Vendée Globe: Power through wind - the sails for Boris Herrman's "Malizia 4"

At the weekend, six-time circumnavigator Boris Herrmann made a brief flying visit in the midst of all the work for its new building "Malizia 4" and the preparation for their premiere season visited the final of the Baltic 500 in Strande. It was a rare private excursion in the final phase of completing the new foilerwhich is keeping the 44-year-old and his team very busy. The final spurt is underway. Boris Herrmann's time without his own Imoca will soon be over. Then Germany's best-known offshore professional will be able to compete in top regattas again.

Ocean Race Atlantic: first big test for boat and sails

After the launch at the end of June and the initial tests, the first major highlight will be the Ocean Race Atlantic, which Boris Herrmann will enter on 1 September. with his co-skippers Cole Brauer, Justine Mettraux and Julien Villion on the new "Malizia 4". "I'm really looking forward to racing with this crew. Cole, Justine and I already raced the Ocean Race Europe together last summer. And now I can finally race with Julien, who is a very experienced sailor in very different formats."

But the construction team and the experts in Lorient still have a lot of work to do before that happens. And even more already behind them. The first four episodes of the Malizia series "Born To Race" demonstrate this very well. The most recent deals with the wind as a driving force and the answers that Team Malizia is providing with the new Imoca to optimise its use. "Even though the foils help us to utilise the wind power, it's the sails that give us the power for the boat," says Herrmann's co-skipper Will Harris.

Whether it's Boat Captain Henry McCann's technically interesting explanations on converting wind into power or Boris Herrmann's background information on the interaction between sailing and foils: For interested sailors, the new episode of the Malizia series "Born To Race" contains a lot of exciting information, some of which can also be used to broaden your own horizons.

The new Malizia wardrobe: seven sails instead of eight

For example, Boris Herrmann describes his new sailing wardrobe in words and pictures, which he had already presented in a YACHT interview at the beginning of April. According to the Imoca rules, it had to be reduced from eight to seven sails. This is shown in the graphic in the image gallery for this article. "A boat like ours, which will be launched in 2026 and is registered for The Ocean Race 2027, is allowed to produce a maximum of 16 sails," explains Malizia Technical Director Pifou Dargnies. That's much fewer than used to be the case in the Volvo Ocean Race. In the days when around 50 sails were made for each boat.

The number of sails has been drastically reduced." Pifou Dargnies

Boris Herrmann also explains: "The complicated thing for everyone of us who works in this class is the interaction between the different headsails." That, says Will Harris, is the real fun part of the job: "Working and adjusting the sails and optimising them to work together. So that they become efficient and help to move the boat forward." This work for the sail wardrobe of "Malizia 4" also incorporates a lot of experience from the work and further development of the predecessor.

Finding the right balance is the challenging task." Boris Herrmann

According to the skipper, Team Malizia has taken "a slightly different approach" to its predecessor. North Sails' Sales Director Alan Pennaneach knows: "The Imocas are developing a lot in terms of speed and also with regard to the loads that act on the sails. That's why the sails have to be efficient for all weather conditions in a race around the world. There will definitely be some compromises in the design of the sails. Once everyone agrees on the design, the manufacturing process begins."

"RISE": the certification of Imoca sails

Part 4 of the "Born To Race" series also shows this process, providing interesting insights into the technology of sailmaking, the materials used and also the constant struggle for longevity of the high-performance sails. Just how important this is is shown by a look back at previous sail losses, breakages and damage that Boris Herrmann and Francesca Clapcich experienced with the former "Malizia 3".

The new series episode also addresses the topic of sustainability in the field of sails. The Imoca class brought together the six sailmakers who are active in their field. A certificate was created that tests sustainability and records it according to specified parameters. It is called "RISE". The term stands for "Reduced Impact Sail Evaluation" - the evaluation of sails with reduced (environmental) impact. The Malizia film shows exactly how this works.

Driven by the wind! The fourth instalment of the Malizia series "Born To Race", which has already been published, focuses on the Imoca sailing wardrobe for "Malizia 4":