Sailor Boris Herrmann and Team Malizia third at Ocean Race

Segler Boris Herrman took third place with his team “Malizia” in the first stage of the Ocean Race. The yacht “Malizia – Seaexplorer” completed the 1900 nautical miles from Alicante in Spain to Mindelo on Cape Verde in 5 days, 16 hours, 35 minutes, 21 seconds. In the early morning hours of Saturday, the Swiss team “Holcim – PRB” of skipper Kevin Escoffier secured the stage victory after 5 days, 11 hours, 1 minute, 59 seconds. Almost three hours later, Charlie Enright crossed the finish line with the American team “11th Hour Racing”.

“I’m super happy with the performance of our boat and my team,” said Herrmann in Mindelo’s port of destination. “It took almost three days before we could speak to each other because it was so noisy and brutal on board after take-off in the harsh conditions. After that we enjoyed almost champagne conditions, pretty fast and nice sailing,” reported the 41-year-old from Hamburg. For third place on the first stage, the “Malizia” team received three points for the overall classification in the Ocean Race.

“I don’t regret a single decision”

Stage winner Escoffier also expressed his full praise for his team and crew after crossing the finish line in the night: “I am overjoyed that we started so well. It was our first race in this formation as a crew and I don’t regret a single decision.”

The Ocean Race goes around the world in seven stages. The starting signal for the second stage from Mindelo to Cape Town will be given on Wednesday. At the end of February, the longest and toughest stage awaits the teams: through the Southern Ocean, often in adverse conditions, they travel for several weeks from South Africa past Australia and New Zealand to South America. The sailors only return to Europe in the spring. The goal is waiting in Genoa in the summer.