“What a year, what a race” Boris Herrmann happy about 4th-place finish in Retour à La Base Solo Race
by Team Malizia 10 Dec 2023 11:25 PST
10 December 2023
Boris Herrmann finished the Retour à La Base race in an admirable fourht place © Jean-Louis Carli / Alea / Retour à La Base
Team Malizia's skipper Boris Herrmann crossed the line of the Retour à La Base transatlantic solo race in fourth position this Sunday 10 December 2023. The German sailed 4,490 nautical miles from the Caribbean to Brittany, overcame a series of issues, managed to hold on to his place, and to achieve a top 5 finish in his first solo race of the year. After an intense 2023 season, this performance gave the offshore sailor and his team a good boost of energy and motivation for the year ahead.
What a way to end the 2023 season! Team Malizia's Boris Herrmann finished the Retour à La Base transatlantic solo race in an admirable fourth place. The German skipper crossed the finish line in Lorient, France, this Sunday 10 December 2023 at 13:02 local time after 9 days, 20 hours, 2 minutes, and 41 seconds alone at sea. "I am really happy with how we did in this race, fourth place is a fantastic result but I'm even more happy with how fast the boat was, especially in the downwind conditions, and with how good I felt sailing solo again", said Boris Herrmann after the race.
This year's Retour à La Base was the inaugural edition of the race but also the first solo race of the year for Boris Herrmann and many of his 31 competitors. Having departed Fort-de-France in Martinique on the 30th of November, he raced across the Atlantic to Brittany onboard his Malizia - Seaexplorer yacht, sailing 4,490 nautical miles at an average speed of 19.02 knots.
"The most important thing for me before the race, apart from the pure ranking, was the training aspect and to learn more about the boat and myself when sailing solo", said the German skipper. "Today, I feel that I achieved that goal. And obviously I am super happy about finishing in fourth place! A top five result was an optimistic thing to achieve because of the level in the class - but we did it! Of course, there's many factors involved, including others' misfortunes, but the boat performed incredibly well, I felt good sailing solo again, and the result shows what a great job we did as a team this year."
He added: "This was my second single-handed race onboard Malizia - Seaexplorer and a bit like a revenge to my unfortunate Route du Rhum last year when we had problems with the foils and I couldn't push the boat anymore. Now, we really showed her potential. In downwind, she is really fast, even when I didn't push her as much, she was still half a knot or more faster than others. And she doesn't do these brutal nose dives and stops like other boats. This is very promising for the Vendée Globe solo around the world race at the end of next year."
The Retour à La Base was the perfect opportunity for the offshore sailor to train being alone at sea again: "I didn't have any troubles with feeling lonely this time, I felt quite good onboard." He added: "The race was exciting all along, with a good flow. I could see competitors on the AIS 10 miles away from me. You get an instant sense of competition from that and it's really motivating too."
However, it was not all smooth sailing for Boris Herrmann. Sailors push their high-tech yachts to the limit, in strong winds and relentlessly slamming waves, and every team and skipper expects some issues, big or small, during a race like this one. On Day 6, Boris Herrmann was confronted with a series of problems: first he struggled to start the engine to generate electricity, then he noticed that both cockpit drain covers had broken, leading to seawater entering the cockpit. The experienced sailor put a Sikaflex ring around the plug in the drain as a temporary solution, but with the water still entering from elsewhere like exits, hatches, and rope tunnels, Boris Herrmann spent hours every day bailing the water out of the cockpit. He risked using the port hydrogenerator, which worked for a while, with surfs at 30 knots, the hydrogenerator soon ripped off.
These issues didn't lead him to lose places in the ranking, but having to slow down for repairs, meant he could not stay East of the weather front anymore and was overtaken by it. Boris Herrmann was then sailing in less wind than the first three boats and suddenly lost almost a day in his estimated time of arrival (ETA). "This was the hardest part to manage besides the cruel lack of sleep, the disappointment of dragging behind the front pack, not being able to score the goal and bring it home. But performing well in solo mode is also about how you deal with these issues mentally. How do you go on after having fixed things? This was good training, also with the Vendée Globe in mind. As Michel Desjoyeaux famously said, the Vendée Globe is one problem per day. I stayed confident that I could fix them, took things step by step, managed to sleep again and eat and drink enough to stay on my toes and keep my spirits high for the remainder of the race."
In the end, Boris Herrmann managed to hold on to fourth place and stay ahead of strong competitors like Damien Seguin (APICIL), Samantha Davies (Initiatives Cœur), Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée), and his Ocean Race team mate Nicolas Lunven (Holcim-PRB). He arrived 19 hours, 58 minutes, and 53 seconds after race winner Yoann Richomme on Paprec Arkéa. Jérémie Beyou (Charal) finished second and Sam Goodchild (For The Planet) completed the podium in third in Lorient. "I saw 37 knots of boat speed yesterday, with an average speed of 26 knots over five minutes, that is pretty cool", said Boris Herrmann with a smile on his tired face.
"Soon, I'll be going back to Germany for commercial commitments and then I'll take some time off with my family at the beginning of the year. The boat will go in for a winter refit and we will relaunch her with a new set of foils to start the 2024 season in April with the Transat CIC and the New York-Vendée transatlantic solo races. And then, in November, I'll be ready for my second Vendée Globe. 2023 was a great year for our team, and we are all curious to see what 2024 has in store for us!"
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: EFG International, Zurich Group Germany, Kuehne+Nagel, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, Hapag-Llyod, Schütz, and the Yacht Club de Monaco. 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.