rejoins Team Malizia after having sat out the last two legs between Newport and The Hague, is fresh and ready for the final push. "The race might finish soon but it's not finished yet", said the French expert navigator. "We still have a tough leg to race and all of us are very much in a competitive mindset."

"It will be a long and complicated race towards Genova, with a variety of weather challenges and strategic situations", explained Boris Herrmann. "We will have an inshore section coming out of The Hague, where we will have to slalom a bit around the many exclusion zones due to wind farms, traffic separation zones, and oil rigs. We will have to be on high alert. The English Channel is often complicated, with a lot of changing currents and light winds, especially in the summer."

Nico Lunven adds: "Sailing into the Atlantic, into the Bay of Biscay, and down the Portuguese coast it will be proper offshore sailing, and with a bit of luck we should have stronger winds again. Then, passing through the Gibraltar Strait will be fairly complex."

Onboard reporter Antoine Auriol in action - The Ocean Race - photo © Ricardo Pinto / Team Malizia

"Coming into the Mediterranean, it can be very much anything", commented Boris Herrmann. From drifting around for days to very strong winds that come off the North, one of the most famous ones being the Mistral, which can be very rough, like in the Southern Ocean. Further into the bay of Genova it can be an area with no wind. It will be difficult to have any prediction on our precise ETA at the end of the leg, but we expect a total of 10 to 12 days."

"We sailed to Genova in The Ocean Race Europe last time and that finish was really tricky with light winds", remembered Will Harris. "So you really have to look for every opportunity right until the end. I'm looking forward to the challenges in terms of weather that come with this leg, and also I am really happy to have Nico as navigator back on board."

Malizia - Seaexplorer racing in The Hague during The Ocean Race - photo © Marie Lefloch / Team Malizia

Team Malizia's A Race We Must Win - Climate Action Now! mission is only possible due to the strong and long-lasting commitment from its seven main partners: Kuehne+Nagel, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, Hapag-Lloyd, Schütz, the Yacht Club de Monaco, EFG International, and Zurich Group Germany. These partners band behind Team Malizia to support its campaign, each of them working towards projects in their own field to innovate around climate solutions.

Team Malizia's sailing crew for Leg 7