While Boris Herrmann is struggling to catch up with the midfield on his second Route du Rhum with a new boat, he gave an insight into his thoughts at an online press conference during the second week of the Transatlantic Classic. The "Malizia - Seaexplorer" skipper answered questions from the journalists who joined in. Here is an overview of his answers to the most important key topics.
How are you doing, and how difficult is it to deal with your current low ranking of 25th out of 34 Imocas still in the race?
I'm doing well. I'm coping quite well with the backlog. I had anticipated that a bit. It's a race in which I want to finish. Of course I want to sail well. Of course I'm trying hard, I'm also in full race mode. I took a few risks in terms of the route. And I also made a few defensive decisions. Of course, I didn't think it would have such a big impact, but I'm quite relaxed about it.
It's clearly not the boat. It's my choice of route. And that is also partly due to my approach to this race.
Are you making progress in getting to know your new boat better?
I'm a bit in my own race now, trying to get as much out of it as possible, familiarise myself with the boat, make the most of the time and maybe even make up a mile or two and catch up with a few competitors. And it's fun too. Yesterday was a great day. Or the day before yesterday evening, when the wind came back after the long 30-hour lull with less than four knots of wind. That was a bit tough, but when the wind came back, it was wonderful. Now there's so much wind again that it's also quite tense.
How satisfied are you with the performance of the "Malizia - Seaexplorer" in its first transatlantic race?
I am extremely satisfied and would like to thank everyone who worked on the boat. It was our big goal, and everyone worked hard to get the boat ready from a blank sheet of paper in time for the Route du Rhum. We are the only ones in this race who started with this approach. I am proud that we have managed to have a fully reliable boat here. No technical problems, fully operational. It works well. Now I have to get to know it even better to become one with it, as I was with my old ship. But I like it, I'm starting to like it.
What about the hoped-for good downwind characteristics, what positive insights have you been able to gain so far?
The downwind is just starting. The wind picked up last night. We were still taking drone shots. That was in winds of around ten or twelve knots. That was still in a very strange sea state and in gusty winds. With a ship that I hardly know yet. I first have to warm up to it to be able to judge it properly. I'm still a bit tense and stressed too. I don't feel completely at home yet. That's why I'm looking forward to the Ocean Race all the more, because a situation like this is of course different when you have three other good sailors next to you with their observations and judgements.
I also have to think back to how long it took me to feel safe and comfortable on my old boat. It was then that I travelled to the Route du Rhum(four years ago; ed.) had already sailed two transatlantic races. I had 20,000 nautical miles to the start of the Route du Rhum. It simply takes time to get to know a ship.
But if I push a bit more at 18 or 20 knots, I get alarms. I just have to see if I can raise the alarm a bit, the mast alarms. Then I can also achieve an average of 20 knots. I couldn't do that in these conditions with the old boat. I can stand here like this without holding on. On the old boat, I almost hit my head against the wall with almost every wave. Because it stopped in the waves. The new boat is much more stable in its speed. However, it is louder and that causes me acoustic stress.
In addition, there is the apparently not so easy re-acclimatisation to solo sailing ...
I felt incredibly lonely during the first week of the Route du Rhum. So alone or isolated, because you're not really lonely because there are so many people following the race.
I found this isolation particularly difficult this time. That's why I'm delighted that the Ocean Race is just around the corner."
But for the last three days I've flipped a switch. I'm fine on board, I no longer feel lonely. But I'm still happy when I arrive. There's simply no substitute for good company. Being alone is hard and exhausting. Perhaps I'm not the type to be alone. That's a bit of a paradox with single-handed sailing. And then with this new boat and the new impressions, the tension is simply greater. It's a bit different than when you've known your boat for years.
How do you rate the performance of the boats that your team will soon be competing against in The Ocean Race: "Biotherm" or "Holcim - PRB"?
Regarding the other new ships, regardless of the Ocean Race: the fact that they all manage to sail at the front is absolutely impressive for me. To be honest, I wouldn't have thought that. My bet was that only half of the new ships would make it to the finish. That was actually the odds in the past. In the last Route du Rhum, "Charal" didn't make it out of the Bay of Biscay despite three stopovers. That was pretty disastrous. And of course we didn't want to experience that ourselves.
Now, of course, the bar is much higher. People are delivering top performances with the new boats. That also means - whether it's a bit of a coincidence or the whole scene is professionalising - that the boats are perhaps being built better these days. Either way, it's very impressive. Our position in the race now has nothing to do with the performance of our boat. It has to do with the choice of route, strategic decisions. It started with the fact that I didn't make the right start. I was afraid of collisions at the start. I started with the small jib, everyone else with the big J2.
How much do you already trust your new boat?
For me, it's a voyage of discovery by ship. As long as I arrive safe and sound, all my goals are fulfilled and I'm happy.
It might not be so easy to understand from the outside, but I've actually found peace here. I'm not sad or frustrated about my position in the race.
I don't look so much at the rankings on the tracker because they don't say that much."
Can you give a forecast for the further course of the Route du Rhum?
I'll be at sea for another four days or so. The wind will continue to increase until Wednesday. The models are predicting trade winds of up to 30 knots. That means I have one more day with a mainsail and code zero, as I do now, and then I'll probably switch to smaller sails. Maybe even later today if the wind picks up before then.
We have very rough seas. Unusual for the Passat. A big swell from the front, sometimes from the side. The boat accelerates to 27 knots at times and then stops again. So it's not easy to sail here at the moment. It will remain exciting and exhausting.
Then comes the final phase of the race with the approach to Guadeloupe and sailing around the island with the slipstream behind the island. That's always part of it. That's something I particularly look forward to. When you're calm in the lulls, you can look up there and see this beautiful green island from the lee. I have fond memories of that from last time.
Will you be competing fully as a crew in the Ocean Race?
Yes, of course, we're going all out in the Ocean Race. It's not always the case that we want to get to know the boat and sail carefully. That's particularly the case on the Route du Rhum. Imagine if I were to cause damage here now. That would jeopardise our entire Ocean Race preparation. The Ocean Race is a bit of a target race for us. That's the logic. We want to train for the Ocean Race in Alicante at the beginning of January. The team is of course already training on the way from Guadeloupe to Alicante.
