The 3rd leg of The Ocean Race was the longest in the 50-year history of the race, and the Team Malizia crew of skipper Boris Herrmann, Will Harris, Nico Lunven, Rosalin Kuiper and onboard reporter Antoine Auriol got off to a flying start after leaving Cape Town on 26 February.
Within a few days however, one of their primary sails came off the lock and fell into the Southern Ocean, causing substantial damage to the top of the mast. As a result, Will Harris had to complete a complex and gruelling repair whilst at sea in very difficult conditions. At one point the team had to contemplate returning to Cape Town, or even the prospect of abandoning the race all together.
Their hard work and commitment ultimately paid off, the repairs were deemed a success and it was full speed ahead as they set of in pursuit of the leaders, Team Holcim PRB, who by this time had gained a lead close to 600 nautical miles. The Southern Ocean brings with it many challenges, unpredictable weather systems, notoriously strong winds, big seas and very cold temperatures. Leg 3’s route also tracks the ice exclusion zone in the Antarctic, monitored and enforced by the race organisers in order to prevent the boats from colliding with icebergs.
With the boat back to full strength, the race to the first scoring gate - an imaginary line that extends from Cape Otway in Australia - was well and truly on, with all four boats in the fleet breaking the 24-hour distance records for The Ocean Race. Team Malizia’s boat, Malizia – Seaexplorer, was designed with the Southern Ocean in mind and it gave them an edge as they ate into Team Holcim PRB’s lead. The Swiss team took the top spot and in a fiercely competitive battle for 2nd place, Team Malizia just managed to edge past 11th Hour Racing Team, securing four points.
On the approach to Point Nemo, defined as the most isolated, remote place on earth, the whole fleet compressed and were in sight of each other, with Team Malizia leading the charge past the waypoint by a mere 30 seconds!
The team suffered another setback when Dutch co-skipper Rosalin Kuiper suffered concussion after being thrown from her bunk by a turbulent waves. As a consequence, Team Malizia was a vital crew member down in the approach to Cape Horn, and in order to make sure Rosie could recover safely, Will Harris and Boris Herrmann took on extra shifts to the end of the leg.
Team Malizia held on to round Cape Horn in 1st place, adding their names to the list of legends on the ‘Roaring Forties Trophy’, awarded to the team with the fastest time from Cape Town to Cape Horn. Rounding Cape Horn is a seminal moment in the life of any sailor and Boris Herrmann is the first German skipper to claim the trophy. He summed up his delight at the team’s achievement afterwards, saying: “After sitting here a few weeks back and contemplating abandoning the race, this is an example of the reward you can get for hard work, believing and not surrendering”.
Cape Horn marked the end of the Southern Ocean and a return to the Atlantic, but the conditions didn’t ease up and the final push north to Brazil was a tense and closely fought affair between Team Malizia and Team Holcim PRB, with the lead changing hands on multiple occasions. Both teams faced some of the most challenging weather of the leg as they battled their way up the South American coastline to Brazil, with fierce storms and strong gusts of wind. In the end, Team Malizia managed to build an 80 nautical mile gap and emerge victorious, scoring the maximum five points for winning the leg.
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 and 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 showed what the boat and the team can do”.
Team Malizia’s mission ‘A Race We Must Win – Climate Action Now’ was never more evident than on leg 3. Not only did the team triumph over adversity many times over to win the leg, but they also used their journey to some of the remotest areas on the planet to spread their important climate change message. Rare scientific data was collected via Malizia – Seaexplorer’s automated ocean laboratory and drifter buoys were deployed en route. The data was streamed live to their scientific partners in order to better understand the ongoing impact of climate change on the ocean.
The infamous Leg 3 has certainly lived up to its reputation and Team Malizia’s hard fought win is a huge achievement for both the sailing team and the inshore team, putting them in 2nd place on the overall leaderboard. With every twist and turn, they displayed immense resilience and team spirit, demonstrating their desire to succeed in the face of adversity. In spite of everything that leg 3 threw at them, they never lost sight of their dream.
On stepping on the dock, an emotional Boris Herrmann said: “Winning this leg is an unreal moment, it’s taking time to realise what we have achieved, that the dream is coming true. This was a full team win, and I’m very proud of that we achieved”.
You can see the moment Team Malizia crossed the line here: