• The week in pictures
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Dear readers,

Boris Herrmann's "Malizia - Seaexplorer" has been afloat again since Thursday last week. It took less than two weeks to completely dismantle, maintain and reassemble her. Arriving in Itajaí, Brazil, as the winner of the first leg, she was the first to land and, as befits her status, the first to take to the water again.

Boris Herrmann, her skipper and mastermind, wanted her exactly like this and no other: as a Southern Ocean SUV, predestined for the rough stuff, with a structure that can take anything and a hull design that could best cope with the harsh conditions in the Southern Ocean.

This, and the fact that the team has now overcome the teething problems, especially with the foils, is what made the success on stage three possible in the first place. That's also why the team was so quick with the refit. That's why Boris has been able to enjoy his holiday with his wife and daughter at home in Hamburg-Ottensen for a fortnight now.

It's a spring fairytale that Team Malizia has given itself and its fans. And the happiness was palpable in Itajaí. Not only did everyone begrudge Boris and his crew this victory - even the competitors, even the organisers. For the first time, the technicians and engineers were able to go about their work in a relaxed manner.

When the riggers pulled the last halyards into the 28-metre-long carbon fibre mast last week in the night from Wednesday to Thursday, the gap in the top of which has since been repaired beyond recognition, house beats were pounding out of an improvised music system in front of the Malizia tent.

The DJ came from next door - he works for 11th Hour. But the Imoca teams help each other out. The crew from "Guyot Environnement - Team Europe" lent out their dinghy several times over the past few days so that the others could move their boats. Even tools are sometimes shared. And on Wednesday, two Malizia boat builders helped out with laminating work for "Holcim - PRB". Impressive proof of the camaraderie between teams that otherwise sail hard against each other.

On Tuesday, everyone got together informally for a beer or three. On Malizia's initiative, there is even a cross-team WhatsApp group for all those who are looking for some distraction in the evenings or at the weekend. Work hard, play hard - no other team has lived this as much as Malizia in the past few days on land.

If you're worried that things might be too casual, don't worry! The one and a half dozen system, electronics, rigging and composite specialists in Boris' team, each divided into small, powerful teams, work in a highly professional manner.

The several hundred individual items of the "Malizia - Seaexplorer" refit are recorded in a sophisticated project management system. What needs to be done is determined by the normal maintenance schedule, but also by the sailing crew's requests for improvements and, of course, by what has broken, failed or worn out on the previous leg.

Each employee receives the specific inspection and repair orders for their area or that of their team on their smartphone and can also record when a job has been completed. The technicians can document the initial and final status or newly found solutions with photos or videos. The accumulated experience is therefore available to everyone at a later date.

The teams mainly coordinate themselves. They are supported by Marine Villard, who is present at all meetings and whose computer collates all the team's input. She was also the one who drew up the checklists for converting the "Malizia - Seaexplorer" back from a construction site into a boat last week and shared them in the entire team chat on WhatsApp. The instructions for launching and setting the mast alone comprised well over 50 lines of an Excel sheet. And behind every single one of them is a list of who is responsible for what and who has been assigned as support if necessary.

A week ago, the boat set sail again for the first time to test all the systems, skippered by Will Harris and with newcomer Christopher Pratt on board, as Boris had to retire as planned on the leg from Itajaí to Newport. The crew is completed by navigator Nico Lunven and Rosalin Kuiper, whose laceration to the head is barely visible and whose concussion has been cured.

And now all of us fans, whose numbers have long been in the hundreds of thousands, will soon be challenged again: from Sunday onwards, it's time to watch the trackers, keep our fingers crossed and cheer on the fans. As we know from many letters and conversations, this has already been accompanied by a considerable lack of sleep. In the next two stages - once up the Atlantic from south to north and once across from west to east to Århus in Denmark - things are likely to get even worse. Because these sections could bring a preliminary decision.

Somehow it's good that we've had a break for a few weeks now. It's even better that it's starting again soon! And when I think about the fly-by in the Kiel Fjord, I already get goose bumps! See you there, right?!!!

Jochen Rieker, Editor YACHT

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